Salvador Novo López (July 30, 1904 – January 13, 1974) was a Mexican writer, poet, playwright, translator, television presenter, entrepreneur, and the official chronicler of

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

. As a noted intellectual, he influenced popular perceptions of politics, media, the arts, and Mexican society in general. He was a member of the Mexican modernist writers' group ''

Los Contemporáneos ''Los Contemporáneos'' (which means "The Contemporaries" in English) can refer to a Mexican modernist group, active in the late 1920s and early 1930s, as well as to the literary magazine which served as the group's mouthpiece and artistic vehi ...

'', as well as of the

Academia Mexicana de la Lengua The Academia Mexicana de la Lengua (variously translated as the Mexican Academy of Language, the Mexican Academy of the Language, the Mexican Academy of Letters, or glossed as the Mexican Academy of the Spanish Language; acronym AML) is the cor ...

Life and career

In spite of the

machismo Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1940s and 1950s and its use more wi ...

and conservative

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

prevalent in 20th-century Mexico, Novo was openly homosexual. As a result, he was referred to by

Luis Spota Luis Mario Cayetano Spota Saavedra Ruotti Castañares (13 July 1925, Mexico City — 20 January 1985) was a Mexican writer, journalist, boxing official and film director. Although he never finished primary school, Spota became a highly successfu ...

as "Nalgador Sobo", a

spoonerism A spoonerism is an occurrence of speech in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched (see metathesis) between two words of a phrase. These are named after the Oxford don and priest William Archibald Spooner, who report ...

that roughly translates to "butt groper". This elicited a riposte from Novo, who published an epigram mocking Spota's surname. The feud reportedly culminated in a fist fight between the two writers during a performance at the

Palacio de Bellas Artes The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. It hosts performing arts events, literature events and plastic arts galleries and exhibitions (including important permanent Mexican murals). "Bella ...

, after which they were both arrested. Nevertheless, Novo was accepted by the Mexican government, for whom he worked in official posts related to culture. He was elected to the

and had a television program on Mexico City's history. Towards the end of his life, he dyed his hair a bright carrot color and wore many ostentatious rings and colored suits. He has been compared to

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

, but unlike Wilde, Novo never suffered the setback of scandal or persecution and remained a respected member of high society and governmental circles until his death. In fact, some sectors resented the fact that a gay writer would align himself so closely with the government and media after the repression of social movements in the 1960s and 1970s. The street on which he lived was renamed after him when he assumed the role of Mexico City's official chronicler, a post held for life.

Works

* 1925 — ''XX Poemas'' (''XX Poems'') * 1933 — ''Nuevo amor'' (''New Love'') * 1933 — ''Espejo'' (''Mirror'') * 1934 — ''Seamen Rhymes'' * 1934 — ''Romance de Angelillo y Adela'' (''Romance of Angelillo and Adela'') * 1934 — ''Poemas proletarios'' (''Proletarian Poems'') * 1934 — ''Never ever'' * 1937 — ''Un poema'' (''A Poem'') * 1938 — ''Poesías escogidas'' (''Chosen Poems'') * 1944 — ''Nuestra tierra'' (''Our Land'') * 1945 — ''Florido laude'' * 1945 — ''

La estatua de sal ''La estatua de sal'' (English: ''The Salt Statue'') is an autobiographical work by Mexican writer Salvador Novo, written around 1945–1946 and published posthumously in 1998. It is an account of personal memories, the author's sexual experience ...

'' (''The Salt Statue'', published in May 2008) * 1955 — ''Dieciocho sonetos'' (''Eighteen Sonets'') * 1955 — ''Sátira, el libro ca…'' (''Satire'') * 1961 — ''Poesía'' (''Poetry'') * 1962 — ''Breve historia de Coyoacán'' (''Short History of Coyoacán'') * 1967 — ''Historia gastronómica de la Ciudad de México'' (''Gastronomic History of Mexico City'') * 1967 — ''Imagen de una ciudad'' (''Image of a City'') illustrated with photographs by Pedro Bayona * 1968 — ''La Ciudad de México en 1867'' (''Mexico City in 1867'') * 1971 — ''Historia y leyenda de Coyoacán'' (''History and Legend of Coyoacán'')

Theatre

Plays

* ''Don Quijote'' (1947) * ''Astucia'' (''Witness'') (1948) * ''La culta dama'' (1948) (''The Wise Lady''; it was used to write the script of a homonym Mexican film, directed in 1957 by

Rogelio A. González Jr. Rogelio () is a masculine Spanish given name and a variant of the first name Roger. Notable people with the name include: * Rogelio Antonio, Jr. (born 1962), Filipino chess player * Rogelio Armenteros (born 1994), Cuban pitcher in Major League Ba ...

* ''A ocho columnas'' (''Eight Columns'') (from 1953 on) * ''Diálogos'' (''Dialogues'') * ''Yocasta o casi'' (''Yocasta or Almost'') * ''Cuauhtémoc'' * ''La guerra de las gordas'' (''The War of the Fatties'') * ''Ha vuelto Ulises'' (''Ulises Has Returned'') * ''El sofá'' (''The Sofa'') * ''El espejo encantado'' (''The Enchanted Mirror'')

Building

Within a 1,000-sq.m.-land purchased in the late 1940s, Salvador Novo decided to build, with the aid of architect Alejandro Prieto, the cultural project "La Capilla", for which purpose he adapted an old chapel as a theatre, which was inaugurated on January 22, 1953.

References

Citations

Source

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Novo, Salvador 1904 births 1974 deaths 20th-century Mexican dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Mexican LGBTQ people 20th-century Mexican male writers 20th-century Mexican poets Academic staff of the National Conservatory of Music of Mexico Gay dramatists and playwrights Gay poets Members of the Mexican Academy of Language Mexican gay writers Mexican LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Mexican LGBTQ poets Mexican male dramatists and playwrights Mexican male poets Poets from Mexico City National Prize for Arts and Sciences (Mexico)