Matilde Elena López (20 February 1919 – 11 March 2010) was a

Salvadoran Salvadorans (), also known as Salvadorians, are citizens of El Salvador, a country in Central America. Most Salvadorans live in El Salvador, although there is also a significant Salvadoran diaspora, particularly in the United States, with smalle ...

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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, essayist, playwright and literary critic. Her most important works include “Masferrer, alto pensador de Centro América”, “Cartas a Grosa” and “La balada de Anastasio Aquino”. During the 1940s she was part of the League of

Anti-Fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...

Writers, a group of young writers with leftist ideas. In April 1944, she participated in the popular movement that sought to overthrow the government of dictator

Maximiliano Hernández Martínez Maximiliano Hernández Martínez (21 October 1882 – 15 May 1966) was a Salvadoran military officer and politician who served as president of El Salvador from 4 December 1931 to 28 August 1934 in a provisional capacity and again in an offi ...

. She studied at the University of San Carlos de Guatemala and the

Universidad Central del Ecuador The Central University of Ecuador () is a national university located in Quito, Ecuador. It is the oldest and largest university in the country, and one of the oldest universities in the Americas. The enrollment at the university is over 10,000 ...

, and at from latter University she received a doctorate degree in philosophy. In 1958 she joined the University of El Salvador where she worked as professor, director of the Department of Arts and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Humanities. She has also taught at the Universidad Centroamericana "Jose Simeon Cañas". Her 1978 play, ''The Ballad of Anastasio Aquino'' is dedicated to the Salvadoran indigenous leader Anastasio Aquino. From 1997 until her death she was a member of the Academia Salvadoreña de la Lengua.

Notable works

* Masferrer, alto pensador de Centroamérica (essay, 1954), * Interpretación social del arte (essay, 1965), * Dante, poeta y ciudadano del futuro (essay, 1965), * Estudio-prólogo a las Obras escogidas de Alberto Masferrer (1971), * Estudio-prólogo a las Obras escogidas de Claudia Lars (1973), * Estudios sobre poesía (essay, 1973), * La balada de Anastasio Aquino (play, 1978), * Los sollozos oscuros (poetry, 1982), * El verbo amar (poetry, 1997) * Ensayos literarios (1998).

References

External links

Biography and selected poetry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Matilde 1919 births 2010 deaths Salvadoran women writers Salvadoran dramatists and playwrights Salvadoran essayists People from San Salvador Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala alumni Salvadoran women poets Women dramatists and playwrights Salvadoran women essayists 20th-century Salvadoran poets 20th-century dramatists and playwrights 20th-century essayists Salvadoran expatriates in Guatemala Expatriates in Ecuador 20th-century Salvadoran women writers