Pedro Juan Gutiérrez: Difference between revisions
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Gutiérrez' stories are typically gritty, tragicomic accounts of himself and his countrymen hustling for money, searching for pleasure and happiness, and struggling in desperate situations. He makes heavy use of [[irony]]. His stories illustrate the difficulty of achieving self-sufficiency and contentment in a dysfunctional and poverty-stricken society living under a paternalistic government. |
Gutiérrez' stories are typically gritty, tragicomic accounts of himself and his countrymen hustling for money, searching for pleasure and happiness, and struggling in desperate situations. He makes heavy use of [[irony]]. His stories illustrate the difficulty of achieving self-sufficiency and contentment in a dysfunctional and poverty-stricken society living under a paternalistic government. |
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Gutiérrez' best-known work internationally is ''Dirty Havana Trilogy'' (''Trilogía sucia de La Habana'') (1998). Its first two books, "Anclado en la tierra de nadie" ("Anchored in No-man's Land") and "Nada que hacer" ("Nothing to Do"), follow the [[picaresque]] adventures of a protagonist who, like the author, is a one-time journalist called Pedro Juan. The third book, "Sabor a mí" ("Essence of Me", is a collection of short stories in which Pedro Juan appears only intermittently. |
Gutiérrez' best-known work internationally is ''Dirty Havana Trilogy'' (''Trilogía sucia de La Habana'') (1998). Its first two books, "Anclado en la tierra de nadie" ("Anchored in No-man's Land") and "Nada que hacer" ("Nothing to Do"), follow the [[picaresque]] adventures of a protagonist who, like the author, is a one-time journalist called Pedro Juan. The third book, "Sabor a mí" ("Essence of Me"), is a collection of short stories in which Pedro Juan appears only intermittently. |
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Despite his grim depiction of Cuban life, Gutiérrez' writing stresses his overriding love for Cuban culture. He frequently praises Cuban music, resourcefulness, and ''joie de vivre''. Gutiérrez writes scornfully of people who avoid risk and self-expression in exchange for smothering safety and boredom-inducing banality. |
Despite his grim depiction of Cuban life, Gutiérrez' writing stresses his overriding love for Cuban culture. He frequently praises Cuban music, resourcefulness, and ''joie de vivre''. Gutiérrez writes scornfully of people who avoid risk and self-expression in exchange for smothering safety and boredom-inducing banality. |
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Revision as of 18:07, 6 May 2012
Pedro Juan Gutiérrez | |
|---|---|
| Born | 27 January 1950 |
| Nationality | Cuban |
| Notable work | Trilogia sucia de La Habana, Lulú le dégagé |
| Movement | Dirty Realist |
Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, born 27 January 1950 in Matanzas, Cuba,[1] is a Cuban novelist.
Life
Gutiérrez grew up in Pinar del Río and began to work selling ice cream and newspapers when he was eleven years old. He was a soldier, swimming and kayak instructor, agricultural worker, technician in construction, technical designer, radio speaker and journalist for 26 years. He is a painter, sculptor and author of several poetry books. He came to central Havana when he was 37 years old and was astonished by the level of violence but also by the energy of the people who lived there.
He is the author of Dirty Havana Trilogy, King of Havana, Tropical Animal (winner of Spain's Alfonso Garcia Ramos Prize in 2000), The Insatiable Spiderman, Dog Meat (winner of Italy's Narrativa Sur del Mundo Prize), Snake's Nest (winner of the Prix des Amériques Insulaires et de la Guyane in 2008), Our GG in Havana, and the short stories of Melancholy of Lions. Dirty Havana Trilogy, Tropical Animal and The Insatiable Spiderman have been translated into English. Since 1994 he has written ten prose books and five books of poetry. In 2007 he published Corazón Mestizo, a Cuban travel book.
Work
Called a master of "Cuban dirty realism", Gutiérrez, like Zoé Valdés and Fernando Velázquez Medina, depicts life in the shady alleys of Havana in a direct, visceral style. His books describe contemporary Cuba from his semi-autobiographical perspective as a disillusioned journalist. Gutiérrez' narrative voice is skeptical, intellectual, humorous, crass, sardonic, and bluntly frank. His literary persona is chiefly concerned with escaping poverty and the pursuit of sex, rum, and writing.
Gutiérrez' stories are typically gritty, tragicomic accounts of himself and his countrymen hustling for money, searching for pleasure and happiness, and struggling in desperate situations. He makes heavy use of irony. His stories illustrate the difficulty of achieving self-sufficiency and contentment in a dysfunctional and poverty-stricken society living under a paternalistic government.
Gutiérrez' best-known work internationally is Dirty Havana Trilogy (Trilogía sucia de La Habana) (1998). Its first two books, "Anclado en la tierra de nadie" ("Anchored in No-man's Land") and "Nada que hacer" ("Nothing to Do"), follow the picaresque adventures of a protagonist who, like the author, is a one-time journalist called Pedro Juan. The third book, "Sabor a mí" ("Essence of Me"), is a collection of short stories in which Pedro Juan appears only intermittently.
Despite his grim depiction of Cuban life, Gutiérrez' writing stresses his overriding love for Cuban culture. He frequently praises Cuban music, resourcefulness, and joie de vivre. Gutiérrez writes scornfully of people who avoid risk and self-expression in exchange for smothering safety and boredom-inducing banality.
He has authored:[1]
- Dirty Havana Trilogy
- The King of Havana
- Tropical Animal
- The Insatiable Spiderman
- Dog Meat
- The Snake's Nest
- Our GG in Havana
- Pobre Diablo and Other Stories
- Melancholy of Lions.
External links
References
- ^ a b "Pedro Juan Gutiérrez". http://www.pedrojuangutierrez.com.
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