José de la Cuadra (September 3, 1903 – February 27, 1941) was an Ecuadorian

social realist Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...

writer, whose short stories are among the most important in Ecuadorian literature.

Biography

De la Cuadra was born in Guayaquil on September 3, 1903. His father was Vicente de la Cuadra y Vayas and his mother was Ana Victoria Vargas y Jiménez. He had an LL.D. from the

University of Guayaquil The University of Guayaquil (Spanish: ''Universidad de Guayaquil''), known colloquially as the ''Estatal'' (i.e., "the State niversity), is a public university in Guayaquil, Guayas Province, Ecuador. Estatal was founded in 1883. It is the old ...

and worked as a diplomat in

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 second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

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 ...

. De la Cuadra was part of the "

Guayaquil Group The Guayaquil Group (''Grupo de Guayaquil'', "Cinco como un puño") was a literary group from the 1930s - mid 1940s, that emerged as a response to a chaotic social and political climate where the Ecuadorian "montubio" and mestizo were oppressed by ...

" and wrote many essays, novels, articles and above all, short stories. The "Guayaquil Group" was one of the most recognized literary groups in Ecuador in 1930-1940, which also included the writers Enrique Gil Gilbert, Demetrio Aguilera Malta, Joaquín Gallegos Lara and

Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco (October 12, 1908 – May 1, 1993) — born Alfredo Pareja y Díez Canseco — was a prominent Ecuadorian novelist, essayist, journalist, historian and diplomat. An innovator of the 20th-century Latin American nove ...

.Cuadra y Vargas, José de la (1903-1941)
/ref> Some of his works have been filmed by Ecuadorian directors and translated into several languages, including ''La Tigra'' and ''

Los Sangurimas ''Los Sangurimas'' is a novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "sho ...

''. He died in Guayaquil on February 27, 1941 of a massive brain hemorrhage at the age of 37

Works

* Olga Catalina (Id. Id., 1925) * El sabor de la locura (Id. Id., 1925) * Perlita Lila (Id. Id., 1925) * Oro de sol (Guayaquil: El Telégrafo, 1925) * Horno (Guayaquil: Talleres de la Sociedad Filantrópica, 1932) * Sueño de una noche de Navidad (Guayaquil: Artes Gráficas Senefelder, 1930) * Repisas (Guayaquil: Artes Gráficas Senefelder, 1931) * El amor que dormía (1930) * Madrecita falsa (1923) * La vuelta de la locura (Madrid: Revista Literaria Novelas y Cuentos, 1932) * Guásinton: relatos y crónicas (Quito: Talleres Gráficos de Educación, 1938) * Los Sangurimas (Madrid: Cenit, 1934) * 12 siluetas (Quito: Ed. América, 1934) * El montuvio ecuatoriano (Buenos Aires: Imán, 1937) * Obras Completas de José de la Cuadra (Quito: Casa de la Cultura, 1958) * Los monos enloquecidos (Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1951)

References

1903 births 1941 deaths Ecuadorian male short story writers Ecuadorian short story writers Ecuadorian male writers People from Guayaquil Ecuadorian novelists University of Guayaquil alumni 20th-century novelists Male novelists 20th-century short story writers 20th-century male writers {{Ecuador-writer-stub