José Marín Cañas (1904–1980) was a Costa Rican novelist, playwright, travel writer and journalist, particularly known for his novels ''El infierno verde'' (1935) and ''Pedro Arnáez'' (1942).Richard Young, Odile Cisneros. ''Historical Dictionary of Latin American Literature and Theater'' (Scarecrow Press; 2011) He was born in

San José, Costa Rica San José (; meaning "Saint Joseph") is the capital city, capital and largest city of Costa Rica, and the capital of San José Province. It is in the center of the country, in the mid-west of the Costa Rican Central Valley, Central Valley, wi ...

in 1904. His parents were Spanish, and he was educated in both

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. He worked in various occupations, most importantly

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 of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

, which included his doing

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

broadcasts of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

matches. His literary career began in 1928, at which point he won prizes for both a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

and a

chronicle A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events ...

. His literary output includes the novels ''El infierno verde'', about the

Chaco War The Chaco War (, Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

and

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

, and ''Pedro Arnáez'', which concerns

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

's Matanza, among other topics. He also served as director of the newspaper '' La Hora''. He died in 1980.

Bibliography

* ''Lágrimas de acera'' (''Tears of Steel''; novel, 1929) * ''Los bigardos del ron'' (''The Drunken Beggars''; short-story collection, 1929) * ''Como tú'' (''Like You''; play, 1929) * ''Tú, la imposible'' (novel, 1931) * ''Coto'' (historical chronicle, 1934) * ''El infierno verde'' (''The Green Inferno''; novel, 1935) * ''En busca de un candidato'' (''In Search of a Candidate''; play, 1935) * "Pueblo macho" (essay, 1937) * ''Una tragedia de ocho cilindros'' (''A Tragedy in Eight Cylinders''; play, 1938) * ''Pedro Arnáez'' (novel, 1942)Michael Millar (2005). Fiction and Order: Narrative Strategies in José Marín Cañas's ''Pedro Arnáez''. ''Confluencia'' 20 (2): 133–41 * "Tierra de conejos" (travel narrative, 1971) * "Ensayos" (essay, 1972) * "Valses nobles y sentimentales" (short story, 1981)

References

1904 births 1980 deaths Costa Rican male writers Costa Rican people of Spanish descent Writers from San José, Costa Rica {{CostaRica-bio-stub