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EzequielMartínezEstrada
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.

Bibliography
Year Work Comments
1918 Oro y piedra
(Gold and Stone)
Poetry
1922 Nefelibal Poetry
1924 Motivos del cielo
(The Motives of Heaven)
Poetry
1927 Argentina Poetry
1929 Humoresca
(Humoresque)
Poetry
1929 Títeres de pies ligeros
(Light-footed marionettes)
A verse puppet play
1933 Radiografía de la pampa
(An X-ray of the Pampa)
The first of his famous essays about society and history.
1940 La cabeza de Goliath
(Goliath's Head)
Essay
1944 La inundación
(The Flood)
Short stories
1945 Autobiographical "letter" to Victoria Ocampo Martínez Estrada's only writing about his own life.
1946 Sarmiento Essay about the writer Sarmiento.
1946 Panorama de las literaturas
(Panorama of Literature)
Based on his literature lectures.
1947 Poesía
(Poetry)
Collected poetry
1947 Los invariantes históricos en el Facundo
(Historic Invariants in Facundo)
Essay on Sarmiento's famous book.
1947 Nietzsche Biography and literary criticism.
1948 Muerte y transfiguración de Martín Fierro
(Death and Transfiguration of Martín Fierro)
Essay on the famous poem Martín Fierro.
1951 El mundo maravilloso de Guillermo Enrique Hudson
(The marvelous world of Guillermo Enrique Hudson)
Biography and literary criticism.
1956 Cuadrante del pampero
(Portrait of the Pampas-dweller)
Critical essays.
1956 ¿Qué es esto?
(What is this?)
Critical essays.
1956 Examen sin conciencia Short stories
1956 Sábado de gloria
(The Glorious Saturday)
Short stories
1956 Tres cuentos sin amor
(Three Stories Without Love)
Short stories
1956 La tos y otros entretenimientos
("The Cough" and other Amusements)
Short stories
1957 Tres dramas: Lo que no vemos morir. Sombras. Cazadores
(Three plays: What We Don't See Die, Shadows, The Hunters)
Plays
1957 El hermano Quiroga
(Brother Quiroga)
Biography and literary criticism.
1957 Exhortaciones
(Exhortations)
Critical essays.
1957 Las 40
(The 40)
Critical essays.
1958 Heraldos de la verdad
(Heralds of Truth)
Studies of Montaigne, Nietzsche, and Balzac.
1959 Coplas de ciego
(Blind Man's Rhymes)
Poetry
1959 Otras Coplas de ciego
(More Blind Man's Rhymes)
Poetry
1960 Análisis funcional de la cultura
(A Functional Analysis of Culture)
Essays
1962 Diferencias y semejanzas entre los países de América Latina
(Differences and resemblances among the Latin American countries)
Essay
1963 En Cuba y al servicio de la Revolución Cubana
(In Cuba, and At the Service of the Cuban Revolution)
Political writing.
1963 El verdadero cuento del tío Sam
(The True Story of Uncle Sam)
Political writing.
1963 El nuevo mundo, la isla de Utopía y la isla de Cuba
(The New World, the Island of Utopia, and the Island of Cuba)
Political writing.
1964 Realidad y fantasía en Balzac
(Reality and fantasy in Balzac)
Literary Criticism.
1964 Tres poemas del anochecer
(Three Poems at Dusk)
Poetry
Posthumous publications (published after his death)
1966 La poesía afrocubana de Nicolás Guillén
(The Afro-Cuban poetry of Nicolás Guillén)
Literary criticism.
1966 Martí: el héroe y su acción revolucionaria
(Martí: The Hero and his Revolutionary Action)
Biography and literary criticism.
1966 Poesía de Ezequiel Martínez Estrada
(The Poetry of Ezequiel Martínez Estrada)
Collected poetry.
1967 Martí revolucionario
(Martí as Revolutionary)
Biography and literary criticism.
1967 En torno a Kafka y otros ensayos
("On Kafka" and other essays)
Essays and literary criticism.
1967 Para una revisión de las letras argentinas
(For a Revision of Argentine Letters)
Essays and literary criticism.
1968 Cuatro Novelas
(Four Novels)
 
1968 Leopoldo Lugones: retrato sin retocar
(Leopoldo Lugones: an Unretouched Portrait)
Biography and literary criticism.
1968 Meditaciones sarmientinas
(Meditations After Sarmiento)
Biography and literary criticism.
1969 Leer y escribir
(Reading and Writing)
Essays and literary criticism.
1975 Cuentos completos
(Complete Stories)
Stories, edited by Roberto Yahni.
1985 Panorama de los Estados Unidos
(Panorama of the United States)
Travelogue, written after his 1942 visit to the U.S.
(unpublished) La doctrina, el apóstol
(The doctrine, the Apostle)
An unpublished third book on José Martí.

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

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