Manuel Rojas Sepúlveda (; 8 January 1896 – 11 March 1973) was a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an writer and journalist.

Biography

Rojas was born in the city of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, the son of Chilean parents. In 1899 his family returned to

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, but in 1903, after his father's death, his mother returned to Buenos Aires, where he attended school until the age of eleven. In 1912, at the age of sixteen, he decided to return alone to

. Once he arrived, he got involved with intellectuals and

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

groups, while working various jobs as an unskilled labourer. He worked as a house painter, electrician, agricultural worker, railroad handyman, loading ships, tailor's apprentice, cobbler, ship guard, and actor in small-time itinerant groups. Many of the situations and characters he encountered there later became part of his fictional world. He returned to Argentina in 1921, publishing his first poems there. Back in Chile, he worked intensely in his narrative production and, at the same time, worked in the National Library and at the

Universidad de Chile The University of Chile () is a public research university in Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the co ...

press. He married María Baeza and had three children. He joined the ''Los Tiempos'' and the ''Las Ultimas Noticias'' newspapers as a Linotype operator first and ultimately worked on Santiago newspapers as a journalist, all the while working at the ''Hipódromo Chile'' (Santiago racetrack). After the death of his wife, he married again and started to travel. He received the

Chilean National Prize for Literature {{Use dmy dates, date=October 2020 In Chile, the National Prize for Literature ''(Premio Nacional de Literatura)'' was created by Law No. 7,368 during the presidency of Juan Antonio Ríos on 8 November 1942. It consists of a lump-sum monetary prize ...

in 1957. He toured Europe, South America and the Middle East. He became a university professor of Chilean and American Literature in the US and at the Universidad de Chile. His works have, as a central theme, the representation of the instability, misery and marginality of the members of the working class. The development of the psychological and existential complexities of his characters established a difference between his work and prior literary movements (

criollismo ''Criollismo'' () is a literary movement that was active from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century throughout Hispanic America. It is considered the Hispanic counterpart to American literary regionalism. Using a realis ...

, mundonovismo), that were characterized by a less complex view of individuality. He died in

on 11 March 1973.

Youth

He began to contribute to the

journals ''The Buenos Aires Protest'' and ''The Battle of Santiago'', where he wrote articles about politics, education, and society (for the 100-year anniversary of the return to Chile, in 2012, Jorge Guerra, the president of the Manuel Rojas Foundation, compiled the texts from the Chilean journals and signed them a few times with his name. He signed others with the pen-name Tremalk Naik, in the anthology ''A young man at war'').

Beginnings as a writer

His first published literature was a poem, ''El soneto el gusano (The Sonnet the Worm)'', that in 1917, appeared in the magazine, ''Los Diez (The Ten)''. He belonged to a group four years later, in 1921, and during his time in Mendoza formed a theater company. He published a book of poems under the name, "Poetic" in the magazine, ''Ideas and figures''. The following year, he received his first award with his story, ''La laguna'' (''The Lake)'', which won the second prize in the contest for the Buenos Aires magazine, ''La Montaña (The Mountain)''. His first book of short stories, ''Hombres del sur (Men of the South)'', appeared in 1926. In 1928, the same year his mother died, he was hired as a librarian in the

Biblioteca Nacional de Chile The National Library of Chile () is the national library of Chile. It is located on the Avenida Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins in Santiago, Chile, Santiago, in a building completed in 1925, though its history reaches to the early nineteent ...

(The National Library of Chile). His first wife, Maria, was a professor and poet. The death of his wife would be the inspiration for his poem, ''Deshecha Rosa'' (''Lost Rose)''. The following year, his second story book, ''El delincuente (The offender),'' came out which contained the famous, ''El vaso de leche'', (''The Glass of Milk)''. His first novel, ''Lanchas en la bahía (Boats in the Bay)'', which he wrote in 1930, came out in 1932. In 1936, he published his second novel, ''La Ciudad de los Césares (The City of the Caesars)'', and, after the death of his wife, he took over as director of the

University of Chile The University of Chile () is a public university, public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

's printing press. Years later, Rojas would declare in an interview his regret for writing this novel, criticizing it for not only being bad, but also extremely fictional. "The writer is the son of his experience. A writer without experience is an unimaginable being", he insisted.

Works

Novels * ''Lanchas en la bahía'', 1932 * ''La ciudad de los Césares'', 1936 * ''

Hijo de ladrón Nathan Peter Hachero Azarcon (born January 29, 1975) is a Filipino musician, nationalist, songwriter, and producer. He is currently the bassist, vocalist and one of the founding members of Pinoy rock, Filipino rock band Rivermaya. He was also a m ...

'', 1951 * ''Mejor que el vino'', 1958 * ''Punta de rieles'', 1960 * ''Sombras contra el muro'', 1964 * ''La oscura vida radiante'', 1971 Short Stories * ''Hombres del Sur'', 1926 * ''El Delincuente'', 1929 * ''El Bonete Maulino'', 1943 * ''Imágenes de infancia'', 1955 * ''El vaso de leche'', 1927 Poems * ''Poéticas'', 1921 * ''Tonada del transeúnte'', 1927 *'' Travesía'', 1934 * ''Desecha rosa'', 1954 Essays * ''De la poesía a la revolución'', 1938 * ''José Joaquin Vallejo'', 1942 * ''Chile:cinco navegantes y un astrónomo'', 1956 * ''Los costumbristas chilenos'', 1957 * ''El árbol siempre verde'', 1960 * ''Antología autobiográfica'', 1962 * ''Esencias del pais chileno'', 1963 * ''Historia Breve de la literatura chilena'', 1964 * ''Pasé por México un dia'', 1964 * ''Manual de literatura chilena'', 1964 * ''Viaje al país de los profetas'', 1969 * ''Justo Arteaga Alemparte'', 1974

Legacy

In 2012, Chile's National Council of Culture and the Arts established the Manuel Rojas Ibero-American Narrative Award in his honor.

References

External links

Short biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rojas, Manuel 1896 births 1973 deaths 20th-century Chilean novelists Chilean male novelists Chilean male journalists Chilean anarchists Industrial Workers of the World members 20th-century Chilean male writers 20th-century Chilean journalists