CORIN TELLADO HAS PASSED AWAY

A brief post to report that Corín Tellado, has passed away at the age of 81. She was the queen of romantic fiction (folletín). Her real name was  María del Socorro Tellado López and she wrote more than  4,000 novels that were translated into several languages.  She sold more than 400 million copies of these novels.


Telenovelas have an undeniable link to the literature of folletín and Corín Tellado influenced writers who are devoted to the telenovela rosa. Her work suffered the same reception paradox of telenovelas: genres of mass consumption and mass deprecation. 

I should mention also that the telenovela I'm currently studying, LA VIDA ENTERA, has a direct link to Corín Tellado and the literature of folletín. LA VIDA ENTERA is located in a magazine for women. In the telenovela, the character Licenciado Bruno Merchán (Héctor Manrique), writes a folletín under the pseudonym "Crucita Volcán", in which he tells the story of suffering lovers "Lirio del Valle" and "Francisco José" , and the obstacles imposed by the evil "Artemio". It's a novela inside the telenovela. 

BEHIND THE CAMERAS OF LA VIDA ENTERA-PART 1

I haven't written in my blog in too many days. The semester has entered its last month, LA VIDA ENTERA, the telenovela I'm currently studying, has entered its crucial stage, and I don't get to sleep much these days.

In March I was in Caracas studying this telenovela's production process. I do that through hours of participant observation on the set and in-depth conversations with all involved in production. These are long, complex and dense days. There isn't a second of boredom. LA VIDA ENTERA is a telenovela with a particular "look" and its production process is hard. It also boasts a cast in which talent predominates. Hence, it's a great learning experience and a privilege to talk to these actors. This time, in addition to deepening my understanding of how characters are constructed and of the decision processes of all involved, I submitted myself to the exhaustion of the shooting schedule, and to long hours in the set and locations. In the next blog posts I'll share excerpts of what I saw behind the cameras of LA VIDA ENTERA. 

This is a short video I took while they were taping a sequence of scenes in which characters Tata (Marisa Román) and Guille (Luis Gerónimo Abreu) visit an art gallery:

Here's a picture of the actors reviewing their lines before taping a scene:

And another picture of the actors rehearsing in front of producer Verónica and director Edgar Liendo:

TELENOVELA: LATIN AMERICAN SENTIMENTAL CULTURE?

From March 23 to 31, Casa de América in Madrid celebrates the discussion conference:  TELENOVELA: ¿CULTURA SENTIMENTAL LATINOAMERICANA? 

The conference will present panels, roundtable discussions, music and films related to telenovelas. Guest speakers include writers, actors, producers and academic researchers. 

I highly recommend following the conference via its  activities calendar.

IN CARACAS: INSIDE LA VIDA ENTERA

This isn't really a blog post, it's a note so you know that I haven't forgotten about my blog. I'm in Caracas inside the production of telenovela LA VIDA ENTERA. My days are long and intense. This is why I haven't written in my blog for too long.