Pain for the death of the writer Jorge Guzmán Chávez

The writer, academic and literary critic, Jorge Guzmán Chávez died this Tuesday at the age of 93, according to the LOM publishing house. His funeral will be this Wednesday, at 2:00 p.m. in the Vespucio Memorial Park Cemetery.

He studied at the National Institute, then at the University of Chile Pedagogy in Spanish, 1958, and received a doctorate in Romance Philology at the University of Iowa, United States with a Fulbright scholarship (1959-61). He was a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities of the University of Chile (1962-1969), and director of the Department of Humanistic Studies of the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the University of Chile, 1990-1994. From 2008 to date he has been a member of the Editorial Committee of LOM editions.

He was also a professor at Bloomington University, The University of Chicago at Chicago Circle, 1978, 1979, 1980; The University of Iowa, 1960-61, 1986; The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, 1993, in the United States.

Trajectory

As an academic he published several significant works for Chilean and Latin American literary and cultural criticism. Among them we can mention: A didactic-moral constant from the Book of Good Love (1963); Latin American differences: Mistral, Carpentier, García Márquez, Puig (1984); Against professional secrecy: a mestizo reading by César Vallejo (1991) rewritten as Tahuashando: a mestizo reading by César Vallejo (2000).

He began publicly as a narrator with the appearance of the novel Job-Boj, published in Seix Barral in Barcelona in 1967 (republished by LOM 2017), which took second place in the novel contest organized by said publisher, whose first place was obtained Carlos Fuentes.

Later “El capanga”, a story that appeared in the publication El Cuento Chileno Actual: 1950-1967, edited by Alfonso Calderón in 1969.

There was a long period of time between the publication of his first novel in 1967 and the second in 1993. The author has pointed out that the experience of the 1973 military coup had a lot to do with this suspension of his literary activity, according to the Memoria Chilena site.

“I tried to write, but I couldn’t. My writing organ was ruined. All of that was very tragic for me and I still don’t like the change of direction that the country suffered,” he said in an interview with the newspaper Las Últimas Noticias in 1998.

90’s

Since the nineties, his novelistic work has focused on historical periods and figures based on the development of an intimate dimension of Chilean history that is energized by different points of view.

“Ay mama Inés” (Ed. Andrés Bello 1993), was awarded the Municipal Literature Prize, the Manuel Montt Prize, the Language Academy Prize and the National Book and Reading Council Prize.

In 1998 his short stories appeared under the title Happiness (LOM), while his next novel, “La ley del gallinero” (Ed. Sudamericana, 1999; republished by LOM, 2008) which addresses the conservative revolution of the 19th century, obtained the Municipal Novel Award in that same year.

In the novel “When the fig tree blooms” (Ed, Debate 2003; LOM, 2010), Jaen Novel Prize and Altazor Prize, historical problems are taken up, but now seen from a current perspective. The novel “With Child’s Eyes” (LOM, 2008), is a coming-of-age story that takes place in a rural area of ​​the country, Literary Criticism Award, 2009, awarded by the UDP, “Narrative” category, best annual publication. by a Chilean writer.

In 2010, by LOM, his latest historical novel appeared, “Deus Machi”, and in 2014 a collection of short stories under the title “Cuerpos” (LOM, 2014). Virtually all of Jorge Guzmán’s novels have had more than one edition and several have been translated.

“We can say that, starting from a particular territory of teacher, academic and critic, Guzmán integrated the teaching of literature with the creative production of characters and spaces and through this integration, several generations of students were able to strengthen their capacity for critical thinking, enjoyment and feeling in a society that has become increasingly fragmented and empty,” the publisher indicated.

“Several of these generations are and have been outstanding intellectuals and creators, who constitute a significant part of the cultural capital that Chile possesses today, and this is part of the enormous contribution that Guzmán has left to the teaching of literature and culture. Jorge Guzmán was a narrator with an unmistakable style and strict rigor with language. His texts are characterized by the development of broad plots, prolixity in the psychology of the characters, extensive worlds with varied temporal levels, all focused on Latin America.

“We have been a colony”

In an interview with Antonia Viu in March 2005, she pointed out regarding the “historical novel,” and “The Law of the Henhouse” in particular:

“Writing about the past was a way of saying what I think. The law of the chicken coop, in short, says what I believe to be true, that history has not happened here, that we have been a colony and continue to be a colony in a way in which the ruling classes associate themselves with the colonizer, sometimes violently. , as in the case of Balmaceda, and in the case of Salvador Allende in an atrocious way.

“If history influences us in any way it is through the awareness that people acquire of themselves, that is without a doubt. It is not in vain that those who try to manipulate information try to misinform, and make sure that no one becomes aware of the things that are happening, neither of their past nor of their present or of anything.

The publisher added that with his departure “part of a generation of intellectuals who significantly marked Chilean culture in the middle of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st leaves. He is also a dear companion and friend, who will remain with and among us through his works and the memories of the countless sessions of work and camaraderie shared.”