José Gorostiza
José Gorostiza was a prominent Mexican poet and diplomat, born in 1901 in Villahermosa, Tabasco. His early life was marked by the upheaval of the Mexican Revolution, prompting his family to move to Mexico City, where he pursued an education in literature and law. Gorostiza's literary career began in earnest during his studies, gaining recognition through the publication of his poetry, notably in the literary review La revista nueva. His first significant collection, *Canciones para cantar en las barcas*, established him as a key figure in the avant-garde literary movement known as the "Contemporaries," paralleling European literary influencers like André Gide and T. S. Eliot.
In 1939, he published *Muerte sin fin*, a complex work celebrated for its depth and meaning, which solidified his reputation in Mexican literature. Gorostiza's life also included a diplomatic career, involving postings in Europe during a turbulent historical period. He contributed to cultural literacy initiatives and worked with United Nations agencies following World War II. His accolades included the National Literature Prize in 1968. Gorostiza's legacy continues to resonate in discussions of Mexican poetry and cultural history, reflecting the rich intertwining of art and political context in his life and works.
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Subject Terms
José Gorostiza
Writer
- Born: 1901
- Birthplace: Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico
- Died: 1973
- Place of death: Mexico City, Mexico
Biography
José Gorostiza was born in 1901 in Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico. His father had entered business after retiring from the military, and the family settled in Aguascalientes. (Gorostiza had a brother, Celestino, who became a noted playwright.) Gorostiza studied at the Instituto Científico y Literario, where he began his writing career and published a student magazine. In 1918, the upheavals of the Mexican Revolution forced Gorostiza’s family to move to Mexico City. The writer received his B.A. in literature and began to study law, and at the same time he began to garner notice as a poet. Poet Carlos Pellicer published four of Gorostiza’s poems in his journal, and within the next two years Gorostiza had published several more poems and was invited to head La revista nueva, a literary review. He continued to write and publish during the next years while teaching at La Universidad de México. He also participated in a movement for cultural literacy (an outgrowth of the revolution) by editing a series of classics for schoolchildren.
In 1925, Gorostiza’s first collection of poems, Canciones para cantar en las barcas (songs to be sung on boats), was published. The power of this collection established Gorostiza’s place among the writers who had come to be called the “Contemporaries,” a group whose avant-garde influence extended into the 1930’s and aligned them with similar European writers such as André Gide and T. S. Eliot. In 1927, Gorostiza traveled to London in an attempt to end a bout of depression and writer’s block. When he returned to Mexico in 1928 he threw himself into teaching at the National University, although he published a few poems over the next years and did some translations. He accepted a position as professor of modern history at the National School of Teachers, but at the same time he was forced to resign a governmental arts post when his poem “Caryatid” was labeled obscene.
In the late 1930’s, Gorostiza held diplomatic appointments that took him to Copenhagen and other European capitols during the growth of Fascism. He married Josefina Ortega; their first son was born in Rome in 1939. That year Gorostiza’s most-significant volume, Muerte sin fin (death without end), was published. Its seven hundred forty-nine lines are noted for their complexity and for their multiple levels of meaning. In the wake of this important publication, Gorostiza continued as a diplomat, serving in Guatemala (where his daughter was born), in Havana, and finally as advisor to the Mexican delegation to the San Francisco conference in 1945 that created the United Nations. Throughout the next decade, he continued to work with United Nations agencies while publishing occasional essays about poetry. In 1968, he won the National Literature Prize. He retired to Mexico in 1969 and died in 1973.