Fernando Alegría
Fernando Alegría was a prominent Chilean-American writer and academic, born on September 26, 1918, in Santiago, Chile. After completing his education at the University of Chile, he immigrated to the United States, where he earned advanced degrees and became a significant figure in Latin American literature. Alegría taught at prestigious institutions such as the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University, where he also chaired the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. He served as the cultural attaché for Chile in the U.S. during Salvador Allende’s government and actively promoted Latin American literature, particularly Chicano and Latino works.
His literary contributions include novels, short stories, and critical essays, with notable works such as "My Horse González" and "Allende, a Novel," which explore themes of identity and social issues. Alegría was recognized for his efforts to integrate Latin American literature into American academia, fostering a greater understanding of its significance beyond the confines of Spanish literature. He received various literary awards, including the Latin American Prize for Literature, and left a lasting impact on the promotion and appreciation of diverse literary voices. Alegría passed away on October 29, 2005, in Walnut Creek, California, but his legacy continues to resonate in the field of literature and cultural studies.
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Subject Terms
Fernando Alegría
Chilean-born writer and educator
- Born: September 16, 1918
- Birthplace: Santiago, Chile
- Died: October 29, 2005
- Place of death: Walnut Creek, California
Best known for his critical essays on the Latin American novel, Alegría also wrote novels and poetry and was an educator who ended his academic career as a professor of Latin American literature at Stanford University.
Early Life
Fernando Alegría (ah-leh-GREE-uh) was born on September 26, 1918, in Santiago, Chile, to Julia Alfaro Olivares and Santiago Alegría Toro. After graduating from the University of Chile, Alegría immigrated to the United States, where he earned a master’s degree from Bowling Green State University in Ohio in 1941 and a doctoral degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1947. He married Carmen Letonia Meléndez on January 29, 1943, and they had four children, Carmen, Daniel, Andrés, and Isabel.
Life’s Work
From 1964 to 1967, Alegría was a professor of Latin American literature at Berkeley, and from 1967 until his retirement in 1988, he was a professor at Stanford University. For a number of years, he also was the chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at this same institution and was an active member of the board of trustees at the Western Institute for Social Research. From 1970 to 1973, Alegría was the cultural attaché for Chile to the United States, under the government of Salvador Allende. He also was an active member of the North American Academy of the Spanish Language and an ardent advocate for the dissemination of Latin American literature in the United States.
Alegría also strongly and openly supported the growth and spread of Chicano and Latino literature in the United States. Throughout his academic career in the United States, he maintained strong ties with his native country, whose citizenship he kept and whose tumultuous politics he followed.
Alegría’s firsthand knowledge of Hispanic American literature, especially that of Chile, allowed him to initiate its study and its teaching in universities in the United Sates. Because of his knowledge of this literature and his close acquaintance with many prominent Latin American writers, such as Pablo Neruda and Julio Cortázar, he was able to develop many new courses in Hispanic American literature and culture. Alegría also promoted the importance of Latin American literature through seminar presentations that he conducted and through many literary workshops on popular contemporary writers of Latin American literature that he led. In addition, Alegría’s passion for the Spanish language and literature helped spur its popularity in the United States at a time when students at all levels were discouraged from learning any second language. He therefore was the central figure in introducing Latin American literature into the curriculum of American universities and was instrumental in forging an awareness in American students that Latin literature was not confined to the literature of Spain.
Alegría’s literary production is diverse and varied. He wrote two biographies, Recabarren (1938) and Lautaro, joven libertador de Arauco (1943) about people he admired. These works were followed by novels, collections of short stories, and critical essays on Latin American literature, particularly on the contemporary Latin American novel . His most famous novel, My Horse González (1964), is a comedic account of the adventures of a Chilean jockey who migrates to the United States. This novel placed him at the forefront of Latin American letters because of its narrative structure and his skillful use of the Spanish language. Another of his novels, Allende, a Novel (1993), also brought him critical acclaim for its candid and objective recounting of Salvador Allende’s regime and of the military dictatorship that followed his assassination.
Alegría’s poem “Viva Chile, mierda!” (1965) was very popular in Chile and was recited in many venues throughout the country during the reign of Allende. This lyrical poem was written while Alegría was teaching at Berkeley and decried social and economic stratification in his homeland.
Alegría also wrote many important essays describing the influence of North American writers such as Walt Whitman and Thomas Mann on Latin American writers. These essays were widely read in both Latin American and American universities and helped the public understand the universality of literature and literary themes. He also wrote an academic text, Breve historia de la novela Hispanoamericana (1959; Brief History of the Latin American Novel) which is widely used in Latin American literature courses. Alegría won many literary awards, among them the Latin American Prize for Literature. He died on October 29, 2005, in Walnut Creek, California.
Significance
Alegría was an activist, a scholar, and a humanitarian. His literary works embody the strength and the passions of the people and characters they depict and promote acceptance and celebration of Latin American literature. Alegría’s works humanize the search for identity of marginalized people, especially Latin Americans, and depict the Spanish language as an articulate medium for expression.
Bibliography
Feinstein, Adam. Pablo Neruda: A Passion for Life. New York: Bloomsbury, 2004. Alegría’s friendship with the poet Neruda is discussed in this biography.
Martinez Wood, Jamie. “Fernando Alegría.” In Latino Writers and Journalists. New York: Facts On File, 2007. Comprehensive biography of Alegría covering his academic and literary contributions.
Pearson, Lon. Chilean Literature in Exile. Chile: Chasqui, 1985. A revealing discussion of Chilean literature produced in exile, including that of Alegría.