Luis Sepúlveda
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Luis Sepúlveda Calfucura (; October 4, 1949 – April 16, 2020) was a Chilean writer and journalist. A
communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
militant and fervent opponent of
Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...
's regime, he was imprisoned and tortured by the military dictatorship during the 1970s. Sepúlveda authored numerous poetry books and short stories; in addition to Spanish, his mother tongue, he also spoke English, the language in which he wrote his first novel, ''El viejo que leía novelas de amor'' (''The Old Man Who Read Love Stories)''.


Biography

Luis Sepúlveda was born in
Ovalle Ovalle is a city in the Coquimbo Region of Chile, founded in 1831 as a settlement. It has a population of more than 113,000 people. The name Ovalle was chosen to honor to Chile's vice-president, José Tomás Ovalle. Ovalle is the capital of th ...
, Limarí Province,
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
in 1949.Luis Sepúlveda
, biografyasvidas.com/ Retrieved August 6, 2016
His father, José Sepúlveda, was a militant of the Chilean Communist Party; and his mother, Irma Calfucura, was a nurse of
Mapuche The Mapuche ( , ) also known as Araucanians are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging e ...
descent. After High School in
Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...
, he studied theatre production at the National University of Chile. Luis Sepúlveda was politically active first as a leader of the student movement and in the
Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 1970 until Death of Salvador Allende, his death in 1973 Chilean coup d'état, 1973. As a ...
administration in the department of cultural affairs where he was in charge of a series of cheap editions of classics for the general public. He also acted as a mediator between the government and Chilean companies. After the
Chilean coup of 1973 Chilean may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Chile, a country in South America * Chilean people * Chilean Spanish * Chilean culture * Chilean cuisine * Chilean Americans See also *List of Chileans This is a list of Chileans who ar ...
which brought to power General
Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...
he was jailed for two-and-a-half years and then obtained a conditional release through the efforts of the German branch of
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
and was kept under house arrest. He managed to escape and went underground for nearly a year. With the help of a friend who was head of the
Alliance française (; "French Alliance", stylised as ''af'') is an international organization that aims to promote the French language and francophone culture around the world. Created in Paris on 21 July 1883 under the name ''Alliance française pour la propa ...
in
Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...
he set up a drama group that became the first cultural focus of resistance. He was rearrested and given a life sentence (later reduced to twenty-eight years) for treason and subversion. The German section of Amnesty International intervened again and his prison sentence was commuted to eight years of exile, and in 1977 he left Chile to fly to Sweden where he was supposed to teach Spanish literature. At the first stopover in
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
he escaped and managed to enter Uruguay. Because the political situations in both Argentina and Uruguay were similar to those in his home country, Sepúlveda went to
São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
in Brazil and then to Paraguay. He had to leave again because of the local regime and finally settled in
Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...
in Ecuador guest of his friend
Jorge Enrique Adoum Jorge Enrique Adoum (June 29, 1926 in Ambato – July 3, 2009 in Quito) was an Ecuadorian writer, poet, politician, and diplomat. He was one of the major exponents of Latin American poetry. His work received such prestigious awards as the first ...
. He directed the Alliance Française theatre, founded a theatrical company and took part in a
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
expedition to assess the impact of colonization on the
Shuar people The Shuar, also known as Jivaro, are an indigenous ethnic group that inhabits the Ecuadorians, Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazonia. They are famous for their hunting skills and their tradition of head shrinking, known as Tzantza, Tzantsa. The Shuar ...
. During the expedition he shared the life of the Shuars for seven months and came to an understanding of Latin America as a multicultural and multilingual continent where the Marxism he was taught was not applicable to a rural population that was dependent on its surrounding natural environment. He worked in close contact with organizations of the Indigenous people and drafted the first literacy teaching plan for the Imbabura peasants' federation, in the Andes. In 1979, he joined the
Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24July 178317December 1830) was a Venezuelan statesman and military officer who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Bol ...
International Brigade which was fighting in Nicaragua and after the victory of the revolution he started working as a journalist and one year later he left for Europe. He went to
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
in Germany because of his admiration of German literature (he learned the language in prison) especially the romantics such as
Novalis Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (2 May 1772 – 25 March 1801), pen name Novalis (; ), was a German nobility, German aristocrat and polymath, who was a poet, novelist, philosopher and Mysticism, mystic. He is regarded as an inf ...
and
Friedrich Hölderlin Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (, ; ; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a Germans, German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticis ...
and worked there as journalist traveling widely in Latin America and Africa. In 1982, he came in contact with
Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...
and worked until 1987 as a crew member on one of their ships. He later acted as coordinator between various branches of the organization. His environmental activism then continued after he left Greenpeace. For example, he was a strong advocate for environmental protection in his beloved Patagonia, the subject of some of his most popular works. In 1988 he won the Tigre Juan Award for his novel ''Un viejo que leía novelas de amor'', and in 2009 he won the ''Premio Primavera de Novela'' for his novel ''La sombra de lo que fuimos''. He wrote novels, children's books, and travel guides. He was also a film writer and director. On March 1, 2020, after returning from a conference in
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
, he was confirmed as the first man in the
Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...
region of Spain to be infected by
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
. By March 11, it was reported that Sepúlveda was in critical condition, that he was in an induced coma with assisted breathing due to multiple organ failure in an
Oviedo Oviedo () or Uviéu (Asturian language, Asturian: ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains th ...
hospital. He died on April 16 due to the virus.


Critical reception

Sepúlveda's work has received particular attention for its contributions to discussions of environmental issues in Latin America. Laura Barbas-Rhoden contends that ''The Old Man Who Read Love Stories'' critiques environmentally destructive neocolonial modernization schemes. Scott M. DeVries asserts that several moments in ''The Old Man Who Read Love Stories'' "articulate an environmentalist ideology from the perspective of the Spanish American ''novela de la selva.''" Jonathan Tittler compares the
environmental ethics In environmental philosophy, environmental ethics is an established field of practical philosophy "which reconstructs the essential types of argumentation that can be made for protecting natural entities and the sustainable use of natural resourc ...
and narrative structure of ''The Old Man Who Read Love Stories'' with
Mario Vargas Llosa Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (28 March 1936 – 13 April 2025) was a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and politician. Vargas Llosa was one of the most significant Latin American novelists and essayists a ...
's '' The Storyteller.'' Juan Gabriel Araya Grandón describes Sepúlveda's 1994 novel ''Mundo del fin del mundo'' (''World at the End of the World'') as an eco-narrative based on a critical discourse that addresses the fundamental tension between environmentalist and extractivist forces. Adrian Taylor Kane argues that ''The Old Man Who Read Love Stories'' and ''World at the End of the World'' undermine the Eurocentric notion of modernity proffered by
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (15 February 1811 – 11 September 1888) was President of Argentina from 1868 to 1874. He was a member of a group of intellectuals, known as the '' Generation of 1837'', who had a great influence on 19th-century Argent ...
in his 1845 treatise ''Civilización y barbarie o vida de Juan Facundo Quiroga'' by ironically inverting Sarmiento’s concept of civilization and barbarism.


Books

* ''Crónica de Pedro Nadie'' (1969; English title: ''Chronicle of Pedro Nobody'') * ''Los miedos, las vidas, las muertes y otras alucinaciones'' (1986; ''Fear, Life, Death, and other Hallucinations'') * ''Cuaderno de viaje'' (1987; ''Travel Log'') * ''Mundo del Fin del Mundo'' (1989; ''The World at the End of the World'') * ''Un viejo que leía novelas de amor'' (1989; ''The Old Man Who Read Love Stories'') * ''La frontera extraviada'' (1994; ''The Lost Frontier'') * ''Nombre de torero'' (1994; ''The Name of a Bullfighter'') * ''Al andar se hace el camino se hace el camino al andar'' (1995; ''Patagonia Express'') * ' (1996; ''The Story of The Cat Who Taught seagulls To Fly'') * ' (2000) * ''Hot line'' (2002) * ' (2002) * ' * ' * ' * ' (with Mario Delgado Aparaín, 2004) * ' (2004) * ' (2009; ''The Shadow Of What We Were'')


Filmography

* ''Vivir a los 17'', 1986 director and writer * '' Lucky and Zorba'', 1998 writer * ''Tierra del fuego'', 2000 screenplay * ''
The Old Man Who Read Love Stories ''The Old Man Who Read Love Stories'' is a 2001 Australian adventure drama film directed by Rolf de Heer. It is based on the book of the same name by Luis Sepulveda. Although the film premiered in 2001 it was not seen in cinemas until 2004.
'', 2001 writer * ''Nowhere'', 2002 director and writer * ''Corazón verde'', 2002 writer


Documentaries

*


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sepulveda, Luis 1949 births 2020 deaths People from Ovalle Chilean film directors Chilean male writers Chilean journalists Chilean people of Mapuche descent Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain University of Chile alumni