Manlio Argueta facts for kids
Manlio Argueta was born on November 24, 1935, in San Miguel, El Salvador. He is a famous writer, critic, and novelist from El Salvador. Even though he writes a lot of poetry, he is best known for his novel One Day of Life.
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Manlio Argueta's Early Life and Writing
Manlio Argueta was born in San Miguel, El Salvador. He started loving "poetic sounds" when he was a child. He began writing poetry at just 13 years old! He read many books from around the world and was especially inspired by poets like Pablo Neruda and Federico García Lorca. Later, he studied law at the University of El Salvador, but he spent most of his time on his poetry.
In 1956, he won first prize at a writing contest called the "Floral Games of San Miguel." In the 1960s, he started writing more stories. He joined a group of writers called the "Committed Generation." This group wanted to help make social changes for people who were struggling. They also wanted to rediscover their country's own culture.
Life in Exile and Return
Because Manlio Argueta wrote things that criticized the government, he had to leave El Salvador. This is called "self-exile." He lived in Costa Rica from 1972 until 1993. During this time, he worked mainly as a teacher. He also taught as a guest professor in different countries in North America and Europe, including San Francisco State University.
After returning to El Salvador in 1993, he started working at the University as the "Director of National and International Relations." In his writing, Manlio Argueta often uses Salvadoran Spanish words and slang. He believes this helps to show and keep alive some of El Salvador's unique culture.
One Day of Life Book
Manlio Argueta is most famous for his book One Day of Life. This book has been translated into more than 12 languages! The story follows one day in the life of Lupe, a grandmother who lives in a small village in El Salvador. Even though she didn't go to school much, she shares her own thoughts and stories from her friends and family. These stories show how the Salvadoran army treated poor people very harshly during that time.
Lupe and the other villagers felt they had no rights. They realized that the authorities would come to control them, sometimes beating people to "teach them a lesson." The book also talks about how people started to think about their lives on Earth. They realized that what mattered was how they were treated in the present, not just what might happen after they died.
Because One Day of Life showed the Salvadoran government in a negative way, and because it seemed to encourage people to stand up for themselves, the book was banned in El Salvador. Manlio Argueta had to publish his book from Argentina after he moved to Costa Rica.
Manlio Argueta's Works
- Un hombre por la patria (poetry, 1968)
- En el costado de la luz (poetry, 1968)
- El valle de las Hamacas (1970)
- Las bellas armas reales (1975)
- Caperucita en la zona ... (1977) / Little Red Riding Hood in the ... District (1999)
- Un día en la vida / One Day of Life (1980)
- Poesía de El Salvador (Manlio Argueta, Editor, 1983)
- Cuzcatlán, donde bate la mar del sur / Cuzcatlán, Where the Southern Sea Beats (1986)
- El Salvador (with Adam Kufeld and Arnoldo Ramos, 1990)
- Magic Dogs of the Volcanoes/Los perros magicos de los volcanos (1990)
- Milagro de la Paz / A Place Called Milagro de la Paz (1996)
- Siglo de O(G)ro (1997) published as Once Upon a Time Bomb (2007)
- Poesia completa 1956-2005 (2005)
- El Cipitío (2006)
- Los Poetas del Mal (2013)
See also
In Spanish: Manlio Argueta para niños
- Central America literature
