Salarrué
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Luis Salvador Efraín Salazar Arrué (October 22, 1899 – November 27, 1975), known as Salarrué (a derivation of his surnames), 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 ...
writer, poet, and painter. Born in
Sonsonate Sonsonate () is a city and district of El Salvador, of which it is also its municipal seat. It has an estimated population of 71,980 inhabitants for the year 2020. Sonsonate is the second most important city in western El Salvador. The town was ...
to a well-off family, Salarrué trained as a painter at the Corcoran School of Art, in
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, from 1916 to 1919. He then returned to El Salvador and, in 1922, married fellow painter Zélie Lardé, with whom he had three daughters. In the late 1920s he worked as editor for the newspaper ''Patria'', owned by Alberto Masferrer, an important Salvadoran intellectual. To fill in blank spaces in the newspaper, Salarrué wrote a series of short stories which were collected thirty years later as ''Cuentos de Cipotes'' ("Children's Stories"). These and the stories in ''Cuentos de Barro'' ("Tales of Clay") became Salarrué's most popular and enduring work, reflecting an idealized version of rural life in El Salvador and making him one of the founders of the new wave of Latin American
folkloric Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as tales, myths, legends, proverbs, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also includes material ...
narrative (''narrativa costumbrista''). However, few readers understand that the stories in ''Cuentos de Barro'' were an ingenious literary feat of Salarrué. By disguising through a subtle use of a non-standard, highly inventive language and style, he was able to recall to readers a bloody massacre carried out by the Salvadoran dictator-president, General Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez in 1933, without the authorities being able to interpret Salarrué's defamation of that leader. Salarrué lived in the
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from 1947 to 1951 while representing his country in diplomatic posts. He died in Los Planes de Renderos, near
San Salvador San Salvador () is the Capital city, capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its San Salvador Department, eponymous department. It is the country's largest agglomeration, serving as the country's political, cultural, educational and fin ...
, and is buried in the '' Cementerio de los Ilustres'' ("Cemetery of Distinguished Citizens").


Biography


Childhood and youth

In the 19th century Alejandro Arrué Jimenez (an educator from Basque Country who had worked in various Latin American countries) married Lucía Gomez, native of
Sensuntepeque Sensuntepeque () is a city and district in the Cabañas Department, Cabañas department of El Salvador. It is the capital of the department and principal town in the area. Sensuntepeque is located about northeast of the capital, San Salvador, at ...
, El Salvador. The marriage engendered many children, Luz and María Teresa among them. They each had literary vocations, but it was Luz, after Miranda, when the family resided in El Salvador, who attained inclusion by the journalist Román Mayorga Rivas in the anthology of poetry "Guirnalda Salvadoreña." Meanwhile, María Teresa married Joaquín Salazar Angulo, a budding musician from an honorable family. However, for various reasons, the relationship did not prosper which obligated the young mother to provide for her children, Joaquín and Luis Salvador Efraín, alone. The latter was born on a family estate situated in the El Mojón district that would become, in part, the urban zone for the municipality of Sonzacate, in
Sonsonate Sonsonate () is a city and district of El Salvador, of which it is also its municipal seat. It has an estimated population of 71,980 inhabitants for the year 2020. Sonsonate is the second most important city in western El Salvador. The town was ...
. In the following years, the Salazar family lived in financial hardship even though they received help from close family members since their respected ancestry favored them. The childhood of Luis Salvador transpired surrounded by the natural tropical splendor of Sonsonate. Although timid and distant with regards to rough and tumble games, he was set apart for his ability to invent stories. When he was eight his mother's financial difficulty forced her to move; for this reason young Luis alternated between his home in
San Salvador San Salvador () is the Capital city, capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its San Salvador Department, eponymous department. It is the country's largest agglomeration, serving as the country's political, cultural, educational and fin ...
and Santa Tecla where he lived in the same residence as his cousins Núñez Arrué, of whom one was Toño Salazar, later a renowned cartoonist. For their sustenance Luis's mother worked as a seamstress and acquired her own dress-making academy. Toño gave a description of his cousin in those years:His artistic vocation was already manifest at the age of 11 when one of his compositions was published in the ''Diario de El Salvador'' (Newspaper of El Salvador) by Román Mayorga Rivas. The achievement was not luck given that he must have associated with local intellectuals that frequented the house of the family Núñez Arrué .


Works

*''El Cristo Negro'' (The Black Christ) (1926) *''El Señor de la Burbuja'' (The Lord of The Bubble) (1927) *''O Yarkandal'' (1929) *''Remotando el Uluán'' (Remoting the Uluan) (1932) *''Cuentos de Barro'' (Clay Stories) (1934) *''Conjeturas en la Penumbra'' (Conjectures in the twilight) (1934) *''Eso y Más'' (That and More) (1940) *''Cuentos de Cipotes'' (Children Stories) (1945). *''Trasmallo'' (1954) *''La Espada y Otras Narraciones'' (The Sword and Other Narrations) (1960) *''Vilanos'' (1969) *''El Libro Desnudo'' (The Naked Book) (1969) *''Ingrimo'' (1969) *''La Sombra y Otros Motivos Literiarios'' (The Shadow and other Literary Motifs) (1969) *''La Sed de Sling Bader'' (Sling Bader's Thirst) (1971) *''Catleya Luna'' (1974) *''Mundo Nomasito'' (Poesía -1975)


References


*


External links

*http://www.cuscatla.com/salarrue.htm A partial translation of Cuentos de Barro/Tales of Clay by Salarrué, as accomplished by Nelson Lòpez, is available in a PDF format: *http://www.udb.edu.sv/editorial/pdf/coleccioninvestigacion/seriebicentenario/cuentosdebarro.pdf And a review or "prologo" in Spanish of that book of English translations by Nelson López is published in ''Carátula'', together with the comparison of the Spanish and English of the story "La botija" / "The Botija" or "jug of gold," in an excellent presentation by Dr. Rafael Lara Martínez in ''Caratula: Revista Cultural Centramericana'': *http://www.caratula.net/ediciones/44/critica-rlaramartinez-salarrue.php
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salarrue Salvadoran male poets Salvadoran short story writers Male short story writers 1899 births 1975 deaths People from Sonsonate Department Corcoran School of the Arts and Design alumni 20th-century Salvadoran painters Male painters 20th-century Salvadoran poets 20th-century short story writers