Jules Supervielle
Jules Supervielle was a Uruguayan poet born in 1884 to French parents, whose life was profoundly shaped by the early loss of his parents to cholera. Raised by his uncle and aunt, he grappled with themes of death and fate from a young age, which influenced his literary work. Supervielle pursued his education in France, where he earned a degree in Spanish and began a family. His literary career began with the publication of his first poetry collection in 1901, showcasing traditional narrative styles unlike the more avant-garde poets of his time. Throughout his life, he formed significant literary friendships with notable figures such as André Gide and Paul Valéry, which enriched his poetic expression. The onset of World War II forced him into exile in South America, where he produced some of his most somber poetry. After returning to Paris post-war, Supervielle continued to publish important works and received several prestigious literary awards. He passed away in 1960, leaving behind a legacy that reflects a blend of tradition and contemporary themes in poetry.
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Jules Supervielle
Poet
- Born: January 16, 1884
- Birthplace: Montevideo, Uruguay
- Died: May 17, 1960
- Place of death: Paris, France
Biography
Jules Supervielle was born in 1884 in Montevideo, Uruguay, to parents of French descent. Supervielle’s entire life was transformed by the death of his parents from cholera when he was just eight months old. Raised by his uncle and aunt, he did not discover that his relatives were not his parents until he was nine. From that moment on, he was preoccupied with the mystery of death and fate and the asymmetrical relationship between the brevity of human existence and the apparent eternity of the cosmos.
The year after he discovered that he was an orphan, Supervielle was sent to Paris to continue his education at the Lycée Janson de Sailly. Receiving his baccalaureate, the equivalent of a high school diploma, in 1902 Supervielle completed his military service. He then entered the Sorbonne to pursue a licence-es-lettres, equivalent to a bachelor of arts degree, in Spanish. In 1907 Supervielle married Pilar Saaverdra, and the couple would go on to have several children. When World War I broke out in 1914, Supervielle was mobilized by the French military, but health problems kept him out of combat. His proficiency in languages, however, made him a valuable officer. After the war, Supervielle returned to Paris, where he lived for the next twenty-five years raising a family and publishing his work.
Supervielle’s first collection of poems, Brumes du passé (mists from the past), was published in 1901. Like almost all his subsequent poetry, his work would betray his conventional poetics (in both content and form), a fact which meant that he would not have the kind of critical acclaim accorded the radical French Symbolist poets like Arthur Rimbaud and Stéphane Mallarmé. Unlike their radical use of collage and lyrical explorations of the subconscious, Supervielle relied largely on narrative procedures to organize his traditional array of natural images (the sea, flora, the moon, etc.). Nonetheless, Supervielle did develop important literary friendships with André Gide, Paul Valéry, and Henri Michaux. These friendships, and others, helped Supervielle develop a more contemporary, adventuresome poetic range, evident in collections like Le Forçat innocent (the innocent prisoner), published in 1930.
Supervielle was in Uruguay attending the wedding of his son when the World War II broke out in 1939. Forced to remain in South America in exile during the German occupation of France, Supervielle, whose poor health was exacerbated by a bout of influenza, began writing some of the darkest and most gloomy poetry of his career. When the South America-based family bank failed in 1946, Supervielle returned to Paris. There, he was appointed honorary cultural attaché to Uruguay, a post which provided a meager housing allowance for Supervielle and his family.
Supervielle would publish two more major collections of poetry before his death in 1960: Oublieuse mémoire (forgetful memory) and Naissances: Poèmes, suivis de, en songeant à un art poétique. His accomplishments in poetry were recognized in 1955 when he received the Grand Prix de la Litterature, in 1957 when he received the Etna-Taormina International Prize in Poetry, and in 1960 when he was named prince des poetes (prince of poets) by the French journal Nouvelle litteraires.