Alejo Carpentier

Alejo Carpentier y Valmont (December 26, 1904 – April 24, 1980) was a Cuban novelist, essay writer, and musicologist who greatly influenced Latin American literature during its famous "boom" period. He was among the first practitioners of magical realism and exerted a decisive influence on the works of younger Latin American writers.

Life

Early life and education

Carpentier was born in Lausanne, Switzerland. For a long time it was believed that he was born in La Habana, where his family moved immediately after his birth. Following Carpentier's death, his birth certificate was found in Switzerland. [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9020463/Alejo-Carpentier Encyclopedia Britannica, Alejo Carpentier. Article last accessed November 15, 2007.] ] His mother was Russian and a professor of languages, and his father was a French architect.

When Alejo was 12, his family moved from Cuba to Paris. He began to study music theory at the Lycée Jeanson de Sailly. When the family returned to Cuba in the 1920s, Carpentier began courses in architecture, a degree which he never completed. He also studied music.Colchie, Thomas (editor), "A Hammock Beneath the Mangoes: stories from Latin America"; Penguin Group, 416–417(1991).]

Cuba and exile in France

Carpentier became a cultural journalist, writing mostly about avant-garde developments in the arts, particularly music. His journalistic work was considered leftist and helped found the Cuban Communist Party. Together with the composer Amadeo Roldán, Carpentier helped organize the Cuban premieres of works by Stravinsky and Poulenc.

In 1927, Carpentier was arrested for opposing the Gerardo Machado y Morales dictatorship and spent forty days in jail. It was during this brief period in jail that he started working on his first novel, "Ecué-Yamba-O" (1933), an exploration of Afro-Cuban traditions among the poor of the island. He later criticized it for being superficial. Carpentier was released in early 1928. After his release, he escaped Cuba with the help of poet journalist Robert Desnos who had lent him his passport and papers.

While exiled in France, Carpentier was introduced to the surrealists by Desnos, including André Breton, Paul Eluard, Louis Aragon, Jacques Prévert, and Antonin Artaud. He also met Guatemalan author Miguel Angel Asturias, whose work on pre-Columbian mythology influenced his writing. He continued to earn his living by writing on contemporary culture, both in French and Spanish, as well as contributing to the Communist Party journal. While in France, Carpentier made several visits to Spain, during which he developed a fascination for the Baroque. In 1937 (during the Spanish Civil War), he attended an international conference in Madrid of writers against fascism.

Return to Cuba and years in Venezuela

Carpentier returned to Cuba and continued to work as a journalist at the outbreak of World War II. He also began research on a book on Cuban music, published in 1946 as "La música en Cuba" (Music in Cuba). He also wrote stories which were later collected in "The War of Time" (1958). While in Cuba, Carpentier attended a santería ceremony that was to develop his interest in Afro-Cubanism.

In 1943, accompanied by French theatrical director Louis Jouvet, Carpentier made a crucial trip to Haiti, during which he visited the fortress of the Citadelle La Ferriere and the Palace of Sans-Souci, both built by the black king Henri Christophe. This trip, along with readings from Oswald Spengler's cyclical interpretation of history, provided the inspiration for his second novel, "El Reino de Este Mundo" "(The Kingdom of this World)" (1949).

In 1945, Carpentier moved to Caracas. From 1945 to 1959 he lived in Venezuela, which is the obvious inspiration for the unnamed South American country in which much of "The Lost Steps" takes place. In 1949, he finished his novel "The Kingdom of this World". This novel has a prologue that "outlines Carpentier's faith in the destiny of Latin America and the aesthetic implications of its peculiar cultural heritage."

Later life

He returned to Cuba after the Fidel Castro's Communist revolution in 1959. He worked for the State Publishing House while he completed the baroque-style book, "El Siglo de las Luces" "(Explosion in a Cathedral)" (1962)." This novel discusses the advent of the Enlightenment and the ideas of the French Revolution in the New World. It has twin leitmotifs of the printing press and the guillotine and can be read as a "meditation on the dangers inherent in all revolutions as they begin to confront the temptations of dictatorship.". After reading the book Gabriel García Márquez is said to have discarded the first draft of One Hundred Years of Solitude and begun again from scratch. [González Echevarría]

In 1966, he settled in Paris as he served as Cuban ambassador to France. In 1975 he was the recipient of the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca. He received the Cervantes PrizeFr icon [http://www.chez.com/jpquin/carpenti.html Une autre vision de Cuba] ] in 1977 and was recipient of the French Laureates Prix Médicis étranger in 1979 for "La harpe et l'ombre".Prix Médicis] Fr icon [http://www.lettresdecuba.cult.cu/global/loader.php?&cont=showpersona.php&num=1&seccion=4&id=7 Lettres de Cuba, Alejo Carpentier] ]

Carpentier was struggling with cancer as he completed his final novel and he died in Paris on April 24, 1980. His remains were returned to Cuba for interment in the Colon Cemetery, Havana.

Themes and famous works

Carpentier is widely known for his baroque style of writing and his theory of "lo real maravilloso,". It was in the prologue to "The Kingdom of this World", a novel of the Haitian Revolution, that he described his vision of "lo real maravilloso" ("But what is the history of Latin America but a chronicle of magical realism?").Gosser Esquilín, Mary Ann. "Caribbean Identities Reconstructed and Redefined in Women's Narrative Texts: Marie Chauvet, Myriam Warner-Vieyra, and Ana Lydia Vega". Latin American Issues, 13(2) (1997). [http://webpub.allegheny.edu/group/LAS/LatinAmIssues/Articles/Vol13/LAI_vol_13_section_II.html] ] Some critics interpret the "real maravilloso" as being synonymous with magical realism. His most famous works include:

*"Ecue-yamba-o!" ("Praised Be the Lord!", 1933)
*"The Kingdom of this World" (1949)
*"The Lost Steps" (1953)
*"El acoso" (1956) ("Manhunt")
*"War of Time" (1958)
*"El siglo de las luces" (1962) ("Explosion in a Cathedral")
*"El recurso del método" (1974) ("Reasons of State")
*"Concierto barroco" (1974) ("Concierto barroco"), based on the 1709 meeting of Vivaldi, Handel and Domenico Scarlatti, with cameo appearances by Wagner and Stravinsky, and fictional characters from the new world who inspire the Venetian composer's opera, Motezuma.
*"La consagración de la primavera" (1978) ("The Consecration of Spring")
*"El arpa y la sombra" (1978) ("The Harp and the Shadow") dealing with Columbus.

Quotes

*"For what is the story of [Latin] America if not a chronicle of the marvealous in the real."
*" [A] fuerza de querer suscitar lo maravilloso a todo trance, los taumaturgos se hacen burócratas." ( [B] y creating the marvellous at all cost, the thaumaturgists become bureaucrats).

Notes

Further reading

;English
*The logic of fetishism : Alejo Carpentier and the Cuban tradition / James J Pancrazio., 2004
*Carpentier's Baroque fiction : returning Medusa's gaze / Steve Wakefield., 2004
*Postmodern tales of slavery in the Americas : from Alejo Carpentier to Charles Johnson / Timothy J Cox., 2001
*Carpentier's Proustian fiction : the influence of Marcel Proust on Alejo Carpentier / Sally Harvey., 1994
*Myth and history in Caribbean fiction : Alejo Carpentier, Wilson Harris, and Edouard Glissant / Barbara Webb., 1992
*Alejo Carpentier, the pilgrim at home / Roberto González Echevarría, 1990
*Alejo Carpentier (Twayne World Author's Series) / Donald Leslie Shaw., 1985
*Alejo Carpentier : bibliographical guide / Roberto González Echevarría., 1983
*Carpentier, El reino de este mundo / Richard A Young., 1983
*Carpentier, Los pasos perdidos / Verity Smith., 1983
*Alchemy of a hero : a comparative study of the works of Alejo Carpentier and Mario Vargas Llosa / Bobs Tusa., 1983
*Alejo Carpentier, a comprehensive study / Bobs Tusa., 1982
*Alejo Carpentier and his early works / Frank Janney., 1981
*Three authors of alienation : Bombal, Onetti, Carpentier / Michael Ian Adams., 1975
*Alejo Carpentier : his Euro-Caribbean vision / Lloyd King., 1972

;Spanish
*Alejo Carpentier y la cultura del surrealismo en América Latina / Anke Birkenmaier., 2006
*Alejo Carpentier y el mundo clasico / Inmaculada López Calahorro., 2006
*Alejo Carpentier ante la crítica / Fernando Ainsa., 2005
*Alejo Carpentier, el peregrino en su patria / Roberto González Echevarría., 2004
*Nuevas lecturas de alejo Carpentier / Alexis Márquez Rodríguez., 2004
*Diccionario de conceptos de Alejo Carpentier / Víctor Fowler., 2004
*Estudios carpenterianos / Sergio Chaple., 2004
*Un camino de medio siglo : Alejo Carpentier y la narrativa de lo real maravilloso / Leonardo Padura., 2002
*Música y escritura en Alejo Carpentier / Gabriel María Rubio Navarro., 1999
*Carpentier : una revisión lineal / Dinko Cvitanovic., 1997
*Las últimas obras de Alejo Carpentier / Antonio Fama., 1995
*Alejo Carpentier, el peregrino en su patria / Roberto González Echevarría., 1993
*Cómo leer a Alejo Carpentier / Patrick Collard., 1991
*El diálogo con la historia de Alejo Carpentier / Oscar Velayos Zurdo., 1985
*El acá y el allá en la narrativa de Alejo Carpentier / Sixto Plaza., 1984
*Lo barroco y lo real-maravilloso en la obra de Alejo Carpentier / Alexis Márquez Rodríguez., 1982
*Música y épica en la novela de Alejo Carpentier / Leonardo Acosta., 1981
*Alejo Carpentier : estudios sobre su narrativa / Esther P Mocega-González., 1980
*Alejo Carpentier : el tiempo del hombre / Eduardo González., 1978
*El "último" Carpentier / José Vila Selma., 1978
*Para leer a Alejo Carpentier / Jorge Oscar Pickenhayn., 1978
*Recopilación de textos sobre Alejo Carpentier / Salvador Arias., 1977
*Realismo mágico y lo real maravilloso en El reino de este mundo y El siglo de las luces / Juan Barroso., 1977
*La narrativa de Alejo Carpentier : el concepto del tiempo como tema fundamental / Esther P Mocega-González., 1975