Miguel Arteche Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Miguel Salinas Arteche
Born	4 June 1926 Nueva Imperial, Cautín Province, Chile
Died	22 July 2012 (aged 86) Santiago, Santiago Province, Chile, Chile

Miguel Salinas Arteche (born June 4, 1926 – died July 22, 2012) was a famous Chilean poet and writer. He is better known as Miguel Arteche. He changed his last name legally in 1972 to use his mother's surname first. Miguel was born in Nueva Imperial, Cautín, Chile. He spent most of his adult life in Santiago, Chile, working as a university professor. He also held important government jobs in Chile and other countries. His first writings were featured in a book called the "Anthology of the Generation of 1950." This book was put together by Enrique Lafourcade, another well-known Chilean writer.

About Miguel Arteche
The 1950s Writers
Miguel Arteche's Books
See also

About Miguel Arteche

Miguel Arteche first studied Law at the Universidad de Chile. But he soon decided to study Literature instead. He went to the Universidad de Madrid in Spain from 1951 to 1954. His writings include many different types of work. He wrote poetry, novels, and short stories.

In 1947, he published his first book, Invitación al olvido (Invitation to Forgetfulness). After writing several poetry books, he published Cantata del desterrado (Cantata of the Exiled) in 1951. This was just before he moved to Europe. Living in Spain was very important for his writing. It helped him connect with his family's history and the world of European thinkers. After some years, he returned to Chile. There, he continued his writing career. In 1976, he published one of his most famous books, Destierros y tinieblas (Exiles and Darkness).

In 1956, the Chilean president Eduardo Frei Montalva appointed him to work at the Chilean Embassy in Madrid. He stayed there until 1970. Later, he worked at the Chilean Embassy in Honduras until 1971. He also spent extra time there as a visiting professor. After returning to Chile, he disagreed with the military government of Augusto Pinochet. This made it harder for him to publish his books in Chile. He could not publish again until democracy returned to the country.

In 1996, he received the Premio Nacional de Literatura (National Prize for Literature). This is the biggest award for writers in Chile.

The 1950s Writers

Miguel Arteche was part of a group called the Generación literaria de 1950 (Literary Generation of 1950). Writers in this group were born between 1920 and 1934. This way of grouping writers was suggested by Enrique Lafourcade in 1954. Some important writers from this time were Miguel Arteche, Enrique Lafourcade, Pablo Neruda, Vicente Huidobro, Humberto Díaz Casanueva, Rosamel del Valle, Jorge Edwards, and Claudio Giaconi.

These writers were inspired by authors like Walt Whitman, William Faulkner, and Ernest Hemingway. Miguel Arteche also said that the Spanish Siglo de oro (Golden Age) was a big influence on him. He taught his students a traditional way of writing poetry with specific rhythms. He preferred this over using a more free style of verse.

Miguel Arteche's Books

El agua (The Water), from his book Destierros y Tinieblas (Exiles and Darkness), published in 1963, is one of his most famous poems. He even had it carved in wood at the entrance of his studio. Here is the poem, translated by Walter Hilliger:

EL AGUA	THE WATER
A media noche desperté. Toda la casa navegaba. Era la lluvia con la lluvia de la postrera madrugada. Toda la casa era silencio, y eran silencio las montañas de aquella noche. No se oía sino caer el agua. Me vi despierto a medianoche buscando a tientas la ventana; pero en la casa y sobre el mundo no había hermanos, madre, nada. Y hacia el espacio oscuro y frío y frío el barco caminaba conmigo. ¿Quién movía todas las velas solitarias? Nadie me dijo que saliera. Nadie me dijo que me entrara, y adentro, adentro de mí mismo me retiré: toda la casa. Me vio en el tiempo que yo fui, y en el seré la vi lejana, y ya no pude reclinar mi juventud sobre la almohada. A medianoche busqué mientras la casa navegaba. Y sobre el mundo no se oyó sino caer el agua.	I woke up at midnight the whole house set sail. In the early morning, there was rain with rain. The house was in silence, the mountains restrained, that night, one could hear but the falling rain. I saw me that night searching vents in vain; at home, and the world, no brothers, mum, friends. The space was dark, cold, and cold the ship stayed with me. Who moved all lonely candle flames? No one told me, go, No one told me, stay, inside, within me, Home, I left away. She saw who I was, she seemed far someday. I couldn't lean back on the pillow's surface. That midnight I searched while the house sailed straight. Above the world hearing but the fall of rain.

Poetry Books

La invitación al olvido, 1947
Oda fúnebre, 1948
Una nube, 1949
El sur dormido, 1950
Cantata del desterrado, 1951
Solitario, mira hacia la ausencia, 1953
Otro continente, 1957
Quince poemas, 1961
Destierros y tinieblas, 1963
De la ausencia a la noche, 1965
Resta poética, 1966
Para un tiempo tan breve, 1970
Antología de veinte años, 1972
Noches, 1976
Cantata del Pan y la Sangre, 1980, 1981, 1986
Variaciones alemanas, 1986
Variaciones sobre versos de Karol Wojtyla, 1987
Monólogo en la Torre, 1989
Siete canciones, 1989
Tercera antología, 1991
Fénix de madrugada, 1975–1992
Poemas para nietos, 1996
Para un tiempo tan breve, 1997
Jardín de relojes, 2002

Novels

La otra orilla, 1964
El Cristo hueco, 1969
La disparatada vida de Félix Palissa, 1975
El alfil negro, 1992 (unpublished)

Short Stories

Mapas del otro mundo, 1977
Las naranjas del silencio, 1987

Autobiography

Los ángeles de la provincia, 1975

Essays

Notas para la vieja y la nueva poesía chilena, 1958
La extrañeza de ser americano, 1962
Discurso de incorporación a la Academia Chilena de la Lengua, 1965
El extraño caso de Gabriela Mistral, 1968
Tres visiones de Carlos Droguett. 1971
Alfonso Calderón o cuarenta años después, 1978
Llaves para la poesía, 1984
Algunos de mis fantasmas, 1985
Algo acerca de la experiencia poética, 1988
La crítica poética y el crítico único, 1988
Exposición sobre un taller de poesía, 1988
La fuente dividida de Gabriela Mistral, 1989
El nombre perdido y buscado en América, 1989
Cómo leer un poema, 1989
Gabriela Mistral: seis o siete materias alucinadas, 1989
Escribir como niño para niños, 1990
De modo inseguro y problemático, 1990
Los coléricos hijos de Damaso Alonso, 1990
Algunos aprendices de brujo, 1989
Palabras en Alberti, 1991.

Miguel Arteche facts for kids

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