Miguel Salinas Arteche (4 June 1926 – 22 July 2012), best known as Miguel Arteche, the name he adopted after legally reversing his maternal and paternal surnames in 1972, was a Chilean poet and novelist. He was born in

Nueva Imperial Nueva Imperial (New Imperial, in English) a city and commune in the south of Chile. It is located in Cautín Province in the Araucanía Region. Nueva Imperial lies about to the west of Temuco, the regional capital. Geography Nueva Imperial is l ...

, Cautín, 9th Region, on June 4, 1926, but spent most of his adult life in

Santiago, Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

working as an academic. He 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 Enrique Eduardo Lafourcade Valdenegro (14 October 1927 – 29 July 2019) was a Chilean writer, critic and journalist from Santiago. Biography Lafourcade was a member of the so-called "Generation of the 50s", a term suggested by Lafourcade him ...

, a well-known

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

an writer.

Biography

He studied Law in the

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

, but shortly dropped to study Literature at the Universidad de Madrid,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

from 1951 to 1944. His work ranges from poetry to novels and short stories. In 1947 he published his first book, ''Invitación al olvido.'' After publishing a number of poetry books, he published ''Cantata del desterrado'' in 1951 before departing to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

. The experience of living in Spain was fundamental to his writing, approaching him to his family roots and the intellectual world of Europe. After some years he returned to Chile, where he continued his literary career. In 1976 he published one of his most celebrated books, ''Destierros y tinieblas''. In 1956, Chilean president

Eduardo Frei Montalva Eduardo Nicanor Frei Montalva (; 16 January 1911 – 22 January 1982) was a Chilean political leader. In his long political career, he was Minister of Public Works, president of his Christian Democratic Party, senator, President of the ...

nominated him to the Chilean Embassy in Madrid, where he remained until 1970, later being added to the Chilean Embassy in Honduras, where he worked until 1971, staying for an additional period as a Visiting Professor. After returning to Chile, he opposed the military government of

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

, which led to the marginalization of his work, which would prevent him from publishing in Chile until the return of democracy. In 1996 he was awarded 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 in this category were born between 1920 and 1934. This classification was proposed by author

in 1954. Prominent writers of this generation were Miguel Arteche,

Pablo Neruda Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...

Vicente Huidobro Vicente García-Huidobro Fernández (; January 10, 1893 – January 2, 1948) was a Chilean poet born to an aristocratic family. He promoted the avant-garde literary movement in Chile and was the creator and greatest exponent of the literary m ...

Humberto Díaz Casanueva Humberto Díaz Casanueva (1906–1992) was a Chilean poet, diplomat, and educator. He won the Chilean National Prize for Literature in 1971. He was appointed by President Salvador Allende as Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations ...

, Rosamel del Valle,

Jorge Edwards Jorge Edwards Valdés (born June 29, 1931) is a Chilean novelist, journalist and diplomat. He was the Chilean ambassador to France during the first Piñera presidency. Life and career Edwards attended Law School at the Universidad de Chile. Du ...

Claudio Giaconi Claudio is an Italian and Spanish first name. In Portuguese it is accented Cláudio. In Catalan and Occitan it is Claudi, while in Romanian it is Claudiu. Origin and history Claudius was the name of an eminent Roman gens, the most important me ...

, ''et al.'' These writers were influenced by authors such as

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most ...

and

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

. Miguel Arteche also stated the Spanish ''

Siglo de oro The Spanish Golden Age ( es, Siglo de Oro, links=no , "Golden Century") is a period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, coinciding with the political rise of the Spanish Empire under the Catholic Monarchs of Spain and the Spanish ...

'' as one of his main influences. He taught his students the traditional art of metrical writing against the use of free verse.

Works

''El agua'' (the water), from ''Destierros y Tinieblas'' (Exiles and Darkness), 1963, is one of his most renowned poems; he had it in display hand-carved in wood at the entrance of his studio. Translated by Walter Hilliger, one of his students from the 90s:

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.

References

External links

Retablo de Literatura Chilena: Miguel ArtecheMemoria Chilena: Miguel Arteche
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arteche, Miguel 1926 births 2012 deaths Chilean male poets National Prize for Literature (Chile) winners 20th-century Chilean poets 20th-century Chilean male writers 21st-century Chilean poets 21st-century Chilean male writers