Braulio Arenas Facts for Kids

Braulio Arenas (born in La Serena on April 4, 1913 – died in Santiago on May 12, 1988) was a famous Chilean poet and writer. He was also the person who started the Mandrágora group, which was known for its surrealist style. Surrealism is an art and writing style that explores dreams and imagination.

His Life Story

Braulio Arenas spent most of his younger years in the northern part of Chile. When he was a teenager, he moved to Talca to continue his studies. There, he met other writers like Teófilo Cid and Enrique Gómez Correa. He joined them in many writing and literary activities.

Later, Braulio started studying law in Santiago. However, he soon decided to leave law school to focus completely on his passion for writing. Through a friend named Eduardo Anguita, he met Vicente Huidobro. Huidobro was a very important writer who created a literary style called "Creationism."

Creationism was a new way of writing that explored imagination and new ideas. It was different from other popular styles at the time, like Dada and Surrealism, which also focused on new and unusual ways of thinking.

In 1938, Braulio Arenas and some friends were inspired by these new European art and writing styles. They decided to create their own Surrealist group called Mandrágora. This group was interested in exploring dreams, the subconscious mind, and unexpected ideas in their art and writing. The group also supported the Popular Front government, which was a political group that aimed to help ordinary people.

In the same year, one of Braulio's short stories, called Gehenna, was published. It appeared in a collection of stories put together by Miguel Serrano.

In 1984, Braulio Arenas received a very special award: the Chilean National Prize for Literature. This prize is one of the highest honors for writers in Chile. Even though his books were often printed in small numbers (sometimes less than 800 copies), this award showed how important his work was.

His Books and Writings

Braulio Arenas wrote many different kinds of books, including poetry, stories, and essays. Here are some of his well-known works:

El mundo y su doble (The World and Its Double), 1940
La mujer mnemotécnica (The Mnemonist Woman), 1941
Luz adjunta (Attached Light), 1950
La simple vista (Simple Sight), 1950
En el océano de nadie (In No One's Ocean), stories, 1951
La gran vida (The Great Life), 1952
El pensamiento transmitido (Transmitted Thought), 1952
Discurso del gran poder (Discourse of Great Power), 1952
Ancud, Castro y Achao, 1953
El cerro Caracol (Caracol Hill), stories, 1956
Versión definitiva (Definitive Version), 1956
El a g c de la Mandrágora (The A G C of Mandragora), 1957
Poemas 1934-1959 (Poems 1934-1959), 1959
Adiós a la familia (Goodbye to the Family), novel, 1961
La casa fantasma (The Ghost House), 1962
Vicente Huidobro y el creacionismo (Vicente Huidobro and Creationism), essays, 1964
El juego de ajedrez, o, Visiones del país de las maravillas (The Chess Game, or, Visions of Wonderland), 1966
Pequeña meditación al atardecer en un cementerio junto al mar (Small Meditation at Dusk in a Cemetery by the Sea), 1966
El castillo de Peth (Peth Castle), novel, 1969
La endemoniada de Santiago (The Possessed Woman of Santiago), novel, 1969
En el mejor de los mundos (In the Best of Worlds), poetry collection 1929-1969; 1970
Samuel, a play in two acts, 1970
El laberinto de Greta (Greta's Labyrinth), novel, 1971
Los mozos de Monleón (The Lads of Monleón), stories, 1971
La promesa en blanco (The Blank Promise), novel, 1972
Actas surrealistas (Surrealist Acts), essay, 1974
Berenice: la idea fija (Berenice: The Fixed Idea), novel, 1975
Los esclavos de sus pasiones (The Slaves of Their Passions), novel, 1975
El cantar de Rolando (The Song of Roland), essay, 1975
El pintor Morales Jordán (The Painter Morales Jordán), essay, 1975
Una mansión absolutamente espejo deambula por una mansión absolutamente imagen (An Absolutely Mirror Mansion Wanders Through an Absolutely Image Mansion), 1978
Los sucesos de Budi (The Events of Budi), novel, 1980
La situación física del castillo kafkiano (The Physical Situation of the Kafkaesque Castle), 1980
Escritos y escritores chilenos (Chilean Writings and Writers), essays, 1982
Visiones del pais de las maravillas (Visions of Wonderland), 1983
Los dioses del Olimpo (The Gods of Olympus), legends, 1983
La promesa en blanco (The Blank Promise), novel, 1984
Sólo un día del tiempo. Crónica del año 1929 (Only One Day of Time. Chronicle of the Year 1929), 1984
Escritos mundanos (Worldly Writings), 1985
Memorándum chileno (Chilean Memorandum), 1987
Realidad desalojada (Evicted Reality), 2009
La casa fantasma y otros poemas (The Ghost House and Other Poems), 2012

Braulio Arenas facts for kids

His Life Story

His Books and Writings

See also