Vicente Huidobro
Vicente Huidobro (1893–1948) was a prominent Chilean poet and literary figure, best known for founding the literary movement known as "creationism." Born into a wealthy family in Santiago, he journeyed through various cultural landscapes, living in cities such as Buenos Aires, Paris, and Madrid. His early works, including the poetry collection "Ecos del alma," showcased his literary talent, but it was his experimental poetry that became his hallmark. Huidobro believed in the power of the poet as a creator, famously stating that "the poet is a little God," and his work often featured imaginative and surreal imagery, such as "a bird's nest in a rainbow." Despite facing criticism for the coherence of his metaphors, later evaluations recognized his inventive and humorous use of language. He was instrumental in the avant-garde movements of his time, contributing to several literary journals and producing significant works like "Altazor: O, El viaje en paracaídas." Huidobro's legacy endures through his unique approach to poetry and his influence on modern literary movements.
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Vicente Huidobro
Poet
- Born: January 10, 1893
- Birthplace: Santiago, Chile
- Died: January 2, 1948
- Place of death: Santiago, Chile
Biography
Vicente Huidobro’s poems, especially those written in the style he labeled “creationism,” frequently were not well received by earlier critics; one wrote of Huidobro’s “strained metaphors. . . linked together without much coherence, either syntactic, emotional, or imaginative.” However, later critics have been much more receptive of Huidobro’s imaginative and humorous “verbal legerdemain.”
Vicente Garcia Huidobro Fernandez was born in Santiago, Chile, on January 10, 1893, into a wealthy and aristocratic family, eventually becoming heir to the marquisate of Casa Real. After living in Europe, he attended the Colegio San Ignacio in Santiago, the Berthelot Lyceum, and the University of Chile; he also published his first collection of poems, Ecos del alma (1912, echoes of the soul). In 1912, while still a teenager, he married Manuela Portas Bello; throughout their married life, they resided in Santiago, Chile, and Buenos Aires, Argentina; in Paris, France; and in Madrid, Spain. He edited the journals Musa Joven and Azul through 1913.
Huidobro wrote numerous collections of essays, plays, and five novels; however, it is for his experimental poetry, written in both Spanish and French, he is best remembered. Criticizing realist poetry for its imitation of nature, surrealism for its de-emphasis of the role of the poet, and futurism for its technological emphasis, Huidobro helped found creacionismo, or “creationism.” He argued that “the poet is a little God,” adding to nature by the imaginative creation of poetry: “Whatever the eye looks at, let it be created”; he wrote of “a bird’s nest in a rainbow,” for example. Moving in 1916 with his wife and children, Huidobro began to share with the avant-garde of Madrid and Paris his “creationist” ideas, resulting in another literary movement, Ultraísmo. He helped found the journals Nord Sud (1916) and Creación (1921); the latter published artwork by artists such as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.
In 1925, Huidobro returned to Chile and began a career in political journalism and criticism, founding the magazine Acción; he would have become a political candidate, but the very real threat of violence caused him to move his family back to Europe, where he published his first novel, Mío Cid Campeador: Hazaña (1929,Portrait of a Paladin, 1931). He also published his greatest poetic work, Altazor: O, El viaje en paracaídas (1931), published in English in 1988 as Altazor: Or, A Voyage in a Parachute. Huidobro helped found four more literary reviews, Ombligo and Vital (both 1934); Total (1936); and Actual (1944). He died of a stroke on January 2, 1948; The Selected Poetry of Vicente Huidobro was published in English translation in 1981.