Delgado Aparaín, Mario 1949-

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DELGADO APARAÍN, Mario 1949-

PERSONAL: Born 1949, in Uruguay.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Overlook Press, 141 Wooster St., New York, NY 10012.

CAREER: Writer, university professor. Former head of Uruguayan Department of Culture.

WRITINGS:

Causa de buena muerte, Arca (Montevideo, Uruguay), 1982.

Estado de gracia: Novela, Ediciones de la Banda Oriental (Montevideo, Uruguay), 1983.

El Día del cometa, Ediciones de la Banda Oriental (Montevideo, Uruguay), 1985.

La Balada de Johnny Sosa, Ediciones de la Banda Oriental (Montevideo, Uruguay), 1987, translation by Elizabeth Hampsten published as The Ballad of Johnny Sosa, Overlook Press (Woodstock, NY), 2002.

Cuentos bajo sospecha, Ediciones Trilce (Montevideo, Uruguay), 1989.

Cuentos para pluma y orquesta, Ediciones Trilce (Montevideo, Uruguay), 1989.

Las Llaves de Francia: Cuentos, Ediciones de la Banda Oriental (Montevideo, Uruguay), 1991.

Por mandato de madre, Alfaguara (Montevideo, Uruguay), 1996.

Querido Charles Atlas y otras historias terribles, Alfaguaro (Montevideo, Uruguay), 1997.

Alivio de luto, Alfaguara (Montevideo, Uruguay), 1998.

La Leyenda del Fabulosísimo Cappi y otras historias, Alfagura (Montevideo, Uruguay), 1999.

Cuentos del mar, Ediciones B (Barcelona, Spain), 2001.

No robarás las botas de los muertos, Alfaguara (Montevideo, Uruguay), 2002.

Terribles ojos verdes, Alfaguara (Montevideo, Uruguay), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS: Mario Delgado Aparaín is an Uruguayan novelist and short-story writer, as well as a journalist and university professor. He first became well known in Uruguay for his short stories, which depict the contrast between Uruguayan country and city life. He lives in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he once was head of the Department of Culture.

In The Ballad of Johnny Sosa, Delgado Aparaín tells the story of Johnny Sosa, a poor and toothless musician who lives in a small village, called Mosquitos, where he plays in the local brothel. He dreams of becoming famous and hearing his music on a popular radio station. When he happens to meet a radio announcer who introduces him to orchestral arranger Maestro Di Giorgio, he believes his dream may come true soon. However, Di Giorgio is working with a would-be dictator, the Colonel, who has just taken over the government of Uruguay, and the Colonel's sponsorship comes at a price. Although the Colonel pays for some false teeth for Sosa, this totally changes his appearance. Sosa's friends are arrested or harassed, and when he decides that he doesn't want to work for the Colonel after all, the Colonel comes after him to retrieve the teeth he paid for, as well as Sosa's guitar. A Publishers Weekly reviewer praised Delgado Aparaín's "fast-moving and spare prose style," and Ellen Loughran wrote in Booklist that The Ballad of Johnny Sosa "ranks with the best of European and Latin American political fiction."