Guillermo Humberto Sheridan Prieto (born 27 August 1950) is a Mexican literary critic, scholar and public commentator.

Life and work

Sheridan was born in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

. He was a Chevening Scholar at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

in 1986. He was awarded a doctorate in Mexican literature by the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

. He is a member of Mexico's

Sistema Nacional de Investigadores Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (National System of Researchers) or SNI is a governmental agency established in Mexico in 1984 to promote both the quantity and quality of research in Mexico, especially in the sciences. In the 1980s, the countr ...

, a government agency established in 1984 to promote both the quantity and quality of research. As a scholar, most of his writing deals with the history of Mexican modern poetry in books like ''

Los Contemporáneos ''Los Contemporáneos'' (which means "The Contemporaries" in English) can refer to a Mexican modernist group, active in the late 1920s and early 1930s, as well as to the literary magazine which served as the group's mouthpiece and artistic vehi ...

ayer'' (1985), ''Un corazón adicto'' (1990, a biography of

Ramón López Velarde Ramón López Velarde (June 15, 1888 – June 19, 1921) was a Mexican poet. His work was a reaction against French-influenced '' modernismo'' which, as an expression of a purely Mexican subject matter and emotional experience, is unique. He ach ...

), ''México en 1932'' (1999, a study of Mexican nationalism), ''Poeta con Paisaje'' (2004, a biography of Nobel laureate poet

Octavio Paz Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, a ...

), ''Tres ensayos sobre

Gilberto Owen Gilberto Owen Estrada (May 13, 1904 – March 9, 1952) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. Biography Officially registered as Gilberto Estrada, son of Margarita Estrada from Michoacán, Gilberto Owen was born in Rosario, Sinaloa (May 13, 190 ...

'' (2008, essays about a Mexican poet), ''Paralelos y meridianos'' (2010, literary essays), ''Señales debidas'' (2011, essays about Mexican writers and poets of the 20th century) and ''Malas palabras. Jorge Cuesta y la revista Examen'' (2011, a history of modern literary censorship in Mexico). His latest book, ''Habitación con retratos'' (2015) is the second volume of a trilogy about Octavio Paz's life and work. Sheridan has also edited works by poets such as

José Juan Tablada José Juan de Aguilar Acuña Tablada (April 3, 1871 – August 2, 1945) was a Mexican poet, art critic and, for a brief period, diplomat. A pioneer of oriental studies, and champion of Mexican art, he spent a good portion of his life living abroad ...

and José Gorostiza. Sheridan has written extensively about politics, education and everyday life in some of Mexico's most prestigious newspapers, such as '' Reforma'' and ''

La Jornada ''La Jornada'' (''The Working Day'') is one of Mexico City's leading daily newspapers. It was established in 1984 by Carlos Payán Velver. The current editor (''directora general'') is Carmen Lira Saade. As of 2006 it had approximately 287,000 ...

''. He was a monthly collaborator to Octavio Paz's review '' Vuelta'', and continues to publish a monthly article in

Enrique Krauze Enrique Krauze Kleinbort (born 16 September 1947) is a Mexican historian, essayist, editor, and entrepreneur. He has written more than twenty books, some of which are: ''Mexico: Biography of Power'', ''Redeemers'', and ''El pueblo soy yo'' (''I ...

’s ''

Letras Libres ''Letras Libres'' is a Spanish-language monthly literary magazine published in Mexico and Spain. History and profile ''Letras Libres'', printed since 1999 in Mexico and since 2001 in Spain, has an average of eighteen to twenty articles per issue ...

'' and a weekly commentary in '' El Universal'', a major daily newspaper. Several volumes of his chronicles have been published over the years: ''Frontera norte'' (1988), ''Cartas de Copilco y otras postales'' (1993), ''Lugar a dudas'' (1999), ''El encarguito'' (2007) and ''Viaje al centro de mi tierra'' (2011). His writings about the problems of higher education in Mexico were collected in ''Allá en el campus grande'' (2001). In 1996 he published an infamous satirical novel about Mexican politics, ''El dedo de oro'' (

Alfaguara Alfaguara is a Spanish-language publishing house that serves markets in Hispanic America, Spain and the United States. It was founded by the Spanish writer and Nobel Prize winner Camilo José Cela. History and profile Alfaguara was establishe ...

, 1996). He has a blog called "El Minutario", hosted by ''

''. Sheridan has also written about Mexican art. The book ''Manuel Álvarez Bravo: Eyes in His Eyes'', a collection of unpublished photographs, published by D.A.P. in 2007, has a text written by Sheridan. He has been a longtime collaborator of film director Nicolás Echevarría, with whom he wrote the script for the 1990 motion picture ''

Cabeza de Vaca In Mexican cuisine, ''cabeza'' (''lit.'' 'head'), from barbacoa de cabeza, is the meat from a roasted beef head, served as taco or burrito fillings. It typically refers to barbacoa de cabeza or beef-head barbacoa, an entire beef-head traditionall ...

'' and several documentaries about Mexican indigenous cultures. A full-time professor and researcher at the

, Sheridan has been a visiting scholar at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

in Scotland; at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in France; and at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

and the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

in the United States. In 1989 he was awarded the Xavier Villaurrutia Award, a national literary prize. In 2011 he received the "Fernando Benítez Cultural Journalism" national award by the

Guadalajara International Book Fair The Guadalajara International Book Fair, better known as the FIL (from its Spanish name: ) is the largest book fair in the Americas, and second-largest book fair in the world after Frankfurt Book Fair, Frankfurt's. It is also considered the most i ...

. In 2014 he received the "Ramón López Velarde Prize", a national literary award. In 2019 he received the "Jorge Ibargüengoitia Prize", a national literary award.

References

Sources

*Aurora Ocampo et al., ''Diccionario de escritores mexicanos del siglo XX'', vol. VII. México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2006. .

External links

Guillermo Sheridan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheridan, Guillermo 1950 births Living people Alumni of the University of East Anglia Academic staff of the National Autonomous University of Mexico Academic staff of the University of Paris Boston University faculty University of Texas at Austin faculty Writers from Mexico City Mexican people of Irish descent Mexican literary critics Xavier Villaurrutia Award winners