by Isabel Soto Mayedo
Although the Nobel Prize sparked controversy due to its unmerited award to certain characters, still it is celebrated with satisfaction the one given today to the Guatemalan writer Miguel Ángel Asturias.
In particular, Latin America is still proud of the prize delivered 48 years ago the author of Mr. President (1946), Men of Corn (1949), and the epic trilogy Strong wind, The Green Pope and The Eyes of the Buried, to name a few.
These latter novels marked the literary career as a few who managed to outline the profile of a Latin American dictator, in the form of satire, and denounce in a clear way the excesses of the fruit monopoly US United Fruit Company.
The review of the work of the Nobel Prize for Literature on Oct. 19, 1967, while serving as ambassador of Guatemala in France, confirms the accuracy of the arguments used to announce it.
Asturias (1899-1974) was the third Latin American and Caribbean to receive it -after Gabriela Mistral (Chile, 1945) and Saint-John Perse (Guadalupe, 1960) – and is one of the novelists of this continent that had an impact on the development of world literature.
At the same time, it is considered by specialists as the first to show the way in which Anthropology and Linguistics studies could influence in the narrative.
Despite this, for many years the Swedish Academy denied this recognition due to his alleged Marxist affiliation and the radical nature of his statements regarding the arms race and the lack of commitments of those involved in this artistic demonstration towards their people.
‘I think it is necessary to publicize the problems of our country and the best way is through the novel and literature’ said Guatemalan journalist and diplomat, in the field of tributes around the announcement of the Nobel Prize awarded to him.
At the same time he insisted that the important thing was that the great strength of this prize, amounting to about 62,000 dollars, to go to a writer from a very small country and not one with an arsenal of atomic bombs.
‘What is also important is that the prize was given to a writer who represents committed literature, not the free literature’ he said then, when was about 68 years old.
Juan Luis Guerra will perform for the first time in Canada
The singer from the Dominican Republic Juan Luis Guerra, winner of 15 Latin Grammy Awards, will perform for the first time in Canada, where he will offer two concerts in the context of his international tour Todo tiene su Hora, according to the media.
According to the company organizing the show, JEP Concerts, the singer, winner of two Grammy, will perform on February 12 at the L’Olympia of Montreal and on the 14th in the Powerade Centre in Toronto.
Guerra, one of the most internationally recognized Dominican artists, is promoting his latest album Todo tiene su hora, consisting of 10 songs covering several genres such as bachata, merengue, salsa and son.
The phonogram, the twelfth studio album by the singer, has achieved several nominations for the 2015 Latin Grammy Awards in the categories of Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Tropical Song and Best Contemporary Tropical Album.
Venezuelan Rafael Cadenas wins poetry Prize Federico Garcia Lorca
Venezuelan poet Rafael Cadenas today won the International Poetry Prize Federico Garcia Lorca-Granada City in its twelfth edition.
The jury, chaired by the mayor of Granada, José Torres, highlighted the deliberately marginal, very quiet and lucid poetry of Cadenas, poet, essayist, university professor and National Literature Award of Venezuela in 1985.
He was selected among 43 authors of 18 nationalities and joins with this prize the list of winners that includes Rafael Guillen (2014), Eduardo Lizalde (2013), Pablo García Baena (2012), Fina García Marruz (2011) and Maria Victoria Atencio (2010).
José Manuel Caballero Bonald (2009), Tomás Segovia (2008), Francisco Brines (2007), Blanca Varela (2006), Jose Emilio Pacheco (2005) and Angel Gonzalez (2004) are also part of the list.
