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José Gorostiza
José Gorostiza
Born	José Gorostiza Alcalá; 10 November 1901; Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico
Died	16 March 1973 (aged 71); Mexico City, Federal District, Mexico
Occupation	Poet, educator, diplomat
Language	Spanish
Alma mater	Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Period	1925–1969
Genre	Poetry, essay
Literary movement	Los Contemporáneos
Notable works	Canciones para cantar en las barcas; Muerte sin fin
Notable awards	Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes ; 1968 ;

José Gorostiza Alcalá (10 November 1901 – 16 March 1973) was a Mexican poet, educator, and diplomat. For his achievements in the poetic arts, he was made a member of the Academia Mexicana de la Lengua.

Biography

José Gorostiza was born in the riverine city of Villahermosa, then known as San Juan Bautista, to Celestino Gorostiza and Elvira Alcalá de Gorostiza. He was a descendant of the Spanish playwright Manuel Eduardo de Gorostiza.^[1] His younger brother Celestino would also become an important artist. He moved to Mexico City to attend the National Preparatory School and later the Colegio Francés de Mascarones. After graduating from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, he worked first as a professor at his alma mater and then at the National School of Teachers in 1932.

After teaching followed a series of important administrative jobs in the government: head of the Department of Fine Arts at the Secretariat of Public Education (1932-1935) and head of the Department of Publicity at the Secretariat of Foreign Relations (1935-1937). Subsequently, he served in various diplomatic and ambassadorial capacities, including: Director General of Political Affairs at the Secretariat of Foreign Relations, Director General of the Diplomatic Service (Secretariat of Foreign Relations) (1944), Ambassador to Greece (1950-1951), Secretary of Foreign Relations (1964), and head of the National Commission of Nuclear Energy (1965-1970).

Literary endeavors

Between 1928 and 1931, he was part of the influential vanguardist group Los Contemporáneos, to which Jorge Cuesta, Salvador Novo, Gilberto Owen, Carlos Pellicer, Jaime Torres Bodet, and Xavier Villaurrutia also belonged. His literary output, though sparse, was rich in content. His first book of poetry, Canciones para cantar en las barcas (Songs to Sing on Boats), appeared in 1925. After a lull of fourteen years came what is considered his masterpiece, Muerte sin fin (Death without End). In 1964, he published Poesía (Poetry), a collection of his previously published work plus a section dedicated to unfinished pieces called Del poema frustrado (Of the Frustrated Poem). In 1969, he published a book of essays titled Prosa (Prose).

On May 14, 1954, he was elected a member of the Academia Mexicana de la Lengua, at the occasion of which he read an essay entitled "Notas sobre poesía" ("Notes on Poetry"). On March 22, 1955, he became a numerary member of the same and held seat 25. He died, aged 71, in Mexico City.

Awards

National Prize for Arts and Sciences (Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes) (1968)
Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria (1958)^[2]

Selected published works

Canciones para cantar en las barcas, 1925
Muerte sin fin, 1939
Poesía: Notas sobre poesía, Canciones para cantar en las barcas, Del poema frustrado, Muerte sin fin, 1964
Prosa, 1969
Epistolario, 1918-1940. Edited by Guillermo Sheridan, 1988
Poesía completa. Edited by Guillermo Sheridan, 1996

References

^ Pacheco, J. E. "Gorostiza, José (1901-1979)." Latin American Writers, edited by Carlos A. Solé, vol. 2, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1989, pp. 923-931. World Scholar: Latin America & the Caribbean. Accessed 5 Oct. 2019.
^ "Reply to a parliamentary question" (PDF) (in German). p. 54. Retrieved 3 October 2012.

General references

Camp, Roderic Ai, Mexican political biographies, 1935-1993. The Hague: Mouton, 1993.
Cortes, Eladio (24 November 1992). Dictionary of Mexican Literature (in Spanish). Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-0-313-36899-8. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
Xirau, Ramón (1955). Tres poetas de la soledad (in Spanish). Antigua Librería Robredo. Retrieved 18 January 2024.