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El mayor de mis defectos
En estos veintiseis relatos Fontanarrosa da una muestra mas de su poder de observacion. Los cuentos de este libro proponen no solo la mera diversion y el reconocible humor, sino la tarea de participar en las parodias e investigar los codigos de mujeres y hombres y sus conductas.
- GenresHumor
253 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2012
5 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Roberto Fontanarrosa
175 books150 followers "People would say that I'm comic writer, at most, and that will be true. I don't care too much how people will define me as a writer. I don't want to be a Nobel laureate. It will be enough for me if anyone tells me 'I laughed my ass off with your book.'"
Fontanarrosa began his career writing and drawing comic strips and later branched out into writing narrative with short stories, especially about football (soccer). His better known strips are Inodoro Pereyra, featuring a gaucho and his talking dog Mendieta, and the hitman Boogie el Aceitoso (which came to life as a Dirty Harry parody).
Fontanarrosa went on to write three novels (Best Seller, El área 18 and La Gansada), and seven books of short comic stories (Los trenes matan a los autos, El mundo ha vivido equivocado, No sé si he sido claro, Nada del otro mundo, El mayor de mis defectos, Uno nunca sabe and La mesa de los galanes). There are also a number of book compilations of his newspapers' strips.
His work has been seen in different Latin American newspapers including Argentine Clarín, Colombian El tiempo, Uruguayan La República, and Mexican magazine Proceso. In 1977 he was approached by Les Luthiers (the famous Argentine humour/music group), who wanted him to collaborate on a script they were writing for a film starring the six group members; the film never bore fruit, but he instead became a creative partner, often writing jokes and situations for them, and most of their shows from 1979 onwards feature his input alongside Les Luthiers'.
In November, 2007 a posthumous work of Fontanarrosa was made public. The script of the animated film Fierro was co-written by Fontanarrosa and the characters designs came also from him.
[edit] Illness
In 2003 he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and was bound to a wheelchair. He continued to work, and participated in the meetings of the Third International Congress of the Spanish Language, in 2004, where he gave a humorous lecture about taboo words and the final speech. On 26 April 2006 the Senate awarded him the Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Mention of Honour for his career and his contribution to Argentine culture.
In January 18, 2007 he announced that he would be no longer drawing his own strips because he had lost full control of his hand, but stated that he would go on writing the scripts for his characters.
On 19 July 2007, Fontanarrosa suffered a respiratory failure, and was taken to a hospital. He died there about one hour later. His funeral service and the funeral procession on the next day were attended by thousands of common citizens, writers, actors, and political authorities. The procession stopped beside the Gigante de Arroyito stadium (home of Rosario Central, a team of which Fontanarrosa was possibly its most notable fan) and then continued north to the neighbouring city of Granadero Baigorria, where Fontanarrosa was buried at the Parque de la Eternidad cemetery.
The main national news services and printed media of Argentina devoted special segments to Fontanarrosa's legacy and to the funeral service. The national government declared a Mourning Day for National Culture, and the municipal government of Rosario ordered flags to be flown at half mast.
Fontanarrosa began his career writing and drawing comic strips and later branched out into writing narrative with short stories, especially about football (soccer). His better known strips are Inodoro Pereyra, featuring a gaucho and his talking dog Mendieta, and the hitman Boogie el Aceitoso (which came to life as a Dirty Harry parody).
Fontanarrosa went on to write three novels (Best Seller, El área 18 and La Gansada), and seven books of short comic stories (Los trenes matan a los autos, El mundo ha vivido equivocado, No sé si he sido claro, Nada del otro mundo, El mayor de mis defectos, Uno nunca sabe and La mesa de los galanes). There are also a number of book compilations of his newspapers' strips.
His work has been seen in different Latin American newspapers including Argentine Clarín, Colombian El tiempo, Uruguayan La República, and Mexican magazine Proceso. In 1977 he was approached by Les Luthiers (the famous Argentine humour/music group), who wanted him to collaborate on a script they were writing for a film starring the six group members; the film never bore fruit, but he instead became a creative partner, often writing jokes and situations for them, and most of their shows from 1979 onwards feature his input alongside Les Luthiers'.
In November, 2007 a posthumous work of Fontanarrosa was made public. The script of the animated film Fierro was co-written by Fontanarrosa and the characters designs came also from him.
[edit] Illness
In 2003 he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and was bound to a wheelchair. He continued to work, and participated in the meetings of the Third International Congress of the Spanish Language, in 2004, where he gave a humorous lecture about taboo words and the final speech. On 26 April 2006 the Senate awarded him the Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Mention of Honour for his career and his contribution to Argentine culture.
In January 18, 2007 he announced that he would be no longer drawing his own strips because he had lost full control of his hand, but stated that he would go on writing the scripts for his characters.
On 19 July 2007, Fontanarrosa suffered a respiratory failure, and was taken to a hospital. He died there about one hour later. His funeral service and the funeral procession on the next day were attended by thousands of common citizens, writers, actors, and political authorities. The procession stopped beside the Gigante de Arroyito stadium (home of Rosario Central, a team of which Fontanarrosa was possibly its most notable fan) and then continued north to the neighbouring city of Granadero Baigorria, where Fontanarrosa was buried at the Parque de la Eternidad cemetery.
The main national news services and printed media of Argentina devoted special segments to Fontanarrosa's legacy and to the funeral service. The national government declared a Mourning Day for National Culture, and the municipal government of Rosario ordered flags to be flown at half mast.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 31, 2023
El más flojo de Fontanarrosa hasta ahora de los que he leído. Sobresalen los cuentos en el bar ("El mayor de mis defectos" por ejemplo) y "Nuevos aforismo de Ernesto Esteban Etchenique" (que es hilarante); pero el resto no brillan.
April 12, 2020
Uno de los que que debía de Fontanarrosa, ideal para seguir disfrutando de su humor e inventiva.
May 2, 2020
Historias cortas muy entretenidas. Mucha creatividad en los cuentos de Roberto Fontana Rosa.
December 15, 2025
me reí en voz alta con varios cuentos, otros tres me aburrieron y los dejé en la segunda página. en general son graciosos y fue divertido para leer.
April 6, 2020
Otra buena colección de Fontanarrosa, como siempre hay historias más exitosas (Nuevos Aforismos de Ernesto Esteban Etchenique, y particularmente El Día que Cerraron "El Cairo") y algunas no tanto (Regreso al Cuadrilátero). Un placer escapar al mundo que crea en sus historias por un rato donde lo más importante del mundo son: los bares/cafés, el deporte, y la nostalgia.
June 10, 2015
La verdad, muy desilusionado con este libro.
No que esperase demasiado. Fontanarrosa es un escritor normalmente aceptable, simpático e ingenioso, a pesar de unos cuantos errores de zoología, geografía, historia o uso de palabras "difíciles" que molestan al lector quisquilloso (yo, por ejemplo). Pero normalmente esos errores parecen a propósito, culpa de la ignorancia del narrador y no del escritor.
Todo eso está acá pero potenciado.
La mayoría de los cuentos parecen escritos de taquito, sin mayor entusiasmo, repitiendo fórmulas que, en otros libros y en otros cuentos, daban mucho mejor resultado. Y encima acá los errores ya dejan de parecer a propósito y suenan más a desprolijidad, a descuido, a escritura a las apuradas. Por ejemplo, el cuento "Historias de Hollywood: Roy T. Thomas", que (sin spoilear) menciona a la televisión en una época en que esta no estaba inventada, cuando para los fines narrativos daba exactamente lo mismo haber usado "seriales cinematográficos" y si bien el cuento no hubiera dejado de ser flojo u olvidable al menos sería flojo y olvidable, no flojo e inolvidable por su torpeza.
Lo que no quiere decir que no tenga cuentos buenos. El que da el título al libro, "Nuevos aforismos de Ernesto Esteban Etchenique", "El reproche", "Verano del 53" y "El día que cerraron el Cairo" son muy buenos; "Regreso al cuadrilátero", "El Ñoqui", "Cartas para Annie" y "Después de las cuatro" están bien y hay dos o tres más que zafan. Pero más de medio libro es francamente irritante, aburrido y desilusionante.
Y es una pena, porque otras cosas de Fontanarrosa no estaban taaaaan mal.
En fin.
No que esperase demasiado. Fontanarrosa es un escritor normalmente aceptable, simpático e ingenioso, a pesar de unos cuantos errores de zoología, geografía, historia o uso de palabras "difíciles" que molestan al lector quisquilloso (yo, por ejemplo). Pero normalmente esos errores parecen a propósito, culpa de la ignorancia del narrador y no del escritor.
Todo eso está acá pero potenciado.
La mayoría de los cuentos parecen escritos de taquito, sin mayor entusiasmo, repitiendo fórmulas que, en otros libros y en otros cuentos, daban mucho mejor resultado. Y encima acá los errores ya dejan de parecer a propósito y suenan más a desprolijidad, a descuido, a escritura a las apuradas. Por ejemplo, el cuento "Historias de Hollywood: Roy T. Thomas", que (sin spoilear) menciona a la televisión en una época en que esta no estaba inventada, cuando para los fines narrativos daba exactamente lo mismo haber usado "seriales cinematográficos" y si bien el cuento no hubiera dejado de ser flojo u olvidable al menos sería flojo y olvidable, no flojo e inolvidable por su torpeza.
Lo que no quiere decir que no tenga cuentos buenos. El que da el título al libro, "Nuevos aforismos de Ernesto Esteban Etchenique", "El reproche", "Verano del 53" y "El día que cerraron el Cairo" son muy buenos; "Regreso al cuadrilátero", "El Ñoqui", "Cartas para Annie" y "Después de las cuatro" están bien y hay dos o tres más que zafan. Pero más de medio libro es francamente irritante, aburrido y desilusionante.
Y es una pena, porque otras cosas de Fontanarrosa no estaban taaaaan mal.
En fin.
Read
October 2, 2008juaaaaaaa...como Roberto no hay dos... para leerlo todas las veces que sea posible
March 30, 2015
Muy bueno, no excelente, pero muy bueno. El cuento que me encantó fue el de la ballena suicida, y el del señor Cardaña.
July 7, 2016
Simpático, absurdo, irónico, por momentos desternillante... hay para todos los gustos en estos cuentos del maestro Fontanarrosa. Para pasar un buen rato y disfrutar
Read
November 7, 2014Libro de cuentos dividido en seis partes temáticas del Negro Fontanarrosa.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews