Humberto Costantini

Humberto "Cacho" Costantini (April 8, 1924 – June 7, 1987) was an Argentine writer and poet whose work was influenced by Buenos Aires slang (porteño).

Biography Costantini was born in Buenos Aires, the only child of Italian Jewish immigrants who lived in the barrio of Villa Pueyrredon. He married Nela Nur Fernandez and the couple had three children, Violeta, Ana und Daniel († 2022). A medical veterinarian, he practiced near the city of Lobería, Buenos Aires Province. In 1955, he returned to the city of Buenos Aires where he worked in various jobs: veterinarian, salesman, potter, and medical researcher. Meanwhile, he worked tirelessly in off-hours, "nailed to the chair" as he said, writing and rewriting his novels.

Costantini was politically active from his youth. In his student days he confronted the Fascists of the Alianza Libertadora Nacionalista and was a member of the Communist Party until serious differences of opinion with the bureaucratic and pro-Soviet leadership caused him to leave it. He greatly admired Ernesto Che Guevara. In the 1970s he was actively engaged with the revolutionary left and was on official blacklists.

In 1976, Costantini was forced into exile in Mexico where he continued writing. His unfinished work, Rapsodía de Raquel Liberman, recounts the exploits of a Jewish prostitute enslaved by the sinister organization Zwi Migdal who ultimately leaves that life behind her. This work shows a fundamental theme of Costani's: "To do what is right in the eyes of Jehova, meaning to fulfill one's destiny."

Julio Cortázar respected Costantini's work: "I love what Humberto Costantini does, and am full of confidence in his work. He is, for me, a very important writer."

In addition to English and Costantini's native Spanish, his works have been translated into many languages including Czech, English, Finnish, German, Hebrew, Polish, Russian and Swedish, among others.