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).
Paul Alexis
Alexis was born at Aix-en-Provence. He attended the Collège Bourbon where he first learned of Zola, who was himself a graduate. At the direction of his parents he studied law at the University of Aix, but he longed for the life of a writer, and finally left Aix-en-Provence for Paris. He arrived in the capital in 1869 where he quickly became acquainted with Zola and his family. He contributed articles to a number of newspapers including "L'Avenir national", "La Cloche", "Le Corsaire," "Le Cri du peuple" (under the pseudonym Trublot), "Gil Blas,", "Le Journal", "La Réforme", "Le Recueil", and "Le Voltaire". He wrote novels in the naturalist style as well as several plays, some of which were written in collaboration with Oscar Méténier.