Manuel Benjamín Carrión Mora (April 20, 1897 in Loja – March 9, 1979 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 ...

) was an Ecuadorian writer, diplomat and cultural promoter.

Biography

He was born into an aristocratic family in Loja. He was a lawyer by training, and occupied various positions in the public arena, including Minister of Education and legislator. He was also a diplomat in several countries of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the Americas and most notably served as the ambassador to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and

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 ...

. Carrión was also a professor at the Central University of Ecuador, and a journalist. In this later capacity he founded the

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

'' El Sol'' with Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco. Due to his political views, he was close to the

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

and later

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 ...

realms of Ecuadorian society. In 1934 he published what many critics consider to be his greatest work, ''Atahuallpa'', a biography of the Spanish conquest of the Inca empire, which has been translated into English and French. In 1944, he founded the Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana (House of Ecuadorian Culture) and became its first President. He was a tireless crusader for the House, and despite great odds, was able to inaugurate its first and main building in May 1947. The building stands now as an icon of the city of

. Benjamín Carrión Palace was completed in 1948. From the beginning he emphasized the importance of the House's Museums, Library and Press. He published the influential literary magazine '' Letras del Ecuador'' under the direction of among others, his nephew

Alejandro Carrión Alejandro Carrión Aguirre (11 March 1915 – 4 January 1992) was an Ecuadorian poet, novelist and journalist. He wrote the novel ''La espina'' (1959), the short story book ''La manzana dañada'' (1983), and numerous poetry books. As a journalis ...

. He also published a number of key Ecuadorian authors. The House of the Culture has, in its more than 20 years of work, supported a multitude of writers and painters both inside and outside the country. It has also allowed for Ecuadorian culture to be known in the international field. Though his legacy as a writer can be considered controversial in importance, he stands as Ecuador's foremost promoter of culture.

Awards and honors

* 1968: Benito Juárez Prize (Mexico) * 1975: The first recipient of Ecuador's highest national prize Premio Eugenio Espejo

Bibliography

* ''El desencanto de Miguel García'' (1929) * ''Obras de Benjamín Carrión'' * ''Nuevas Cartas al Ecuador'' * ''Los Creadores de la Nueva América'' * ''Mapa de America'' (1931) * ''San Miguel de Unamuno'' * ''Santa Gabriela Mistral'' * ''Puerto Rico'' * ''Índice de la Poesía Ecuatoriana Contemporánea'' * ''Por Qué Jesús No Vuelve'' * ''El Santo del Patíbulo'' * ''Atahuallpa'' (1934) * ''El Cuento de la Patria'' * ''El Nuevo Relato Ecuatoriano'' * ''El Libro de los Prólogos'' * ''El Pensamiento Vivo de Juan Montalvo'' * ''América Dada al Diablo'' * ''Correspondencia de Benjamín Carrión''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrion, Benjamin 1897 births 1979 deaths People from Loja, Ecuador Ecuadorian male writers Ecuadorian male journalists Government ministers of Ecuador Members of the National Congress (Ecuador) Ambassadors of Ecuador to Chile Ambassadors of Ecuador to Mexico Ambassadors of Ecuador to Colombia Academic staff of the Central University of Ecuador 20th-century Ecuadorian journalists