Sergio Badilla Castillo (born November 30, 1947 in Valparaiso,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

) is a Chilean

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 wri ...

and the

founder Founder or Founders may refer to: Places *Founders Park, a stadium in South Carolina, formerly known as Carolina Stadium * Founders Park, a waterside park in Islamorada, Florida Arts, entertainment, and media * Founders (''Star Trek''), the ali ...

of poetic transrealism in contemporary

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

. He is considered the

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

n poet with the broadest Nordic influence, from the

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

poets,

Edith Södergran Edith Irene Södergran (4 April 1892 – 24 June 1923) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish poet. One of the first modernists within Swedish-language literature, her influences came from French Symbolism, German expressionism, and Russian fu ...

, Elmer Diktonius,

Paavo Haavikko Paavo Juhani Haavikko (January 25, 1931 in Helsinki – October 6, 2008) was a Finnish poet, playwright, essayist and publisher, considered one of the country's most outstanding writers. He published more than 70 works, and his poems have been tran ...

Pentti Saarikoski Pentti Saarikoski (Impilahti, now in the Republic of Karelia September 2, 1937 – Joensuu August 24, 1983) was one of the most important poets in the literary scene of Finland during the 1960s and 1970s. His body of work comprises poetry and ...

and the Swedes

Gunnar Ekelöf Bengt Gunnar Ekelöf (15 September 1907, in Stockholm – 16 March 1968, in Sigtuna) was a Swedish poet and writer. He was a member of the Swedish Academy from 1958 and was awarded an honorary doctorate in philosophy by Uppsala University in 1958 ...

Tomas Tranströmer Tomas Gösta Tranströmer (; 15 April 1931 – 26 March 2015) was a Swedish poet, psychologist and translator. His poems captured the long Swedish winters, the rhythm of the seasons and the palpable, atmospheric beauty of nature. Tranströmer's ...

and Lars Gustafsson.

Life

Badilla Castillo graduated in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...

from the

University of Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

in 1972. He graduated also in Methodology of Social Anthropology, from Stockholm University. He worked for nearly 13 years at The Swedish Radio Broadcasting Co, as culture journalist, a concern that would lead later, to his work as a

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

of Swedish and Scandinavian poetry,

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and

American poetry American poetry refers to the poetry of the United States. It arose first as efforts by American colonists to add their voices to English poetry in the 17th century, well before the constitutional unification of the Thirteen Colonies (although ...

. His father was a

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

from whom he got his nomadic motivation. Badilla Castillo travelled throughout

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 subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

during the 20 years he spent in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

. He settled for a while also in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

in 1975, interested in ancient

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and s ...

n and

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narra ...

. Badilla worked as a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

when he returned to Chile in 1993. A research on global celebrities done by the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, MIT, through its Pantheon

project, released in April 2014, shows that the poet Sergio Badilla Castillo occupies 12th position among the most notorious public figures of Chile in the world community. The investigation took into account 11,338 people born between 4000 BC until 2010 D.C. Castillo also appears in the fourth positions amid the most famous Chilean writers of all times.

Work

In 1973 Badilla's first book of poetry, ''Amid the Cement and the Grass,'' was published in Valparaiso. Later, in 1980 he published his second book, ''Lower from my Branch,'' a collection of short stories, in

Borås Borås ( , , ) is a city (officially, a locality) and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 66,273 inhabitants in 2010. Geography Borås is located at the point of two crossing railways, among them th ...

, Sweden, which received very good critical reviews. Between 1981 and 1987 he published three of his Scandinavian influenced books: ''The Dwelling of the Sign,'' ''Oniric Song'' and ''Reverberations of Aquatic Stones''. As well being a productive poet during this period he was also a respected translator of Swedish,

, English, French and some Latin poetry. Badilla's initial topics were often tied to mythological or fabled subjects, while many of the poems featured legends. In Sweden, his poems were included in the first anthology of Chilean Poetry published by Bonnier in 1991. His return from exile to Chile in 1993 marked a change for Badilla Castillo, in that he started to write in a much more autobiographical and manner. In his book ''Nordic Saga'' he changed his language completely. It was a period of awkward and challenging experimentation, with many legendary subjects derived from the mythological Viking’s

Sagas is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to th ...

. Badilla Castillo established contact with

Rudy Rucker Rudolf von Bitter Rucker (; born March 22, 1946) is an American mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author, and one of the founders of the cyberpunk literary movement. The author of both fiction and non-fiction, he is best known f ...

’s transrealism. In Badilla Castillo's later volumes, such as ''The Fearful Gaze of the Bastard'' (2003), and Transreal Poems and Some Gospels (2005)), he confronts reality, creating an almost illusory world, where words, time and dimensional changes play a cardinal role in the lyrical frame. His latest poetry is solidly imaginary, using in many respects time dislocations and immediate perceptions of a certain described reality, and filled with admiration for the ordinary world. He now lives in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

, and one catches a glimpse of the effect of this South Pacific landscape everywhere in his latest poems, though the environment remains symbolic and individual.

Bibliography

*''Lower from my Branch Invandrarförlaget.'' 1980. Borås. Sweden. (Short stories) *''Sign’s Dwelling.'' Bikupa Editions. 1982. Stockholm. (Poetry) *''Cantoniric.'' LAR Editions. 1983. Madrid. (Poetry) *''Reverberations Of Aquatic Stones.'' Bikupa. 1985. Stockholm. (Poetry) *''Terrenalis.'' Bikupa Editions. 1989. Stockholm. (Poetry) *''Nordic Saga.'' Monteverdi Editions. 1996, Santiago de Chile. (Poetry) *''The Fearful Gaze of the Bastard.'' 2003. Regional Council of Valparaiso. (Poetry) *''Transrealistic Poems and Some Gospels.'' 2005. Aura Latina. Santiago/Stockholm. (Poetry) *''Transreal City'' Meridian Editors. 2009 Smederevo. Serbia. (bilingüal edition) (Poetry) *''Ville Asiégée'' Al Manar. Voix Vives de Méditerraée. July 2010. France (bilingüal edition)(Poetry) *"Ok Atacama". Pentagrama ediciones. Julio 2010, Santiago de Chile (Poetry) *"The Medusa's head". Coldhub press. Christchurch. 2012. New Zealand (bilingüal edition) (Poetry) *"La Biblioteca de Éfeso". Poemas Selectos. Strindberg&Co. 2012. Stockholm/Santiago de Chile.(Poetry) *"Ghosts & shadows". Coldhub press. Christchurch. 2013. New Zealand (bilingüal edition) (Poetry) *"Transtierra".. Aura Latina. 2013. Santiago de Chile. (Poetry)

References

XV International Poetry Festival of MedellinLahti International Writers UnionBiography on the Online Poetry Classroom of the Academy of American PoetsArt Omi International Writers Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:Badilla, Sergio 1947 births Living people Chilean emigrants to Sweden Chilean male poets People from Valparaíso Chilean translators English–Spanish translators Swedish–Spanish translators Finnish–Spanish translators Latin–Spanish translators University of Chile alumni University of Playa Ancha alumni Stockholm University alumni 21st-century Chilean poets 21st-century Chilean male writers 21st-century translators