Javier del Granado
Francisco Javier del Granado y Granado (27 February 1913 – 15 May 1996), was a poet laureate and favorite son of Bolivia.
Born into a distinguished family with a rich literary pedigree, he spent most of his youth on his family's hacienda near Arani, in the department of Cochabamba, Colpa-Ciacu, a colonial-era estate in existence since the 16th century. A quiet life filled with the joys of living in the countryside greatly influenced his works, which combine epic imagery and storytelling with bucolic settings as well as rural and indigenous themes and the use, in addition to Spanish, of indigenous languages, primarily Quechua (the language of the Incas). In its turn toward native subjects as well as in its use of a formal battery of traditional forms, such as the ballad and the sonnet, his extensive body of poetry has been compared with that of Mexico's preeminent man of letters Alfonso Reyes.
Bolivia's poetic leading light achieved widespread acclaim and recognition, receiving a multitude of national and international awards over a career that spanned more than half a century. His death was marked by three national days of mourning, and his funeral was a state event. Bolivia has dedicated two avenues and a plaza, and put up a monument to his memory, and created a commemorative postage stamp in his honor.
[edit] Bibliography
The major collections of his poems are:
- Rosas pálidas (1939)
- Canciones de la tierra (1945)
- Santa Cruz de la Sierra (1947)
- Cochabamba (1959)
- Romance del valle nuestro (1964)
- La parábola del águila (1967)
- Antología poética de la flor natural (1970)
- Terruño (1971)
- Estampas (1975)
- Vuelo de Azores (1980)
- Canto al paisaje de Bolivia (1982)
- Cantares (1992)
[edit] Sources
Caceres Romero, Adolfo, Diccionario de la Literatura Boliviana, Second Edition, La Paz, 1997
Irwin, Amanda L., El poeta de la revolución nacional: La vida y obra de Don Javier del Granado y Granado, La Paz, Bolivia: Los Amigos del Libro, 1991
[edit] External links
Javier del Granado Literary Foundation La Leyenda del Dorado del poeta boliviano Javier del Granado (Spanish)
