Salomón de la Selva

Salomón de la Selva (León, Nicaragua; March 20, 1893 - Paris, France; February 5, 1959) was a Nicaraguan poet, honorary member of the Mexican Academy of Language.

Biography

Salomón de la Selva was born on March 20, 1893 in León, Nicaragua, son of Salomón Selva, a lawyer who fought against the José Santos Zelaya's dictatorship. When he was barely 12 years old his father was detained and imprisoned, Salomón presented himself to President Zelaya during a visit to León and offered him a speech reminding him on the rights of a human being and a citizen which was enjoyed and well received by the president. Consequently, Zelaya ordered his father's release and offered him a scholarship to study in the United States, and moved there when he was barely 13 years old. He studied at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he later was employed as a Spanish language professor. By winter 1914-15 he personally met Rubén Darío in New York City, and accompanied him to a conference offered at Columbia University on February 4, 1915.Mejía Sánchez, Ernesto (1980). "Acroasis del "Acolmixtli Nezahualcóyotl," Biblioteca Enciclopédica del Estado de México, Mexico.] In 1918 he published in New York his first book of poetry: "Tropical Town and Other Poems", written in english. During this years he frequented the literary circles of young Newyorkian poets, hanging out with literary figures such as Stephen Vincent Benet and Edna St. Vincent Millay, with whom it was said he had a love affair. He participated in World War I serving the British, and from his experiences he wrote a book of poetry, "El soldado desconocido" ("The Unknown Soldier"), written in spanish and illustrated by Diego Rivera, which was published in Mexico in 1922. [Pravaz, Sergio (2002). [http://www.eldigoras.com/eom/2002/aire17spz0108.htm "Salomón de la Selva, otra vanguardia,"] 10 autores latinoamericanos: "Cuando el verbo tensó su cuerda", " [http://www.eldigoras.com/eom/umbral.htm Revista EOM: el otro mensual, revista de creación literaria y artística] " 17, December 2002.] He adhered to the American labour movement and became secretary to labor union leader Samuel Gompers. Between 1925 and 1929 he lived in Nicaragua and dedicated himself to the local syndicalism activism of laborist tendency. He urged the affiliation of the Nicaraguan Worker's Federation ("Federación Obrera Nicaragüense") to the Panamerican Worker's Central ("Central Obrera Panamericana"), which was affiliated to the American Federation of Labor. [ [http://escritores-nicaragenses.blogspot.com/2007/03/salomn-de-la-selva-1893-1959.html "Salomón de la Selva (1893-1959),"] "Escritores nicaragüenses, breve descripción biográfica de escritores y poetas nicaragüenses", March 20, 2007.] Molina Jiménez, Iván (1999). [http://archivo.elnuevodiario.com.ni/1999/abril/17-abril-1999/cultural/cultural3.html "Salomón de la Selva, ¿sandinista?,"] "El nuevo diario", Managua, Nicaragua: April 17, 1999.] By 1930 he published opinion journalist notes supporting Augusto César Sandino published in San José, Costa Rica, through different media such as "Diario de Costa Rica" and "Repertorio Americano" of Joaquín García Monge. [Fiallos Gil, Mariano (1963). "Salomón de la Selva poeta de la humildad y la grandeza," Hospicio, León, Nicaragua.] In 1935 he moved to Mexico City, where he was able to influence Mexican politics; along with his brother Rogelio de la Selva, he was advisor to President Miguel Alemán Valdés. While being in France as an Nicaraguan ambassador, he died on February 5, 1959 in Paris.

Works

Poetry

* "Tropical Town and Other Poems" (1918)
* "A Soldier Sings" (1919)
* "El soldado desconocido" (1922)
* "Evocación de Horacio, Canto a Mérida de Yucatán en la celebración de sus Juegos Florales" (1947)
* "La ilustre familia" (1954)
* "Canto a la Independencia de México" (1955)
* "Evocación de Píndaro" (1957)
* "Acolmixtli Netzahualcóyotl" (1958)

Novels

* "La guerra de Sandino o el pueblo desnudo", written in 1935, posthumously published in 1985.

References