Guillermo Blest Gana (28 April 1829 – 7 November 1904) was a Chilean writer, usually considered one of his country's leading exponents of

Romantic literature Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

Biography

Guillermo Blest Gana was born in Santiago in 1829, the son of Chilean aristocrat María de la Luz Gana López and Anglo-Irish doctor William Cunningham Blest, one of the pioneers of the modernization of medicine in Chile in the first half of the 19th century. Carlos Orrego Luco described Guillermo as follows: Blest Gana studied at the Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera, National Institute and accepted a professorship at the University of Chile. In 1857 he was exiled from the country for opposing the government of President Manuel Montt, and lived in various American and European countries. He returned to Chile in 1863 and entered service as a diplomat to Ecuador, Argentina, and Brazil. In 1894 he served as mayor of Linares, Chile, Linares. Guillermo's younger brother Alberto Blest Gana also dedicated himself to writing, and is considered the greatest Chilean novelist of the era. His work is still in print and is required reading in schools. Guillermo's other brother Joaquín practiced literary criticism.

Writing

Gana is best remembered for his Lyric poetry, lyrical work. He also dabbled, with less success, in novels, Short story, short stories, historical dramas, and zarzuelas. He began publishing poetry at age 19 in the ''Journal of Santiago''. In 1858 he founded the ''Journal of the Pacific'' in Valparaíso. Guillermo blest gana

Selected works

Lyrical

* ''Poesías'', 1854 * ''Armonías'', 1884

Novel

* ''El número 13'', 1869

Drama

* ''La conjuración de Almagro'', 1858

Zarzuela

* ''El pasaporte'', 1890

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blest Gana, Guillermo 1829 births 1904 deaths 19th-century Chilean poets 20th-century Chilean poets 20th-century Chilean male writers Chilean male poets Chilean people of Basque descent Chilean people of Irish descent Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera alumni Academic staff of the University of Chile Writers from Santiago 19th-century Chilean male writers Blest family, Guillermo