death_date death_place birth_place nationality birth_date image article_title name
07 june 1987 buenos aires buenos aires argentina 08 april 1924 humberto_costantini . jpg humberto costantini
 humberto costantini
humberto costantini

humberto '' `` cacho '' '' costantini -lrb- april 8 , 1924 -- june 7 , 1987 -rrb- was an argentine writer and poet whose work is filled with the rich slang -lrb- porteño -rrb- of buenos aires .
except for his years of exile in mexico , his life was lived in and around buenos aires .
costantini was born and died in buenos aires , the only child of italian jewish immigrants who lived in the barrio of villa pueyrredon .
from his marriage to nela nur fernandez , he had three children : violeta , ana and daniel .
after he finished his university studies , he became a medical veterinarian .
he practiced his profession in the fields near the city of loberia , a province of buenos aires , where he moved with his wife .
there his two daughters were born .
in 1955 he returned to buenos aires , and his son was born shortly thereafter .
he worked in various jobs : veterinarian , salesman , potter , medical researcher , etc. .
because of a fierce discipline , working `` nailed to the chair '' , he was able to write and rewrite everyday .
his first book of stories , `` de por aquí nomás '' , was published in 1958 , and from that time on there developed a long bibliography which touched all literary genres : short story , poetry , theatre , novel .
his unfinished work , `` rapsodía de raquel liberman '' , relates in biblical tones the exploits of a jewish prostitute enslaved by the sinister organization zwi migdal , until she rebels against this fate and leaves that life behind her .
and here a fundamental theme appears , as in many other of costantini 's works , a force that drives his life and work : `` to do what is right in the eyes of jehova , meaning to fulfill one 's destiny , '' as he would say .
that attitude -- of doing what is right -- led him in many moments of his life to confront the powerful , as his heroine , raquel liberman succeeded in doing .
costantini was the victim of political persecutions and blacklists .
that posture of confronting the powerful that `` cacho '' exercised naturally , without fuss , as the only possible road by which to travel through life , created both hatred and profound loyalty among many toward him .
with costantini nothing was ever wishy-washy ; one was either honest or one was deceitful .
he made it known that he would n't forgive any kowtowing .
from his youth he was politically active : in his student days he confronted the fascists of the alianza libertadora nacionalista and was politically active in the communist party until serious divergencies of opinion with the bureaucratic and pro-soviet leadership caused him to break away .
his `` doing what is right in the eyes ... '' moved him to admire profoundly ernesto che guevara .
in the 1970s he was politically active on the revolutionary left , together with other writers , such as harold conti and roberto santoro , who were imprisoned by the criminal dictatorship of videla , and to this day are still disappeared .
his novel `` de dioses , hombrecitos y policías '' was written between scary moments and escapes , in clandestine houses at unthinkable hours .
this novel was awarded the casa de las américas prize by an international jury and published in mexico -lrb- later it was translated as `` the gods , the little guys and the police '' , translated by toby talbot and published in new york to excellent reviews -rrb- .
about this novel and other work of costantini , julio cortázar said , `` i love what humberto costantini does , and am full of confidence in his work .
he is , for me , a very important writer . ''
in 1976 humberto costantini was forced into exile and went to mexico .
there he continued his writing that was to win important prizes .
he suffered in an exile that obliged him `` to glance through the lists for his loved ones , as if the city had been hit with a typhoon '' .
he conducted narrative workshops regularly , made programs for radio and for television and he fell in love .
as he said on his return : `` in short , i lived '' .
another of his passions was the tango .
an admirer of osvaldo pugliese , anibal pichuco , troilo and eduardo arolas , he was a singer and dancer , knowledgeable in the lyrics and the history of the tango .
in get-togethers with friends , there was always some guitar to accompany his voice , resonant with passion , as he would sing the milonga `` marieta '' or `` el adios de gabino ezeiza '' .
he composed milongas and tango lyrics , some of which were published and recorded .
in 1983 , after seven years , seven months and seven days of exile , he returned to buenos aires .
there he lived the democratic springtime .
he walked through the city , conversed with the streets of his barrio and with old friends of his infancy , knocked around , flabbergasted through his buenos aires .
his work is published in many languages in addition to english , among them : czech , english , finnish , german , hebrew , polish , russian and swedish .
his second novel , appeared in english as `` the long night of francisco sanctis '' , translated by norman thomas di giovanni .
he died on the morning of 7 june 1987 from an illness that he had contracted much earlier .
the night before , taking advantage of the slight well-being between chemotherapy treatments , he worked -- as he had each day -- on his novel `` la rhapsodía de raquel liberman '' of which he managed to complete two volumes .
this work remains unpublished .
