The art of fiction: Carlos Fuentes

The late Carlos Fuentes was a fluent English speaker — the product of being the son of a diplomat and his own careers in international academia and diplomacy. Here he is talking with Charlie Rose in February 2011. The interview captures the sense of how important politics was to Fuentes and the other writers of ‘El Boom’. The conversation is almost exclusively about politics past, present and future, touching on the drugs war, Cuba and U decline. Reference is also made to Garcia Marquez and his disagreements with Fuentes over the politics of the recent past.

It is also fascinating, from the usually self-absorbed European perspective, to watch the two Americas sparring. Fuentes is impassioned about injustices, missed opportunities and US parochialism, while Rose is determined not to appear complacent. It also shows the transformative effect that Barack Obama has had on many foreign perceptions of America, with Fuentes visibly enthused by the president.