Juan Gelman (3 May 1930 – 14 January 2014) was an
Argentine poet. He published more than twenty books of poetry between 1956 and his death in early 2014. He was a naturalized citizen of
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
, country where he arrived as a political exile of the
Military Junta
A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...
.
In 2007, Gelman was awarded the
Cervantes Prize
The Miguel de Cervantes Prize ( es, Premio de Literatura en Lengua Castellana Miguel de Cervantes) is awarded annually to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language.
History
The prize was established in 1975 ...
, the most important in Spanish literature. His works celebrate life but are also tempered with social and political commentary and reflect his own painful experiences with the politics of
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...
.
Biography
Juan Gelman Burichson was born on May 3, 1930, in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
Villa Crespo
Villa Crespo is a middle class neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, located in the geographical center of the city. It had a population of 83,646 people in 2001, and thus currently a population density of 23,235 inhabitants/km2. Villa Crespo c ...
neighborhood to Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. As a boy he read Russian and European literature widely under the tutelage of his brother Boris.
["I am the only Argentinian in the family. My parents and my two siblings were Ukrainian. They
immigrated in 1928.]
''Juan Gelman: Semblanza''
In the same brief autobiographical text, Gelman
states that his mother was a student of medicine and the daughter of a rabbi from a small town. " y parentsnever shut us
up in a ghetto, culturally or otherwise. ..I received no religious education." Gelman would later write some poems in Ladino, i.e., Judeo-Spanish; he is also known for being sharply critical of Israel. His father, José Gelman, was a social revolutionary who participated in
the 1905 revolution in Russia; he immigrated to Argentina, went back shortly after the Bolshevik revolution, and then returned to Argentina for good, disillusioned.
Gelman learned to read when he was three years old, and spent much of his childhood reading and playing soccer. He developed an interest in poetry at a very young age, influenced by his brother Boris, who read to him several poems in Russian, a language that the boy did not know. The experience of reading
Dostoevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
's ''
The Insulted and Humiliated
''Humiliated and Insulted'' (russian: Униженные и оскорблённые, ''Unizhennye i oskorblyonnye'') — also known in English as ''The Insulted and Humiliated'', ''The Insulted and the Injured'' or ''Injury and Insult'' — is ...
'' (1861) at age eight made a profound impression on him.
As a young man he was a member of several notable literary groups and later became an important journalist. He also worked as a translator at the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
. He was always an ardent political activist. In 1975 he became involved with the
Montoneros
Montoneros ( es, link=no, Movimiento Peronista Montonero-MPM) was an Argentine left-wing Peronist guerrilla organization, active throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. The name is an allusion to the 19th-century cavalry militias called Montone ...
, though he later distanced himself from the group. After the
1976 Argentine coup
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 ...
, he was forced into
exile
Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...
from Argentina. In 1976, his son Marcelo and his pregnant daughter-in-law, Maria Claudia, aged 20 and 19, were kidnapped from their home. They became two of the 30,000 ''
desaparecidos
An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a State (polity), state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or po ...
'', the people who were forcibly "vanished" without a trace during the reign of the military junta. In 1990 Gelman was led to identify his son's remains (he had been executed and buried in a barrel filled with sand and cement), and years later, in 2000, he was able to trace
his granddaughter, born in a backdoor hospital before Maria Claudia's murder and given to a pro-government family in
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
. The remains of Maria Claudia have not yet been recovered.
During his long exile, Gelman lived in
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 Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
until 1988, then in United States and later in Mexico, with his wife, Argentinian psychologist Mara La Madrid.
In 1997, Gelman received the Argentine National Poetry Prize, in recognition of his life's work, and in 2007 the Cervantes Prize, the most important prize for Spanish-language writers. He also had a long and brilliant career as journalist, writing for the Argentinian newspaper ''
Pagina/12'' until his death.
Gelman included Uruguayan police officer
Hugo Campos Hermida Hugo Campos Hermida (September 27, 1928 – November 24, 2001) was a Uruguayan police officer.
Background
Hermida also received training in the United States, including from the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Significant roles
He has been ac ...
in a legal suit lodged in Spain for the "
disappearance" of his daughter-in-law in Uruguay.
[''A los 73 años murió el inspector mayor (r) Hugo Campos Hermida'']
His granddaughter
At the beginning of the 21st century, Uruguayan President
Jorge Batlle Ibáñez
Jorge Luis Batlle Ibáñez (; ''Batlle'' locally or ; 25 October 1927 – 24 October 2016) was a Uruguayan politician and lawyer, and a member of the Colorado Party. He served as the President of Uruguay from 2000 to 2005.
Dr. Jorge Batlle b ...
ordered an investigation and Gelman's granddaughter was found.
Macarena, who had lived as an adopted child, took the surnames of her parents and started a career as a human rights activist.
Death
Gelman died at age 83 of complications with
preleukemia at his home in the
Condesa
Condesa or La Condesa is an area in the Cuauhtémoc Borough of Mexico City, south of Zona Rosa and 4 to 5 km west of the Zócalo, the city's main square. It is immediately west of Colonia Roma, together with which it is designated a ...
neighborhood of Mexico City. His granddaughter, Macarena, flew in from Uruguay to attend the funeral. Three days of national mourning was declared by Argentina's President,
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner (; born 19 February 1953), often referred to by her initials CFK, is an Argentine lawyer and politician who has served as the Vice President of Argentina since 2019. She also served as the President o ...
.
Personal papers
Juan Gelman's archive which includes drafts of writings and a collection of files he kept pertaining to his human rights investigations is available for research at the Manuscripts Division in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Princeton University.
Works
Published in English translation
*''Unthinkable Tenderness: Selected Poems'', trans.: Joan Lindgren, University of California Press, 1997
*''The Poems of Sidney West'', trans.: Katherine M. Hedeen & Victor Rodríguez Nuñez, Salt Publishing, 2009
*''Between Words'': Juan Gelman Public Letter, trans.: Lisa Rose Bradford, CIAL, 2010
*''Commentaries and Citations'', trans.: Lisa Rose Bradford, Coimbra Editions, Poetry in Translation, 2011
*''Nightingales again'', trans.: J. S. Tennant, in MPT Review, Series 3 no. 11 Frontiers, 2011
*''Com/positions'', trans.: Lisa Rose Bradford, Coimbra Editions, Poetry in Translation, 2013
Published in Spanish
Poetry
* ''Violín y otras cuestiones'', Buenos Aires, Gleizer, 1956.
* ''El juego en que andamos'', Buenos Aires, Nueva Expresión, 1959.
* ''Velorio del solo'', Buenos Aires, Nueva Expresión, 1961.
* ''Gotán'' (1956-1962), Buenos Aires, La Rosa Blindada, 1962. (Neuauflage 1996)
* ''Cólera Buey'', La Habana, La Tertulia, 1965. (Neuauflage 1994)
* ''Los poemas de Sidney West'', Buenos Aires, Galerna, 1969. (Neuauflage 1995)
* ''Fábulas'', Buenos Aires, La Rosa Blindada, 1971.
* ''Relaciones'', Buenos Aires, La Rosa Blindada, 1973.
* ''Hechos y Relaciones'', Barcelona, Lumen, 1980.
* ''Si dulcemente'', Barcelona, Lumen, 1980.
* ''Citas y Comentarios'', Visor Madrid, 1982.
* ''Hacia el Sur'', México, Marcha, 1982.
* ''Com/posiciones'' (1983-1984), Barcelona, Ediciones del Mall, 1986.
* ''Interrupciones I'', Buenos Aires, Libros de Tierra Firme, 1986.
* ''Interrupciones II'', Buenos Aires, Libros de Tierra Firme, 1988.
* ''Anunciaciones'', Madrid, Visor, 1988.
* ''Carta a mi madre'', Buenos Aires, Libros de Tierra Firme, 1989.
* ''Dibaxu'', Buenos Aires, Seix Barral, 1994.
* ''Salarios del impío'', Buenos Aires, Libros de Tierra Firme, 1993.
* ''Incompletamente'', Buenos Aires, Seix Barral, 1997.
* ''Tantear la noche'', Lanzarote, Fundación César Manrique, 2000.
* ''Valer la pena'', Buenos Aires, Seix Barral, 2001.
* ''País que fue será'', Buenos Aires, Seix Barral, 2004.
* ''Mundar'', Buenos Aires, Seix Barral, 2007.
* ''De atrásalante en su porfía'', Madrid, Visor, und Buenos Aires, Seix Barral, 2009
* ''El emperrado corazón amora'', Barcelona, Tusquets und Buenos Aires, Seix Barral, 2011
Anthologies
* ''Poemas'', Casa de las Américas, La Habana, 1960.
* ''Obra poética'', Corregidor, Buenos Aires, 1975.
* ''Poesía'', Casa de las Américas, La Habana, 1985.
* ''Antología poética'', Vintén, Montevideo, (1993).
* ''Antología personal'', Desde la Gente, Instituto Movilizador de Fondos Cooperativos, Buenos Aires, 1993.
* ''En abierta oscuridad'', Siglo XXI, México, 1993.
* ''Antología poética'', Espasa Calpe, Buenos Aires, 1994.
* ''De palabra'' (1971-1987). Prefazione di Julio Cortázar, Visor, Madrid, 1994.
* ''Oficio Ardiente'' (2005), Patrimonio Nacional y la Universidad de Salamanca.
* ''Fulgor del aire'' (2007),
LOM Ediciones, Santiago del Chile
* ''De palabra: Poesía III (1973-1989)'' (2008), Visor Libros, Madrid
* ''Bajo la luvia ajena'' (2009), Seix Barral, Barcelona
Prose
* ''Prosa de prensa'', Ediciones B, España, 1997
* ''Ni el flaco perdón de Dios/Hijos de desaparecidos'' (coautore con Mara La Madrid), Planeta, Buenos Aires, 1997
* ''Nueva prosa de prensa'', Ediciones B Argentina, Buenos Aires, 1999
* ''Afghanistan/Iraq: el imperio empantanado'', Buenos Aires, 2001
* ''Miradas'', Seix Barral, Buenos Aires, 2005
* ''Escritos urgentes'', Capital Intellectual, Buenos Aires, 2009
* ''Escritos urgentes II'', Capital intellectual, Buenos Aires, 2010
* ''El ciempiés y la araña'', ilustraciones de Eleonora Arroyo, Capital intellectual, México, 2011
Criticism of his works
*
The Reasoning behind the Act of Striking a Spent Match'
Hernán Fontanet 2019.
*
'
Hernán Fontanet 2015.
*
'
Hernán Fontanet 2015.
*''Juan Gelman : esperanza, utopía y resistencia'' / Pablo Montanaro, 2006
*''La escritura del duelo en la poesía de Juan Gelman'' / Geneviève Fabry, 2005
*''El llamado de los desaparecidos : sobre la poesía de Juan Gelman'' / Edmundo Gómez Mango, 2004
*''Juan Gelman y la nueva poesía hispanoamericana'' / Miguel Correa Mujica, 2001
*''Juan Gelman : poesía de sombra de la memoria'' / Elena Tamargo Cordero, 2000
*''Acercamientos a Juan Gelman'' / José Bru, 2000
*''Palabra de Gelman : en entrevistas y notas periodísticas'' / Pablo Montanaro, 1998
*''La poesía de Gelman: cuando surgen las palabras" / Daniel Freidemberg, 1997
*''Juan Gelman : las estrategias de la otredad : heteronimia, intertextualidad, traducción'' / María del Carmen Sillato, 1996
*''Como temblor del aire : la poesía de Juan Gelman, ensayos críticos'' / Lilián Uribe, 1995
*''Juan Gelman : contra las fabulaciones del mundo'' / Miguel Dalmaroni, 1993
*''Conversaciones con Juan Gelman : contraderrota, Montoneros y la revolución perdida'' / Roberto Mero, 1987
*''La poesía de Juan Gelman o la ternura desatada'' / Hugo Achugar, 1985
*''Juan Gelman, poeta argentino'' / Beatriz Varela de Rozas, 2004
See also
*
Argentine literature
Argentine literature, i.e. the set of literary works produced by writers who originated from Argentina, is one of the most prolific, relevant and influential in the whole Spanish speaking world, with renowned writers such as Jorge Luis Borges, J ...
*
Dirty War
The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 a ...
References
External links
Todo sobre la poesía de Juan GelmanLa bitácora de GelmanPoemas de Juan GelmanPoeticas de Gelman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gelman, Juan
1930 births
2014 deaths
Deaths from myelodysplastic syndrome
People from Buenos Aires
Argentine people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
21st-century Argentine poets
21st-century Argentine male writers
Argentine male poets
Argentine Jews
Argentine translators
Jewish Argentine writers
Jewish poets
Argentine emigrants to Mexico
Naturalized citizens of Mexico
Premio Cervantes winners
20th-century Argentine poets
20th-century Argentine male writers
20th-century translators