Roberto Arlt

Roberto Arlt was born in April 1900 in a middle-class neighborhood of Buenos Aires to immigrant parents (a Prussian father and a Tyrolean mother) who never fully mastered Spanish. Self-taught—having dropped out of school and failed to complete the School of Engineering—he learned from the streets of Argentina's capital. At sixteen, he permanently left his poverty-stricken family home and took on a variety of odd jobs. In 1926, he published his first novel, "Mad Toy," which was followed by three more: "The Seven Madmen" (1929), "The Flamethrowers" (1931), and "Love the Sorcerer" (1932). He also published a large number of short stories and plays. From 1928 to 1935, he wrote a daily column for a major Buenos Aires newspaper. He was married twice and had a daughter, Mirta. He passed away from a heart attack in his beloved Buenos Aires in 1942.