Abel Posse
The novelist's father, Ernesto Parentini, a porteño of Italian parents, was one of the founders of Artistas Argentinos Asociados and was the producer of the legendary feature film La guerra gaucha (1942), based on the text by the poet Leopoldo Lugones. The young Abel Posse grew up in the Argentine capital near Rivadavia street, and given his father's profession was exposed to the artistic and cultural milieu this most sophisticated of the South American capitals had to offer. The “Queen of the River Plate”, as Buenos Aires came to be known, fascinated the young man, (4) and his memories are evoked in his novel Los demonios ocultos (1987).
He was able to mingle with the glamorous stars of Argentine show business, like Chas de Cruz, Pierina Dealessi, Ulises Petit de Murat, Muñoz Azpiri, the writer of radioplays which were performed by Eva Duarte (de Perón), as well as the tango composers Aníbal Troilo and Homero Manzi. Such were the family connections to show business that one of his aunts, Esmeralda Leiva de Heredia, better known as “La Jardín”, was an actress friend of Eva Duarte. (5) Growing up in this environment enabled him to obtain an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the tango repertoire and its culture, (6) which imbues his novel La reina del Plata (1988).
Arvid Posse
Arvid Posse was born at Rosendal manor in Malmöhus County, as the son of Governor Count Fredrik Posse and Baroness Magdalena Charlotta Bennet. In 1835 he enrolled at Lund University, receiving a law degree in 1840. The same year, he began as a trainee at the Court of Appeal of Skåne and Blekinge ("Hovrätten över Skåne och Blekinge"), during which time he worked both at district courts and at the Court of Appeal itself. Later, he was appointed Assistant District Judge ("vice häradshövding") and in 1846 a clerk at the Court of Appeal, and in 1847 was made an Associate Justice at the Court. In 1849 Posse left public service and resettled at Charlottenlund Manor and devoted his time to agriculture, enterprise and local politics (being, e.g., 1865-68 the President of Malmöhus County Council).