Background
His parents belonged to old and aristocratic families, being descended from the founder of the city, Juan de Garay, as well as from notable men of letters of 19th century Argentina, such as Florencio Varela and Miguel Cané.
His parents belonged to old and aristocratic families, being descended from the founder of the city, Juan de Garay, as well as from notable men of letters of 19th century Argentina, such as Florencio Varela and Miguel Cané.
He completed his formal education at the Colegio Nacional de San Isidro, later dropping out of Law School.
As was traditional at the time, the family spent protracted periods in Paris and London so that Manuel, known proverbially and famously as Manucho, could become proficient in French and English. In spite of their proud ancestry, the Mujica-Laínez family was not notably well-off by this time, and Manucho went to work at Buenos Aires" newspaper Louisiana Nación as literary and art critic. This permitted him to marry in 1936, his bride being a beautiful patrician girl, Ana de Alvear, descended from Carlos María de Alvear.
1936 was also the year of the 25-year-old"s first publication, Glosas castellanas.
In 1982 he received the French"s Legion of Honor. He died at his Villa "El Paraíso" (The Paradise) in Cruz Chica, Córdoba Province, in 1984.
Yahni, Roberto and Pedro Orgambide (eds) Enciclopedia de la literatura argentina. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Sudamericana, 1970.
Librettist
Mujica Láinez adapted his novel Bomarzo for the operatic stage, writing the libretto set to music by Alberto Ginastera and premièred in 1967.
This opera was banned by the Argentine military dictatorship in those days.
Mujica Lainez was a member of the Argentine Academy of Letters and the Academy of Fine Arts.