Eugenio Montejo (1938 in
Caracas
Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...
– 5 June 2008 in
Valencia) was a Venezuelan poet and essay writer, founder of the literary magazine Azar and co-founder of
Revista Poesía, a poetry magazine published by the
University of Carabobo.
He was researcher at the "
Rómulo Gallegos" Centre for Latin American Studies in Caracas and contributed to a large number of national and international magazines. In Venezuela he was awarded the
National Prize for Literature A National Prize for Literature ( es, Premio Nacional de Literatura) is a kind of award offered by various countries.
Examples include:
* National Prize for Literature (Argentina)
* National Literary Awards, Burma
* National Prize for Literature ( ...
in 1998 and in 2004 he received the International Octavio Paz Prize for Poetry and Essay.
International interest in Montejo's poetry grew after his poem "La Tierra Giró para Acercarnos" ("The Earth Turned to Bring Us Closer") was used in the film ''
21 Grams
''21 Grams'' is a 2003 American psychological drama film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu from a screenplay by Guillermo Arriaga. The film stars Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Danny Huston and Benicio Del Toro. The seco ...
'' by feted Mexican director
Alejandro González Iñárritu. A few lines from the poem are quoted by
Sean Penn's character in the movie.
Poetic work
*Elegos (1967)
*Muerte y memoria (1972)
*Algunas palabras (1977)
*Terredad (1978)
*Trópico absoluto (1982)
*Alfabeto del mundo (1986)
*Adiós al Siglo XX (1992, 1997 a complete version)
*Papiros amorosos (2002)
*Chamario (2003, for children)
*Fábula del escriba (2006)
Essays
*La ventana oblicua (1974)
*El taller blanco (1983)
*El cuaderno de Blas Coll (1981)
Translations
The Trees(selected poems 1967–2004) - an anthology of selected poems with English translations by the Australian poet Peter Boyle. Original Spanish text appears alongside English translation (Salt Publishing, 2004).
(Selected Works by Eugenio Montejo). An anthology of selected poems and prose pieces, translated and edited by Kirk Nesset. A bilingual book; the text in Spanish appears also. Critical introduction by Wilfredo Hernandez and Kirk Nesset (University of Oklahoma Press, 2010).
Further reading
*
Consuelo Hernández. ''La arquitectura poética de Eugenio Montejo.'' ''Venezuela. Literatura de fin de siglo''.'' Special Issue.'' INTI Revista de Literatura Hispánica. No. 37-38. Julio Ortega, editor. Brown University. 1993. pp. 133-143.
Roberts, Nicholas 2009. ''Poetry and Loss: The Work of Eugenio Montejo'' (Woodbridge: Tamesis)
(Selected Works by Eugenio Montejo). See critical introduction by Wilfredo Hernandez and Kirk Nesset (University of Oklahoma Press, 2010).
External links
A lecture by Eugenio Montejo in Literal, Latin American Voices Interview and poetry by Eugenio Montejo in Literal, Latin American Voices
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montejo, Eugenio
1938 births
2008 deaths
People from Caracas
21st-century Venezuelan poets
Deaths from stomach cancer
Deaths from cancer in Venezuela
20th-century Venezuelan poets
Venezuelan male poets
20th-century male writers
21st-century male writers