Manuel Maples Arce facts for kids

Manuel Maples Arce (born May 1, 1900 – died June 26, 1981) was a Mexican poet, writer, and diplomat. He is best known for starting an important art movement called Stridentism. He was also a lawyer and an art critic.

What was Stridentism?

Manuel Maples Arce was a leader in the first Mexican avant-garde movement. Avant-garde means new and experimental ideas in art, music, or literature. Maples Arce started the Stridentism movement in 1921. He launched its first ideas in a paper called Comprimido estridentista.

Early Works and Ideas

In 1922, he published his first modern poetry book, Andamios interiores (Poemas radiograficos). A famous writer named Jorge Luis Borges even reviewed it that same year. Later, in 1924, he wrote Urbe (Super-poema bolchevique en 5 cantos). This was a long poem about city life and modern changes. An English version of Urbe was published in New York in 1929. This might have been the first Mexican poetry book translated into English! His last poetry book for a long time was Poemas interdictos, published in 1927. He wrote one more, Memorial de la sangre, in 1947.

Stridentist Magazines and Friends

Manuel Maples Arce was very active during the Stridentist period, from 1921 to 1927. He lived first in Mexico City and then in Xalapa, Veracruz. He was in charge of magazines like Actual (1921-1922) and Irradiador (1923). Another magazine, Horizonte (1926-1927), was led by his friend German List Arzubide.

Many talented people joined Maples Arce in the Stridentist movement. These included poets like German List Arzubide, Salvador Gallardo, and Kyn Taniya (whose real name was Luis Quintanilla). There were also novelists like Arqueles Vela and artists such as Fermin Revueltas, Jean Charlot, German Cueto, Leopoldo Méndez, and Ramon Alva de la Canal. The Stridentists also had good relationships with the Mexican Muralism movement, which included famous artists like Diego Rivera.

Later Life and Recognition

Manuel Maples Arce also worked as a diplomat. He served as an ambassador for Mexico to Norway in the 1960s.

For a long time after the Stridentist group's active period, Maples Arce's poetry was not widely appreciated in Mexico. Not many people studied Stridentist art and literature. However, today, the movement and his work are much better known and understood.

A young writer named Roberto Bolaño interviewed Maples Arce in 1976. Maples Arce even appears as a character in Bolaño's novel Los detectives salvajes (1998), where he is shown as a former avant-garde poet.

See also

• In Spanish: Manuel Maples Arce para niños