Miguel Arteche

Miguel Salinas Arteche, best known as Miguel Arteche, the name he adopted after legally reversing his maternal and paternal surnames in 1972. He was born in Nueva Imperial, Cautín, 9th Region, on June 4, 1926. He spent most of his adult life in Santiago, Chile serving in academics, but was also awarded government positions, both in Chile and abroad. His writings appeared first in the Anthology of the Generation of 1950, compiled by Enrique Lafourcade a well-known Chilean writer.

Short biography

He studied Law in the Universidad de Chile, but shortly dropped to study Literature in the Universidad de Madrid, in Spain from 1951 to 1953. His work ranges from poetry to novel and short stories. In 1947 he publishes his first book, Invitación al olvido. He keeps on publishing poetry books, with Cantata del desterrado as his last book before parting to Europe. Spain will be fundamental to his writing, approaching him to his family roots and the intellectual world. He later returns to Chile, where he continues his writing. It is in 1976 that he writes one of his most famous books, Destierros y tinieblas. In 1956, Chilean president Eduardo Frei Montalva nominates him to the Chilean Embassy in Madrid, where he remains until 1970, then he is added to the Chilean Embassy in Honduras, where he stays until 1971, remaining an additional period as Visiting Professor of the University. Once again he returns to Chile. He soon opposes to the military government of Augusto Pinochet, which will lead to less frequent publication of his books and marginalization of his work. Only after the return of democracy in Chile he is able to republish his books. In 1996 he is awarded with the Premio Nacional de Literatura, the greatest literary award in Chile.

Literary generation of 1950

Miguel Arteche is one of the authors of the so called Generación literaria de 1950. Writers inside this category were born between 1920 and 1934. This classification was impulsed by author Enrique Lafourcade in 1954. Prominent writers of this generation are Miguel Arteche, Enrique Lafourcade, Pablo Neruda, Vicente Huidobro, Humberto Días Casanueva, Rosamel del Valle, Jorge Edwards, Claudio Giaconi, et al. These writers are influenced by authors like Walt Whitman, William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway. Miguel Arteche has also stated that his influences come from the Spanish Siglo de oro (golden century).

Works

Poetry

• La invitación al olvido, 1947
• Oda fúnebre, 1948
• Una nube, 1949
• El sur dormido, 1950
• Cantata del desterrado, 1951
• Solitario, mira hacia la ausencia, 1953
• Otro continente, 1957
• Quince poemas, 1961
• Destierros y tinieblas, 1963
• De la ausencia a la noche, 1965
• Resta poética, 1966
• Para un tiempo tan breve, 1970
• Antología de veinte años, 1972
• Noches, 1976
• Cantata del Pan y la Sangre, 1980, 1981, 1986
• Variaciones alemanas, 1986
• Variaciones sobre versos de Karol Wojtyla, 1987
• Monólogo en la Torre, 1989
• Siete canciones, 1989
• Tercera antología, 1991
• Fénix de madrugada, 1975–1992
• Poemas para nietos, 1996
• Para un tiempo tan breve, 1997
• Jardín de relojes, 2002

Novel

• La otra orilla, 1964
• El Cristo hueco, 1969
• La disparatada vida de Félix Palissa, 1975
• El alfil negro, 1992 (unpublished)

Short Story

• Mapas del otro mundo, 1977
• Las naranjas del silencio, 1987

Autobiography

• Los ángeles de la provincia, 1975

Essay

• Notas para la vieja y la nueva poesía chilena, 1958
• La extrañeza de ser americano, 1962
• Discurso de incorporación a la Academia Chilena de la Lengua, 1965
• El extraño caso de Gabriela Mistral, 1968
• Tres visiones de Carlos Droguett. 1971
• Alfonso Calderón o cuarenta años después, 1978
• Llaves para la poesía, 1984
• Algunos de mis fantasmas, 1985
• Algo acerca de la experiencia poética, 1988
• La crítica poética y el crítico único, 1988
• Exposición sobre un taller de poesía, 1988
• La fuente dividida de Gabriela Mistral, 1989
• El nombre perdido y buscado en América, 1989
• Cómo leer un poema, 1989
• Gabriela Mistral: seis o siete materias alucinadas, 1989
• Escribir como niño para niños, 1990
• De modo inseguro y problemático, 1990
• Los coléricos hijos de Damaso Alonso, 1990
• Algunos aprendices de brujo, 1989
• Palabras en Alberti, 1991.

External links

• Retablo de Literatura Chilena: Miguel Arteche
• Memoria Chilena: Miguel Arteche

Persondata
Name	Arteche, Miguel
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1926
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death