- Fernando Alegría
Fernando Alegría
Biography
Fernando Alegría: "Poet, writer, literary critic and scholar"Fernando Alegría was born on September 26, 1918 in Santiago, Chile, son of Santiago Alegría Toro and Julia Alfaro Olivares. He married Carmen Letona Meléndez on Jan. 29, 1943.
He received his M.A. from Bowling Green State University in 1941 and his Ph.D. from University of California at Berkeley in 1947.From 1964 -1967 Alegría was a professor at the University of California in Berkeley. From 1967-1998 he was a Professor at the Stanford University and for many years he was Chair of the Spanish and Portuguese Language Departments there. He sat on the Board of Trustees at the Western Institute for Social Research (WISR) for about twenty years beginning with its inception in 1975.
Alegría served as Cultural Attaché from the government of Salvador Allende to the United States from 1970 through 1973. He has been the representative of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language in the United States for many years. Among the many awards he has received is the Latin American Prize of Literature.
Documentary
A documentary about the life of Chile’s revolutionary poet Fernando Alegría was produced in 2004."¡Viva Chile Mierda!"
The documentary film is a humanistic portrayal of one of the most influential figures from Chile and a key figure in the advancement of Latino culture in the United States of America.
Alegría’s Viva Chile Mierda, the most recited poem of the Allende era, was written in the sixties. In the sixties the world was set on fire. It was a tumultuous time. Love and rebellion were key words under which youth rallied to change the world. It was the time of the Black Panthers; the free speech movement; peace marches; the sexual revolution; visions of social justice; it was the time when Fernando Alegría was a professor at UC Berkeley; it was also the time of the University Without Walls movement that responded to the call of universal higher education.
Fernando Alegría grew up in the Independencia barrio of Santiago de Chile. This barrio was filled with the dreams of immigrants from all over the world and gave birth to the lyrical voices of Pablo Neruda, Violeta Parra, Volodia Teitelboim, and gave Alegría not only his voice but also his indomitable spirit of rebellion and sense of national identity.
As an academic, visionary, writer and revolutionary Alegría brought prestige and legitimacy to the Spanish language in the United States of America at a time when children were punished in schools for speaking their native tongues. Fernando Alegría’s works, both factual or fictional, capture the spirit of the people and places they depict. His gift of being able to articulate the feelings of a people, and to do so in a witty, reflective, and lyrically beautiful manner has endeared Alegría to his countrymen and earned him recognition from many literary and cultural icons such as Thomas Mann, Allen Ginsberg, Angela Davis and Joan Baez.
Film Festivals
[8th Los Angeles International Film Festival]
[HBO presents: New York International Latino Film Festival. 2004]
[Competencia Nacional de Documentales del Festival Internacional de Cine de Valparaiso, Chile. 2004]
[San Francisco Latino Film Festival Cine Accion]
[The 7th Cine Las Americas International Film Festival in Austin]
[The 6th Annual Vistas International Latino Film Festival in Dallas. 2004]
[Boston International Latino Film Festival. The Harvard Film Archives]
[The 26th International Film Festival in Havana. 2004]
[1st Sydney Latin American Film Festival. 2005]
[2008 Melbourne Latin American Film Festival]
Bibliography
Recabarren. Santiago, Chile: Editora Antares, 1938. 162 pp. (Biografía novelada).
Como un árbol rojo. Santiago, Chile: Editora Santiago, 1968. 200 pp. (Edición revisada de Recabarren)
Lautaro, joven libertador de Arauco. Santiago, Chile: Zig-Zag, 1943. 238 pp. Traducciones: Lautaro. New York: Farrar and Rinehart, 1944; Lautaro, o joven libertador de Arauco. São Paulo, Brasil: Edicoes Melhoramentos, 1951; Lautaro, Tinarul liberator al Araucanilor. Bercescu: Editi Tineretului, 1957; Lautaro. Sofía, Bulgaria, 1976.
La maratón del Palomo. Buenos Aires: Talleres Gráficos Garamond, l968. l65 pp.; 2a. ed., l97l.
Camaleón. México, D. F.: Edición y Distribución Iberoamericana de Publicaciones, S.A., 1950. 302 pp.
Caballo de copas. Santiago, Chile: Zig-Zag, 1957. 227 pp. (Biblioteca de novelistas). Traducciones: Atout cheval. Paris, Francia: Stock, 1960; My Horse Gonsalez. New York: Las Américas Publishing Co., 1964; Camponiul. Bucuresti, Rumania: Editura Univers, 1973; Prisovaia Loshadi. Moskua: Kodosistinaia Literatura, 1973.
Mañana los guerreros. Santiago, Chile: Zig-Zag, l964. 274 pp; 2a. ed.l965. Tr. Der Fruhling der jungen Krieger. Berlin: Verlag und Welt, 1975. Tr. The Maypole warriors. Pittsburgh: Latin American Literary review Press, 1993.
Amerika, Amerikka, Amerikkka, manifiestos de Vietnam. Santiago, Chile: Editorial Universitaria, l970. l90 pp. 2a. ed.,l974. Traducción: The Funhouse. Houston: Arte Público Press, l986. (Traducción de Stephen Kessler).
El paso de los gansos. Long Island City, N.Y.: Ediciones Puelche, l975). 2l5 pp.; 2a. ed., l980. Traducción: The Chilean Spring. Pittsburgh, PA. : Latin American Literary Review Press, 1980. (Traducción de Stephen Freedman). Tr. Stechschritt Roman. Berlin: Volk und Welt, 1987.
Allende. Mi vecino el Presidente. (novela). Santiago de Chile: Planeta/ Biblioteca del Sur, l989. 292 pp. Traducción: Allende: A Novel. Stanford, CA.: California University Press, 1993. 303 pp. (“Foreword”, Frederick M. Nunn)
La rebelión de los placeres. Santiago de Chile: Editorial Andrés Bello, 1990. 171 pp.
Viva Chile, M… Santiago, Chile: Editorial Universitaria, l965. 38 pp. 2a. ed., l966; 3a. ed., l973.
EPPLE, JUAN ARMANDO. Actas de Palo Alto. La obra literaria de Fernando Alegría. Santiago de Chile: Editorial Mosquito, 2000.
EPPLE, JUAN ARMANDO, ed. Para una fundación imaginaria de Chile. La literatura de Fernando Alegría. Lima: Latinoamericana Editores-Stanford University, l987.
GIACOMAN, HELMY F. ed. Homenaje a Fernando Alegría. Variaciones interpretativas en torno a su obra. New York: Las Americas Publishing Co., l972.
RUIZ, RENE, Fernando Alegría: vida y obra (Madrid: Playor, l979).
Links
Kelly Vance. "Chile Warmth: New documentary celebrates dissenting poet-activist Fernando Alegría." Eastbay Express [http://www.eastbayexpress.com/artsculture/chile_warmth/Content?oid=286472]
Chip Taylor Communication: The Biographies Series: Literature [http://www.chiptaylor.com/ttlmnp5188-.cfm]
Literature and Revolution translation [http://www.webshells.com/jdoug/Alegria.bak]
Research resources
* [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf496nb042 Fernando Alegria Papers, 1924-2000] (59 linear ft.) are housed in the [http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/spc.html Department of Special Collections and University Archives] at [http://library.stanford.edu/ Stanford University Libraries]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
