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Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco
Pareja in 1990
Pareja in 1990
Born (1908-10-12)October 12, 1908
Guayaquil, Ecuador
Died May 1, 1993(1993-05-01) (aged 84)
Quito, Ecuador
Occupation Novelist, Essayist, Journalist, Historian, Diplomat
Nationality Ecuadorian
Genre Nonfiction

Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco (born October 12, 1908 – died May 1, 1993) was an important writer, historian, and diplomat from Ecuador. He was known for his novels, essays, and historical books. He was also a founding member of a famous writing group called Grupo de Guayaquil (the "Group of Guayaquil"). This group focused on writing realistic stories about life in Ecuador.

Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco also worked for his country's government. He served as the Foreign Minister of Ecuador from 1979 to 1980. Later, he became the Ambassador to France from 1983 to 1984. His books have not yet been translated into English.

About His Life

Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in 1908. His father was Fernando Pareja y Pareja, and his mother was Amalia Diez-Canseco y Coloma. His mother's father was Francisco Diez Canseco y Corbacho, a former president of Peru.

When he was only 14, Alfredo had to start working to help his family. He studied at night and even worked at a school called Colegio Vicente Rocafuerte. He would listen to students' conversations to make sure they were polite.

He finished his early schooling in Guayaquil at the Colegio San Luis Gonzaga. In 1927, he and his friend Jorge Pérez Concha started a magazine called Voluntad. They only published six issues.

In 1930, Pareja went on an adventure to the United States. During the Great Depression, a time when many people lost their jobs, he worked on the docks in New York City. His experiences there inspired his later novel, El Muelle (which means "The Pier"), published in 1933.

After returning to Ecuador, he became a history professor. He also taught Spanish and Spanish American literature at Universidad Laica Vicente Rocafuerte de Guayaquil. He held important positions in education and government for his home province, Guayas.

In 1934, he married Mercedes Cucalón Concha. They had three children together: Cecilia, Jorge, and Francisco.

His Work in Politics

Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco was an intellectual who was interested in ideas about social equality. Because of this, he sometimes had disagreements with the governments in power in Ecuador.

During the time when Federico Páez was in charge (1935–1937), Pareja was put in prison. Later, he was sent away to Chile. While in Chile, he worked for a publishing company.

When he came back to Ecuador, he became a member of the Assembly, which is like a parliament. But he was jailed again by the government of President Aurelio Mosquera Narvaez. This time, he was held for 30 days, and this experience became the basis for his novel, Hombres sin tiempo (Men Without Time).

In 1944, Pareja was appointed as Ecuador's representative in Mexico. In 1945, he worked for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) in Washington, D.C.. This organization helped countries recover after World War II. He later worked in other cities like Montevideo and Buenos Aires, helping to coordinate efforts for several countries.

From 1979 to 1980, during the government of President Jaime Roldós Aguilera, Pareja was appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. This means he was Ecuador's top diplomat, dealing with other countries. Later, he served as Ecuador's representative to UNESCO and as Ambassador to Paris from 1983 to 1984.

After he retired, Pareja spent his time doing historical research. He passed away in Quito on May 1, 1993.

His Books and Ideas

Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco came from a traditional family. However, he became part of a group of writers who believed in social change. He saw a lot of political problems in Ecuador in the 1920s. He believed that his country needed to move towards more fair and equal ideas.

He always said that he didn't want his stories to be just political messages. Instead, he wanted to show real-life social problems that needed to be fixed. He also wanted to speak out against corruption and unfairness by those in power. His first novel, La casa de los locos (The House of Madmen, 1929), made fun of Ecuadorian politics. It criticized so many people that its publication was delayed.

Pareja was greatly influenced by many famous writers and thinkers. These included the Greek classics, Honoré de Balzac, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Thomas Mann, Will Durant, and Arnold Toynbee.

His novels were known for being very realistic and closely connected to Ecuador's history. Some of his important novels include El muelle (The Pier, 1933), Hombres sin tiempo (Men Without Time, 1941), and Las tres ratas (The Three Rats, 1944). In 1944, he published an important book called The Barbaric Bonfire. This book was a biography about the life and death of General Eloy Alfaro, a famous Ecuadorian leader.

He started a new series of novels in 1956 with La advertencia (The Warning). He continued with El aire y los recuerdos (Air and Memories, 1959) and Los poderes omnímodos (All-embracing Powers, 1964). These books explored how Ecuadorian society changed after 1925. He also wrote essays, which are short non-fiction pieces, like “Thomas Mann and the New Humanism” (1956).

Pareja worked closely with the famous "Guayaquil Group" of Ecuadorian writers, which included José de la Cuadra, Joaquín Gallegos Lara, Demetrio Aguilera Malta, and Enrique Gil Gilbert. He also knew and corresponded with many other famous writers from different countries, like Jorge Luis Borges and John Steinbeck.

Awards and Positions

Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco received many important awards and held many significant positions throughout his life:

  • Medalla de la Fundación Internacional Eloy Alfaro La Habana 1944
  • Medalla al Mérito Literario Municipio de Guayaquil, 1972
  • Premio Nacional Eugenio Espejo (Eugenio Espejo National Award), Ecuador's most important literary award, given for a life's work, 1979.
  • Gran Oficial de la orden al Mérito del Ecuador
  • Gran Cruz de la Orden al Mérito del Ecuador
  • Grand Cross of Order of Isabella the Catholic (Spain)
  • Grand Cross of Order of the Crown (Belgium)
  • Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun (Peru)
  • Grand Cross of the Order of Rio Branco (Brazil)
  • Gran Cruz de la Orden Jóse Cecilio del Valle
  • Légion d'honneur (France), June 1992. He received this honor for leading the committee for the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution.
  • Title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Guayaquil, 1986. This is an honorary degree given for great achievements.
  • Member of the National Academy of History, June 1989.
  • Member of the Royal Spanish Academy, which is important for the Spanish language.
  • Member of the Anthropological and Geography Institute of Ecuador.
  • Member of the Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana (House of Ecuadorian Culture).
  • Member of the Ecuadorean Academy of History.
  • Professor of Cultural History at Universidad Central del Ecuador.
  • Full Professor of Latin American History and International Relations at the University of Florida, USA.
  • Full Professor of Latin American Political Problems and International Relations at the University of Miami, USA.
  • Professor of History Research at Universidad Central del Ecuador.
  • Professor of Foreign Literature at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador.
  • He gave courses and lectures at the University of Texas at Austin, University of New Mexico, and the Universidad de Puerto Rico.

Legacy

Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco was the father-in-law of Gerard Béhague, a well-known expert in the study of music from different cultures.

Selected works

Novels

Editor, collection of folk poetry

Short Stories

  • Los gorgojos (Quito, 1954)

Essays

  • Breve historia del Ecuador (1946)
  • Historia del Ecuador (1954)
  • La lucha por la democracia en el Ecuador (Quito, 1956)
  • Thomas Mann y el nuevo humanismo (Quito, 1956)
  • El Ecuador de Eloy Alfaro (1966)
  • Historia de la República: El Ecuador desde 1830 a Nuestros días (2 vols.; Guayaquil: Cromograph, 1974)
  • Las Instituciones y la Administración en la Real Audiencia de Quito (Quito, 1975)
  • Ecuador: de la prehistoria à la conquista española (Quito, 1978)
  • Ecuador: la República de 1830 a nuestros días (Quito, 1979)
  • Ensayos de Ensayos (Quito, 1981)
  • Notas de un viaje a China (Quito, 1986)

Biographies

  • La hoguera bárbara – Vida de Eloy Alfaro (México, 1944), a biography of Ecuadorian president Eloy Alfaro.
  • Vida y leyenda de Miguel de Santiago (México, 1952), a biography of Ecuadorian painter Miguel de Santiago.

Alfredo Pareja is included in the following anthologies:

  • El nuevo relato ecuatoriano (Quito, 1951)
  • Antología básica del cuento ecuatoriano (Quito, 1998)

Articles

  • Pareja Diezcanseco, Alfredo (1989), Entry: "Juan Montalvo (1832-1889)"; In Solé, Carlos A (Editor in Chief) and María Isabel Abreu (Associate Editor), Latin American Writers – Volume 1; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 3 volumes.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Alfredo Pareja Diez-Canseco para niños

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