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Manuel Mujica Lainez

Argentine writer (1910–1984)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 26, 2026
Entity authorityQ940594 ↗
Source-derived summary

Manuel Mujica Lainez (11 September 1910 – 21 April 1984) was an Argentine novelist, essayist, translator and art critic.

He is mainly known for his cycle of historical novels called "La saga porteña" (The Buenos Aires Saga), consisting of Los ídolos (1953), La casa (1954), Los viajeros (1955) and Invitados en El Paraíso (1957); as well as his cycle of historical fantasy novels consisting of Bomarzo (1962), El unicornio (1965) and El laberinto (1974). He is also known for his first two short story collections Aquí vivieron (1949) and Misteriosa Buenos Aires (1950).

Life

His parents belonged to old and aristocratic families, being descended from the founder of the city, Juan de Garay, as well as from notable men of letters of 19th century Argentina, such as Florencio Varela and Miguel Cané. As was traditional at the time, the family spent protracted periods in Paris and London so that Manuel, known proverbially and famously as "Manucho", could become proficient in French and English. He completed his formal education at the Colegio Nacional de San Isidro, later dropping out of law school.

In spite of their proud ancestry, the Mujica Lainez family was not notably well-off by this time, and he went to work at Buenos Aires' newspaper La Nación as literary and art critic. This permitted him to marry in 1936, his bride being a beautiful patrician girl, Ana de Alvear, descended from Carlos María de Alvear. They had two sons (Diego and Manuel) and a daughter (Ana). 1936 was also the year of the 25-year-old's first publication, Glosas castellanas.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Manuel Mujica Lainez” as argentine writer (1910–1984). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1910, 1984, 1953, 1954—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1910-09-11. The account is most persuasive where Manuel, Mujica and Lainez can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as argentine writer (1910–1984). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q940594. VIAF identifies the subject as 24321. The Library of Congress control number is n79077403. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1910, 1984, 1953 and 1954.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Manuel Mujica Lainez”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Manuel Mujica Lainez primary sources, Manuel Mujica Lainez archive and Manuel research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Manuel Mujica Lainez” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.