10 Facts About Roberto Arlt

Roberto Arlt was an Argentine novelist, storyteller, playwright, journalist and inventor.

Roberto Arlt was born Roberto Godofredo Christophersen Arlt in Buenos Aires on April 2,1900.

Roberto Arlt's father, Karl Arlt, was from Posen and his mother was Ekatherine Lobstraibitzer, born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a native of Trieste and Italian speaking.

Roberto Arlt's relationship with his father was stressful, as Karl Arlt was a very severe and austere man, by Arlt's own account.

Roberto Arlt used these columns to comment, in his characteristically forthright and unpretentious style, on the peculiarities, hypocrisies, strangeness, and beauty of everyday life in Argentina's capital.

Between March and May 1930, Roberto Arlt wrote a series of "Aguafuertes" as a correspondent to "El Mundo" in Rio de Janeiro.

At the time of his death, Roberto Arlt was hoping to be sent to the United States as a correspondent.

Roberto Arlt's coffin was lowered from his apartment by an operated crane, an ironic end, considering his bizarre stories.

Roberto Arlt has been massively influential on Latin American literature, including the 1960s "Boom" generation of writers such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Roberto Arlt is widely considered to be one of the founders of the modern Argentine novel; among those contemporary writers who claim to have been influenced by Arlt are Abelardo Castillo, Ricardo Piglia and Cesar Aira.