Arturo Uslar Pietri
Arturo Uslar Pietri was a prominent Venezuelan writer, politician, and intellectual, born into an affluent family in Caracas. He earned a Ph.D. in political science from the Universidad Central de Venezuela and began his career in the Venezuelan embassy in Paris. Uslar Pietri became well-known for his literary contributions, notably his first novel, "Las lanzas coloradas" (The Red Lances), which explores Venezuela's struggle for independence and reflects on national identity. His activism in politics led to his imprisonment twice, most notably after a military coup in 1945, which forced him into exile in the United States for several years. Upon returning to Venezuela, he continued to influence the country as a senator and a candidate for the presidency. In addition to his political career, he hosted a popular television program and served as the Venezuelan ambassador to UNESCO. Uslar Pietri's work spans various genres, including poetry and short fiction, and he received the prestigious Principe de Asturias Award in 1990 for his extensive contributions to literature and culture.
Subject Terms
Arturo Uslar Pietri
Venezuelan novelist, poet, short fiction writer, and politician.
- Born: May 16, 1906
- Birthplace: Caracas, Venezuela
- Died: February 26, 2001
- Place of death: Caracas, Venezuela
Biography
Born into an affluent family in Caracas, Venezuela, Arturo Uslar Pietri was deeply involved in Venezuelan politics and twice was imprisoned for his activism. The son of Arturo Uslar Santamaria, a general and civil administrator, and his wife, Helena Pietri de Uslar, young Arturo received a Ph.D. in political science from the Universidad Central de Venezuela in 1929. In that year, he became a civil attaché at Venezuela’s embassy in Paris, a post he occupied until 1934, when he returned to Caracas and founded the literary journal El ingenioso hidalgo.
By that time, Uslar Pietri had already published a collection of his short stories. Although his first novel, Las lanzas coloradas, was published in 1931, it was not translated into English until 1963. Its title in English became The Red Lances. In 1982, it was made into a rock opera by composer Angel Ferreyra. The novel focuses on Venezuela’s struggle for independence from Spain at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The characters the author created were conscious attempts to depict a national character among Venezuelans, which made the novel both highly political and quite controversial at the time it first appeared.
Between 1937 and 1941, Uslar Pietri was a lecturer in economics at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas. In 1939, he was appointed Secretary of Education in the Venezuelan government. In that year, he married Isabel Braun Kerdel, with whom he had two sons. In 1941, he left university teaching and became the secretary to Venezuela’s president, Isaias Medina, a post he continued in until 1945, serving simultaneously as the secretary of the treasury in 1943 and minister of the interior in 1945. Following a military coup in 1945, Uslar Pietri was imprisoned, then expelled from Venezuela.
Uslar Pietri fled to the United States and spent the years from 1946 to 1950 as a professor of Latin American literature at Columbia University. By 1950, the political situation in Venezuela had cooled to the point that he was able to return to Caracas to teach literature at the Universidad Central. He hosted a weekly program on Radio Caracas Television from 1953 to 1974, and again from 1979 to 1987.
In 1958, Uslar Pietri was briefly imprisoned for protesting against the dictatorship of Venezuelan strongman Marcos Pérez Jiménez. As soon as he left prison, Uslar Pietri became a senator and served as such from 1958 to 1973. He was a candidate for the Venezuelan presidency in 1963 and in the following year was the founder and secretary general of Frente Nacional Democratico, a political party aimed at bringing democracy to Venezuela. After his term as senator, he served in Paris as the Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) from 1975 to 1979.
Uslar Pietri was incredibly prolific, publishing in many fields and serving as editor of the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional from 1969 to 1974. In recognition for his many contributions, he received the prestigious Spanish Principe de Asturias Award in 1990.
Author Works
Long Fiction:
Las lanzas coloradas, 1931 (The Red Lances, 1963)
El camino de El Dorado, 1947
Un retrato en la geografía, 1962
Estación de máscaras, 1964
Oficio de difuntos, 1976
La isla de Robinson, 1981
La visita en el tiempo, 1990
Poetry:
Manoa, 1972
El hombre que voy siendo, 1986
Short Fiction:
Barrabas, y otros relatos, 1928
Obras selectas, 1953
Bibliography
Romero, Simon. "Arturo Uslar Pietri, Novelist of Venezuela, Is Dead at 94." The New York Times, 1 Mar. 2001, www.nytimes.com/2001/03/01/arts/arturo-uslar-pietri-novelist-of-venezuela-is-dead-at-94.html. Accessed 23 June 2017. Obituary giving an overview of Uslar Pietri's life and work.
Quintero, Julio. "Threatening Masculine Images of Power: María Lionza and Juan Vicente Gómez as Vampire in Arturo Uslar Pietri's Oficio de difuntos." Hispanic Issues On Line, vol. 15, 2014, pp. 121–39. A rare piece of English-language scholarly analysis of Uslar Pietri's work, focusing on his 1976 novel Oficio de difuntos (Mass for the dead).