Jorge Carrera Andrade was an

Ecuadorian Ecuadorians () are people identified with the South American country of Ecuador. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Ecuadorians, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source o ...

poet, historian, author, and diplomat during the 20th century. He was born in

Quito, Ecuador Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

in 1902. He died in 1978. During his life and after his death he has been recognized with

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...

, Vicente Huidobro, Gabriela Mistral,

Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...

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 ...

and Cesar Vallejo as one of the most important Latin American poets of the twentieth century.

Writing and diplomatic career

His writing was published in Aurora Estrada y Ayala's literary magazine, "Proteo" which she started in 1922. Other contributors to the magazine included future Nobel Laureate Gabriela Mistral. From 1928 to 1933 Carrera first experienced traveling in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. He served as Ecuadorian Consul in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and the

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. Later he became

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

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, and the

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. He also served as Secretary of State of Ecuador. While living in the United States, Carrera developed many literary relationships with American writers, in particular Muna Lee whose critically acclaimed translation of his poetry, ''Secret Country'', was published in 1946. His work was praised and championed by John Malcolm Brinnin, H.R. Hays,

Archibald MacLeish Archibald MacLeish (May 7, 1892 – April 20, 1982) was an American poet and writer, who was associated with the modernist school of poetry. MacLeish studied English at Yale University and law at Harvard University. He enlisted in and saw action ...

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg w ...

, William Jay Smith and

William Carlos Williams William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. His '' Spring and All'' (1923) was written in the wake of T. S. Eliot's '' The Waste Land'' (1922). ...

. Carrera Andrade's poetic work developed for half a century in a number of volumes published worldwide. In 1972 his '' Obra poetica completa'', which gathers the totality of his lyric work, appeared in Quito. Most of his poetry has been translated into French, English, Italian and German. He also published books of essays, history and an autobiography, ''El volcan y el colibri'' (''The Volcano and the Hummingbird'') (1970). After Carrera's diplomatic career ended in 1969, he was appointed distinguished visiting professor at

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...

on Long Island, where he lectured for two academic years. He spent his last years in his native city of Quito, as director of the National Library of Ecuador. During his life and after his death he has been recognized with

and Cesar Vallejo as one of the most important Latin American poets of the twentieth century.

A celebrated poet

In 2002 the Republic of Ecuador celebrated the

century A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. ...

of his birth. In the same year a group of Ecuadorian intellectuals gathered in

Cuenca, Ecuador Cuenca, officially Santa Ana de los Ríos de Cuenca, is an Ecuadorian city, head of the Cuenca Canton, canton of the same name and capital of the Azuay Province, province of Azuay, as well as its largest and most populated city. It is crossed by t ...

, to examine the life and work of Carrera Andrade. The Indonesian composer Ananda Sukarlan has set some of his short poems "Microgramas" to music for medium voice and piano. Commissioned by the Ecuador Embassy in Jakarta (Indonesia), they were premiered by the composer himself with the tenor William Prasetyo in October 2023.

Bibliography

Prose In English

* Carrera Andrade, Jorge, "The New American and His Point of View Toward Poetry," tr. H.R. Hays, Poetry (Chicago), LXII, 1943, P. 88–105 * H.R. Hays, "Jorge Carrera Andrade: Magician of Metaphors", ''Books Abroad'' (Norman, OK), XVII, No. 2, 1943, P. 101–105.
The Rediscovery of Jorge Carrera Andrade: A Celebration at Assumption College, An Introduction by Steven Ford Brown

Books In English

* ''Century of The Death of The Rose: The Selected Poems of Jorge Carrera Andrade'', 1926–1976, translated from the Spanish by Steven Ford Brown, (second printing) University of Georgia Press: Athens, 2020 (introduction, poetry). * ''Micrograms'', tr. Alejandro de Acosta and Joshua Beckman, Wave Books: Seattle, 2011 (essay, poetry). * ''Microgramas'', Introduction by J. Enrique Ojeda, poetry translated from the Spanish by Steven Ford Brown, Orogenia Corporacion Cultural: Quito, 2007 (essay, poetry). * ''Century of The Death of The Rose: The Selected Poems of Jorge Carrera Andrade'', 1926–1976, translated from the Spanish by Steven Ford Brown, NewSouth Books: Louisville and Montgomery, 2002 (poetry). * ''Reflections on Latin American Literature'', tr. Don and Gabriela C. Bliss, State University of New York Press: Albany, 1973 (essays). * ''The Selected Poems of Jorge Carrera Andrade'', tr. H.R. Hays, State University of New York Press: Albany, 1972 (poetry). * ''Secret Country'', tr. Muna Lee, MacMillan: New York, 1946 (poetry). * ''To The Oakland Bridge'', tr. Eleanor Turnbull, Stanford University Press: Palo Alto, 1941 (poetry).

Books In Spanish

Autobiography * ''The Volcano and The Hummingbird'', Puebla, Mexico: Editorial Jose M. Caijica Jr., S.A., 1970. Essays * ''Interpretations of Hispano-America'', Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1967. * ''Latitudes'', Quito: Talleres Graficos Nacionales, 1934; Buenos Aires: Editor "Parseo",1940. * History (A three volume history of Ecuador) * ''The Kingdom of Quito or Street of The Sun'', Quito: Case de la Cultura Ecuatriana, 1963. * ''Gallery of Mystics and Insurgents'', Quito: Casa de la Ecuatoriana, 1959. * ''Earth Always Green'', Paris: Ediciones Internacionales, 1955. Memoir * ''Traveller Through Countries and Books'', Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1961. Poetry * ''Poesia ultima'', ed. with introduction, J. Enrique Qjeda, New York: Las Americas Publishing Co., 1968. * ''Planetary Man'', Quito: Editorial Elan, 1963. * ''Family of Night'', Paris: Libreria Espanola de Ediciones, 1953. * ''Place of Origin'', Caracas: Editions: Suma, 1944. * ''Secret Country'', Tokyo, Editions Aisa America, 1940. * ''Anthology of Pierre Reverdy'', Tokyo: Editions Asia America, 1939. * ''Biography for The Use Of Birds'', Paris: Cuadernos del Hombre Nuevo, 1937; French translation by Edmond Vandercammen, Brussels: Les Cahiers du Journal des Poetes, 1937. * ''Time Manual'', Madrid: Editions Literatura: PEN Coleccion, 1935; French translation by Adolphe de Falgairolle, Paris: Editions Rene Debresse, 1936. * ''Earth and Sea Bulletines'' (Foreword by Gabriela Mistral), Barcelona: Editorial Cervantes, 1930. * ''Indian Poems'', Quito: Editorial Elan, 1928. * ''Wreath of Silence'', Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1926.

References

External links

The Official Jorge Carrera Andrade Website

* ttp://jacketmagazine.com/12/andr-intro-brown.html "Jorge Carrera Andrade in America" (''Jacket'' magazine (Australia), July 2000)br>Steven Ford Brown, Twelve Poems by Jorge Carrera Andrade (''Jacket'' magazine (Australia), July 2000)Jorge Carrera Andrade Special Collection
Stony Brook University Libraries * J. Enrique Ojeda: Specialist on Jorge Carrera Andrade
Three Poems by Jorge Carrera Andrade (''The Cortland Review'', May 1999)
* ttp://jacketmagazine.com/12/andr-m-hays.html H.R. Hays, "Jorge Carrera Andrade: Magician of Metaphors" (''Jacket'' magazine (Australia), July 2000) {{DEFAULTSORT:Carrera Andrade, Jorge Ecuadorian diplomats 1900s births 1978 deaths People from Quito Ambassadors of Ecuador to Venezuela Ambassadors of Ecuador to the United Kingdom Ambassadors of Ecuador to Nicaragua Ambassadors of Ecuador to France Ambassadors of Ecuador to Belgium Ambassadors of Ecuador to the Netherlands 20th-century Ecuadorian poets 20th-century Ecuadorian male writers