Guillermo Humberto Sheridan Prieto (born 27 August 1950) is a Mexican literary critic, scholar and public commentator.

Life and work

Sheridan was born in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. He was a

Chevening Scholar The Chevening Scholarship is an international scholarship, funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, that lets foreign students with leadership qualities study at universities in the United Kingdom. History The Chevening Scholarship ...

at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

in 1986. He was awarded a doctorate in Mexican literature by the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

. He is a member of Mexico's

Sistema Nacional de Investigadores Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (National System of Researchers) or SNI is a governmental agency established in Mexico in 1984 to promote both the quantity and quality of research in Mexico, especially in the sciences. In the 1980s, the countr ...

, a government agency established in 1984 to promote both the quantity and quality of research. As a scholar, most of his writing deals with the history of Mexican modern poetry in books like ''

Los Contemporáneos ''Los Contemporáneos'' (which means "The Contemporaries" in English) can refer to a Mexican modernist group, active in the late 1920s and early 1930s, as well as to the literary magazine which served as the group's mouthpiece and artistic vehi ...

ayer'' (1985), ''Un corazón adicto'' (1990, a biography of

Ramón López Velarde Ramón López Velarde (June 15, 1888 – June 19, 1921) was a Mexican poet. His work was a reaction against French-influenced modernismo which, as an expression of a purely Mexican subject matter and emotional experience, is unique. He achieved ...

), ''México en 1932'' (1999, a study of Mexican nationalism), ''Poeta con Paisaje'' (2004, a biography of Nobel laureate poet

Octavio Paz Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and ...

), ''Tres ensayos sobre

Gilberto Owen Gilberto Owen Estrada (May 13, 1904 – March 9, 1952) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. Biography Officially registered as Gilberto Estrada, son of Margarita Estrada from Michoacán, Gilberto Owen was born in Rosario, Sinaloa (May 13, 19 ...

'' (2008, essays about a Mexican poet), ''Paralelos y meridianos'' (2010, literary essays), ''Señales debidas'' (2011, essays about Mexican writers and poets of the 20th century) and ''Malas palabras. Jorge Cuesta y la revista Examen'' (2011, a history of modern literary censorship in Mexico). His latest book, ''Habitación con retratos'' (2015) is the second volume of a trilogy about Octavio Paz's life and work. Sheridan has also edited works by poets such as

José Juan Tablada José Juan de Aguilar Acuña Tablada (April 3, 1871 – August 2, 1945) was a Mexican poet, art critic and, for a brief period, diplomat. A pioneer of oriental studies, and champion of Mexican art, he spent a good portion of his life living abro ...

and José Gorostiza. Sheridan has written extensively about politics, education and everyday life in some of Mexico's most prestigious newspapers, such as ''

Reforma REFORMA: The National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking, more commonly known as REFORMA, is an affiliate of the American Library Association formed in 1971 to promote library services to Lati ...

'' and ''

La Jornada ''La Jornada'' (''The Working Day'') is one of Mexico City's leading daily newspapers. It was established in 1984 by Carlos Payán Velver. The current editor ''(directora general)'' is Carmen Lira Saade. ''La Jornada'' has presence in eight sta ...

''. He was a monthly collaborator to Octavio Paz's review '' Vuelta'', and continues to publish a monthly article in

Enrique Krauze Enrique Krauze (Mexico City, September 16, 1947) is a Mexican historian, essayist, editor, and entrepreneur. He has written more than twenty books, some of which are: ''Mexico: Biography of Power'', ''Redeemers'', and ''El pueblo soy yo'' (''I a ...

’s ''

Letras Libres ''Letras Libres'' is a Spanish-language monthly literary magazine published in Mexico and Spain. History and profile ''Letras Libres'', printed since 1999 in Mexico and since 2001 in Spain, has an average of eighteen to twenty articles per issue ...

'' and a weekly commentary in '' El Universal'', a major daily newspaper. Several volumes of his chronicles have been published over the years: ''Frontera norte'' (1988), ''Cartas de Copilco y otras postales'' (1993), ''Lugar a dudas'' (1999), ''El encarguito'' (2007) and ''Viaje al centro de mi tierra'' (2011). His writings about the problems of higher education in Mexico were collected in ''Allá en el campus grande'' (2001). In 1996 he published an infamous satirical novel about Mexican politics, ''El dedo de oro'' (

Alfaguara Alfaguara is a Spanish-language publishing house that serves markets in Latin America, Spain and the United States. It was founded by the Spanish writer and Nobel prize winner Camilo José Cela. History and profile Alfaguara was established in ...

, 1996). He has a blog called "El Minutario", hosted by ''

''. Sheridan has also written about Mexican art. The book ''Manuel Álvarez Bravo: Eyes in His Eyes'', a collection of unpublished photographs, published by D.A.P. in 2007, has a text written by Sheridan. He has been a longtime collaborator of film director

Nicolás Echevarría Nicolás Echevarría (born 8 August 1947) is a Mexican film director and cinematographer. He has directed over 20 films since 1973. His 1991 film ''Cabeza de Vaca'' was entered into the 41st Berlin International Film Festival. Echevarría draws ...

, with whom he wrote the script for the 1990 motion picture ''

Cabeza de Vaca In Mexican cuisine, ''cabeza'' (''lit.'' 'head') is the meat from a roasted head of an animal, served as taco or burrito fillings. Typically, the whole head is placed on a steamer or grill, and customers may ask for particular parts of the body ...

'' and several documentaries about Mexican indigenous cultures. A full-time professor and researcher at the

, Sheridan has been a visiting scholar at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

in Scotland; at the

Sorbonne Nouvelle The New Sorbonne University (french: Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, also known as Paris III) is a public university in Paris, France. It is one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was completely overhauled and rest ...

in France; and at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

and the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in the United States. In 1989 he was awarded the

Xavier Villaurrutia Award The Xavier Villaurrutia Award (Premio Xavier Villaurrutia) is a prestigious literary prize given in Mexico, to a Latin American writer published in Mexico. Founded in 1955, it was named in memory of Xavier Villaurrutia. Multiple awards have been gi ...

, a national literary prize. In 2011 he received the "Fernando Benítez Cultural Journalism" national award by the

Guadalajara International Book Fair The Guadalajara International Book Fair, better known as the FIL (from its Spanish name: Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara) is the largest book fair in the Americas, and second-largest book fair in the world after Frankfurt's. It is als ...

. In 2014 he received the "Ramón López Velarde Prize", a national literary award. In 2019 he received the "Jorge Ibargüengoitia Prize", a national literary award.

References

Sources

*Aurora Ocampo et al., ''Diccionario de escritores mexicanos del siglo XX'', vol. VII. México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2006. .

External links

Guillermo Sheridan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheridan, Guillermo 1950 births Living people Alumni of the University of East Anglia Academic staff of the National Autonomous University of Mexico Academic staff of the University of Paris Boston University faculty University of Texas at Austin faculty Writers from Mexico City Mexican people of Irish descent Mexican literary critics Chevening Scholars