Fuentes Tells How He Stays Aloft ‘on Wings of Words’

When Carlos Fuentes last visited the Los Angeles Central Library, he promised Susan Kent, city librarian, that he would return again “on the wings of words.”

The renowned Mexican diplomat-author kept that promise when he returned to receive the L.A. Library Foundation’s prestigious literary award at its Sixth Annual Awards Gala. Previous winners have been E.L. Doctorow, Louise Erdrich, Seamus Heaney, John Updike and Doris Kearns Goodwin.

In accepting the award at ceremonies last week in the library’s Mark Taper Auditorium, Fuentes offered advice for young writers.

His first commandment is discipline--the daily name for creation, he says. But he acknowledges that he adheres to that commandment in different degrees.

“If I manage to write a decent op-ed piece in Mexico City, where the reality of political life constantly surpasses fiction, I feel well-served,” he said. “There, I fill my vessels of communication and renew my creative juices with a fiery diet of tequila and enchiladas.”

In his London digs, Fuentes returns to strict discipline, adhering to a writing schedule every day. “It’s my literary fortress, with its awful food, bad climate and the cold courtesy of the islanders, where I treasure in my ears the constant sounds of my country--the sound of our women making tortillas and the hugs of our men, clapping each other’s back.”

He said he implores young writers to read voraciously. “There is no new literary creation without the support of previous tradition; and there is no tradition that survives without the juices of a new creation. The next reader of ‘Don Quixote’ will always be the first reader.”

As for literary criticism, he advises young writers to ignore it. “Newspaper reviews pass like a whistle. Writers can console themselves by remembering that there is no statue anywhere in the world honoring a literary critic!”

The event also paid tribute to Janice Taper Lazarof of the Mark Taper Foundation, who received the Light of Learning Award for a lead gift of $1 million that helped launch the foundation and fund the auditorium; and Liam McGee, president of Bank of America California, for ongoing corporate support. Raymond R. Reisler, executive director of the Taper Foundation, accepted on behalf of Lazarof. Event chairman was Pamela M. Mullin; foundation president Vanessa C.L. Chang helped present awards.

Among those attending were Fuentes’ wife, Sylvia, and members of Gregory Peck’s family--including his wife Veronique, son Anthony, daughter Cecilia and her husband Daniel Voll. Peck, a friend of Fuentes, was unable to attend. He starred in the 1989 film adaptation of “Old Gringo,” Fuentes’ novel that was the first by a Mexican author to become a bestseller in the United States.