Master of brevity dies in Mexico

The Guatemalan writer Augusto Monterroso, winner of Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias prize for literature and an acclaimed master of the short story, has died, his family has said.

Monterroso, who was 81, died of a heart attack at the weekend at his home in Mexico City where he lived with his wife, the Mexican author Barbara Jacobs.

The writer was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, but held Guatemalan citizenship.

He had lived in Mexico since 1944 when he was exiled from Guatemala for opposing the dictator Jorge Ubico and protesting against US-owned banana plantations operating in Central America.

He returned to Guatemala in 1996 to receive the country's National Literature Award.

"He is one of the cleanest, most intelligent, transparent and smiling authors in the Spanish language," the Mexican author Carlos Fuentes said of Monterroso in 2000, the year he won the Prince of Asturias prize.

Monterroso is credited with one of the shortest stories of all literature, El Dinosaurio (The Dinosaur), which reads in its entirety: "When he awoke, the dinosaur was still there."

He also wrote the critically acclaimed The Black Sheep and Other Fables, which has been translated into English. Other works included Perpetual Movement and All the Rest is Silence.

He taught literature at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and received the Juan Rulfo award for Latin American Literature in 1996 as well as the highest honour the Mexican government can bestow on foreign dignitaries, the Aguila Azteca, in 1988.

Monterroso is survived by his wife, two daughters and five grandchildren. His body was to be cremated yesterday, and his ashes were to be taken to his home. No public memorial was planned, family members said.