Ezequiel Martínez Estrada facts for kids

Ezequiel Martínez Estrada.

Ezequiel Martínez Estrada (born September 14, 1895 – died November 4, 1964) was an Argentine writer, poet, and literary critic. He was a famous writer who wrote about many things, including politics. He didn't agree with the government of Juan Domingo Perón. In his younger years, he was interested in the ideas of thinkers like Nietzsche and Kafka. Later in life, he supported the Cuban revolution and its leader, Fidel Castro.

Life

Ezequiel Martínez Estrada was born in San José de la Esquina, Santa Fe Province, Argentina. He grew up in the countryside until he was about 12 years old. In 1907, he moved to Buenos Aires to live with his aunt and study. He had to stop his studies early because his family faced financial difficulties. By 1914, he started working at the central post office in Buenos Aires. He stayed there until he retired in 1946.

A few years later, he began to be known as a poet. He also published some short essays. In 1921, he married Agustina Morriconi, an artist from Italy. She supported his career and was a big inspiration for his poetry.

Starting in 1924, Martínez Estrada taught literature at the Colegio Nacional of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata. He taught there for many years. He lost his job when Juan Domingo Perón became powerful in 1945. He returned briefly after Perón left power in 1956.

In 1933, after a government change in Argentina, Martínez Estrada published Radiografía de la pampa. This was the first of his important essays that made him famous. These essays explored society, psychology, and history in Argentina. That same year, he won his first national literary prize. Around this time, he also started traveling abroad. In 1942, he visited the United States. He wrote about his experiences in a book published after his death, called Panorama de los Estados Unidos.

In 1946, Martínez Estrada started writing regularly for the Argentine magazine Sur. This magazine was edited by Victoria Ocampo. He wrote poems, essays, and short stories for Sur.

During the years when Perón was in power, Martínez Estrada had serious health problems. After Perón's government ended, his health improved. He felt like he needed to speak out about Argentina's future. He wrote a series of strong essays criticizing the Argentine leaders and thinkers. He believed Argentina would face many challenges for a long time. During this time, he briefly returned to teaching.

In 1959, Martínez Estrada began to live outside Argentina for a while. First, he went on a lecture tour in Chile. Then he attended a peace conference in Vienna, where he met the Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén. In September 1959, he went to Mexico for a year. There, he wrote a long essay called Diferencias y semejanzas entre los países de América Latina. This essay compared countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. He spoke against imperialism and colonialism. He also admired the revolution happening in Cuba, which became his next home.

From 1960 to 1962, Martínez Estrada directed a study center in Cuba. He became very involved in the exciting intellectual life of the early Cuban Revolution. He studied the life and works of José Martí, a Cuban national hero. He also helped edit books of Fidel Castro's speeches. He wrote about Cuba's special role in the world, linking it to ideas of a perfect society.

Martínez Estrada left Cuba shortly after the Cuban Missile Crisis. His health was getting worse, and he needed to take care of his personal finances. He felt he could help the revolution better from outside Cuba. After a short stop in Mexico, he returned to Argentina. He continued to write, completing three books about Martí. He also wrote about the French writer Balzac and continued to write poems. He thought about returning to Cuba, but he never did. He died on November 4, 1964, in Bahía Blanca.

Works

Martínez Estrada often wrote about big ideas and important people. He studied the works of thinkers like Nietzsche, Montaigne, and Kafka. He also explored themes specific to Latin America, like doubts about modern society.

When he wrote about Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, another Argentine writer, he looked at Sarmiento's ideas of "civilization" versus "barbarism." Martínez Estrada had mixed feelings about whether civilization was always good. He also admired the naturalist Guillermo Enrique Hudson, agreeing with the idea of returning to a more natural world.

Like his older friend Horacio Quiroga, Martínez Estrada worried about unfairness and the way modern industrial society could make people feel less human. Like Sarmiento and José Martí, he believed that writers could not only describe the world but also change it. Towards the end of his life, this belief led him to support the Cuban Revolution and write his strong essays about Argentine politics.

Honors

• 1933 – He won the Argentine National Prize for Literature for his poems.
• 1933-1934 – He was the President of the Argentine Society of Writers (SADE).
• 1937 – He received the Argentine National Prize for Letters for his book Radiografía de la pampa.
• 1942-1946 – He was President of SADE again.
• 1948 – He received SADE's highest honor, the "Gran Premio de Honor."
• 1949 – SADE suggested him as a candidate for a Nobel Prize, but he did not receive it.
• 1957 – He became President of the Argentine League for Human Rights.

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See also

In Spanish: Ezequiel Martínez Estrada para niños