Marcial Lafuente Estefanía
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Marcial Lafuente Estefanía | |
|---|---|
| Born | Marcial Antonio Lafuente Estefanía 13 June 1903 Toledo, Spain |
| Died | 7 August 1984 (aged 81) Madrid, Spain |
| Pen name | M. L. Estefanía, Tony Spring, Arizona, María Luisa Beorlegui, Cecilia de Iraluce, Dan Lewis, Dan Luce |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Genre | western fiction, romance novel |
| Spouse | María Luisa Beorlegui Carril |
| Children | Francisco Lafuente Beorlegui, Federico Lafuente Beorlegui |
Marcial Lafuente Estefanía (Spanish: [maɾˈθjal laˈfwente estefaˈnia]; (13 June 1903 Toledo-7 August 1984 Madrid) was a prolific Spanish writer of romance and western fiction, widely considered as the leading voice of the latter genre in the Hispanic world. The most conservative sources estimate he wrote 2,600 books.[1]
Eventually, his sons, Francisco and Federico and his grandson Francisco, would join the family business by churning out novels under his name.[1][2][3]
Lafuente Estefanía was born in Toledo in 1903. His father, Federico Lafuente López-Elías, was a lawyer and also an author.[4] He studied industrial engineering and worked in Spain, Angola, South America, and the United States, where he traveled between 1928 and 1931.[1][4] During the Spanish Civil War he would become an artillery general in the Republican army. Upon their defeat, he refused to go into exile, and during the subsequent repression he was incarcerated several times and nearly executed.[1][5]
According to Lafuente's son, Federico Lafuente Beorlegui (see Spanish naming customs), during the war Lafuente Estefanía met humor novelist and playwright Enrique Jardiel Poncela, who advised him to write stories that would amuse people, as he believed it to be "the only way to live off writing". Once released from prison in the early 40s, Lafuente began writing mass-market paperbacks, initially for a small publisher in Vigo.[2] His political allegiances and his imprisonment had made him an outcast under the fascist regime, closing him all doors to any jobs in his own trade: thus mass-market literature became his lifesaver.[3]
His first books were romances, which he published under his wife's name, María Luisa Beorlegui.[4] In 1943 he published his first western, La mascota de la pradera. He would continue to cultivate this genre until his death.[1]
