Pedro Geoffroy Rivas (16 September 1908 - 10 November 1979) was an
anthropologist
An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...
,
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
, and
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
.
His poetic work marked a landmark in Salvadoran poetic development. A rebellious, individualistic poet, Rivas incorporated in his poetry the freedom to express himself openly without fear of ordinariness or
anthropocentric
Anthropocentrism (; ) is the belief that human beings are the central or most important entity in the universe. The term can be used interchangeably with humanocentrism, and some refer to the concept as human supremacy or human exceptionalism. ...
turns. Rivas and
Oswaldo Escobar Velado are known as the founders of the modern protest poetry of El Salvador. Rivas was a member of
Mexican Communist Party
The Mexican Communist Party ( es, Partido Comunista Mexicano, PCM) was a communist party in Mexico. It was founded in 1917 as the Socialist Workers' Party (, PSO) by Manabendra Nath Roy, a left-wing Indian revolutionary. The PSO changed its name ...
and
Salvadoran Communist Party in the 1930s. His work influenced
Pablo Neruda
Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...
.
Education
Rivas studied Anthropology
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
at the
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...
and obtained his Master's degree from the university.
Bibliography
Poetry
* ''Canciones en el viento'' (1933)
* ''Rumbo'' (1935)
* ''Para cantar mañana'' (1935)
* ''Solo Amor'' (1963)
* ''Yulcuicat'' (1965)
* ''Cuadernos del Exilio''
* ''Los nietos del jaguar'' (1977)
* ''Vida, pasión y muerte del antihombre'' (1978)
Anthropology and Linguistics
* ''Toponimia náhuat de Cuscatlán'' (1961, corregida y aumentada 1973)
* ''El español que hablamos en El Salvador'' (1969 y 1975)
* ''El nawat de Cuscatlán - Apuntes para una gramática Tentativa'' (1969)
* ''Mi Alberto Masferrer'' (1953)
* ''La lengua salvadoreña'' (1978)
References
1908 births
1979 deaths
Salvadoran poets
Salvadoran male writers
Male poets
Linguists from El Salvador
20th-century poets
People from Santa Ana, El Salvador
Linguists of Uto-Aztecan languages
20th-century male writers
20th-century linguists
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