Mario Benedetti - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Mario Benedetti
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mario Orlando Hardy Hamlet Brenno Benedetti Farrugia[1] (Spanish pronunciation: [!ma"jo !ene!"eti] ( ); 14 September 1920 17 May 2009),[2] known as Mario Benedetti, was an Uruguayan journalist, novelist, and poet as well as being an integral member of the Generacin del 45. In spite of publishing more than 80 books and being published in twenty languages he was not well known in the English-speaking world,[3] but in the Spanish-speaking world he was considered one of Latin America's most important writers from the latter half of the 20th-century.[4]
Born

Mario Benedetti

Benedetti in 1983

Contents
Died

14 September 1920 Paso de los Toros 17 May 2009 (aged 88) Montevideo Uruguayan

1 Early years 2 Exile 3 Return to Uruguay 4 Illness and death 5 Works 5.1 Poetry 5.2 Short stories 5.3 Essays 5.4 Plays 5.5 Novels 5.6 Miscellaneous 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

Nationality

Early years
Benedetti was born in Paso de los Toros in the department of Tacuaremb to Brenno Benedetti y Matilde Farrugia, a family of Italian descent. Between 1938 and 1941 he lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 1946 he married Luz Lpez Alegre. He was a member of the 'Generation of 45', a Uruguayan intellectual and literary movement: Carlos Maggi, Manuel Flores Mora, ngel Rama, Emir Rodrguez Monegal, Idea Vilario, Carlos Real de Aza, Jos Pedro Daz, Amanda Berenguer, Ida Vitale, Lber Falco, Juan Carlos Onetti, among others.[5] He also wrote in the famous weekly Uruguayan newspaper Marcha from 1945 until it was forcibly closed by the military government in 1973, and was its literary director from 1954.
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Exile
From 1973 to 1985, when a civic-military dictatorship ruled Uruguay, Benedetti lived in exile, rst going to Buenos Aires. He then went to Lima in Peru where he was detained, deported and then given an amnesty. He went to Cuba in 1976 and the following year went to Madrid, Spain. His exile was made particularly trying as his wife had to remain in Uruguay to look after the mothers of both of them. In 1980 he moved to Palma, Majorca.

Return to Uruguay
Benedetti returned to Uruguay in March 1983 following the restoration of democracy, dividing his time between Montevideo and Madrid. He was granted Honoris Causa doctorates by the Universidad de la Repblica, Uruguay, the Universidad de Alicante, Spain and the Universidad de Valladolid, Spain. In 1986 he was awarded Laureate Of The International Botev Prize. On June 7, 2005, he was named the recipient of the Menndez Pelayo International Prize. His poetry was also used in the 1992 Argentine movie The Dark Side of the Heart (El lado oscuro del corazn) in which he read some of his poems in German.[6] In 2006, Mario Benedetti signed a petition in support of the independence of Puerto Rico from the United States of America.

Illness and death

Benedetti in Uruguay (1998?)

In the last ten years of his life he suffered from asthma and spent his winters in Madrid (where it was summer) in order to avoid the cold, though as his health deteriorated he eventually remained in Montevideo. In 2006 his wife Luz Lpez died, ending more than six decades of matrimony. He died in Montevideo on 17 May 2009, a little after six pm. He had suffered from respiratory and intestinal problems for more than a year. His remains are buried at the National Pantheon, Central Cemetery of Montevideo.[7] Before dying, he dictated to his personal secretary, Ariel Silva what would become his last poem:[8] Mi vida ha sido como una farsa Mi arte ha consistido En que esta no se notara demasiado He sido como un levitador en la vejez El brillo marrn de los azulejos Jams se separ de mi piel (Fragment) A free translation into English of these few lines might be as follows: My life has been like a farce My art has consisted
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In this not being noticed too much I've been as a levitator in my old age The brown sheen of the tiles Never came off my skin (Fragment)

Works
For his poetry and novels Benedetti had won numerous international awards. La Tregua, rst published in 1960, has since been translated into over 20 languages and inspired The Truce. Each year below links to either the corresponding "[year] in literature" or "[year] in poetry" article:

Poetry
1945:La vspera indeleble ("Indelible Eve"), his rst published book[9] 1956: Poemas de ocina ("Ofce Poems")[9] 1963: Inventario, Poesa 19501958 ("Inventory, Poems 19501958")[9] Poemas del hoy por hoy ("Poems of Today")[9] 1977: La casa y el ladrillo ("The House and the Brick")[9] 1981: Viento del exilio ("Air From Exile")[9] 1986: Preguntas al azar ("Random Questions")[9] 1988: Yesterday y maana ("Yesterday and Tomorrow")[9] 1991: Las soledades de Babel ("The Loneliness of Babel")[9] 1994: Inventario dos (1985-1994) ("Inventory Two (1985-1994)"), published in Madrid[9] 1995: ("The Exercise of Discretion: Oblivion Is Full of Memory"), published in Spain[9] 1996: El amor, las mujeres y la vida. Poemas de amor. 1997: La vida ese parntesis[9] 2002: Insomnios y Duermevelas, ISBN 84-7522-959-X 2004: Defensa propia, ISBN 950-731-438-5 Little Stones At My Window (Bilingual edition; translation and introduction by Charles Hateld) ISBN 1-880684-90-X Poemas de otros Nocin de Patria Slo mientras tanto Quemar las naves A ras de sueo Letras de emergencia 2007: Vivir adrede

Short stories
1960: Montevideanos Aqu se respira bien Los pocillos Acaso irreparable
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Benedetti

Novels
1953: Quin de nosotros 1960: La tregua, the basis for The Truce (1974 lm) 1965: Gracias por el fuego, the basis for a
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Escrito en berlingen El reino de los cielos Miss Amnesia "Una carta de amor" La noche de los feos "La sirena viuda" "El buzn del tiempo" 1977: La vecina orilla

1984 lm of the same name; see List of Argentine lms of 1984 1971: El cumpleaos de Juan ngel 1982: Primavera con una esquina rota 1993: La borra del caf 1996: Andamios 2003: El porvenir de mi pasado

Essays
1960: El pas de la cola de paja "La Coleccin"

Miscellaneous
1969: Book Cubano, including poems, articles and interviews about Cuba and his experiences there [9] 1996: Obras completas ("Complete Works"), in 28 volumes, published in Argentina[9]

Plays
1958: Ida y Vuelta 1979: Pedro y el capitn

See also
List of Uruguayan writers Eduardo Galeano Juan Carlos Onetti Daniel Viglietti Sergio Renn Eliseo Subiela Nacha Guevara

References
1. ^ Martinez, Ezequiel (2000). "Los 80 aos de Mario Benedetti" (http://www.clarin.com/diario/especiales/benedetti/nota1.htm). Especial Mario Benedetti en El Clarn. Retrieved 27 October 2006. 2. ^ "The Associated Press: Famed Uruguayan writer Benedetti dies at 88" (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iYLcyDmJgavs3fehMUYSco_Td7BgD9888O000). www.google.com. Retrieved 2009-05-17. 3. ^ Gregory, Stephen William George (1999) The collapse of dialogue: Intellectuals and politics in the Uruguayan crisis, 1960-1973 Thesis, Modern Language Studies, University of New South Wales. OCLC 44284108 (http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/44284108), abstract (http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/unsworks:415) 4. ^ Mario Benedetti: Writer in the vanguard of South America's literary boom in the second half of the 20th century (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/mario-benedetti-writer-in-the-vanguard-of-south-americas-literaryboom-in-the-second-half-of-the-20th-century-1703159.html) 5. ^ Generacin del 45: severa en la crtica y brillante en la creacin. (http://www.elpais.com.uy/Suple/EntrevistasDeDicandia/03/05/24/dicandia_42137.asp) 6. ^ El lado oscuro del corazn (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104662/) at the Internet Movie Database 7. ^ Benedetti dies (http://www.lr21.com.uy/justicia/365221-mario-benedetti) (Spanish) 8. ^ El Diario de Ecuador: Mario Benedetti dictates his last poem (in Spanish) (http://www.eldiario.com.ec/noticiasmanabi-ecuador/119366-rostros-de-vos/)
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manabi-ecuador/119366-rostros-de-vos/) 9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Web page titled "Biblioteca de autores contemporaneos / Mario Benedetti - El autor" (http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/bib_autor/mbenedetti/autor.shtml) (in Spanish), retrieved May 27, 2009

External links
Mario Benedetti Foundation (in spanish) (http://www.fundacionmariobenedetti.org/) Excerpt from "Spring with a Broken Corner" in Guernica Magazine (http://www.guernicamag.com/ction/1803/benedetti_6_15_10/) Poemas (http://www.poesia-inter.net/Mario_Benedetti.htm) Poet of Uruguay's Revolutionary Moment (http://www.smh.com.au/national/obituaries/poet-ofuruguays-revolutionary-moment-20090607-bzsz.html) by Nick Caistor, The Sydney Morning Herald, June 8, 2009 Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mario_Benedetti&oldid=571136824" Categories: 1920 births 2009 deaths People from Paso de los Toros Uruguayan people of Italian descent Uruguayan expatriates in Argentina Uruguayan expatriates in Cuba Uruguayan expatriates in Peru Uruguayan expatriates in Spain Uruguayan journalists Uruguayan novelists Uruguayan essayists Uruguayan poets Uruguayan writers Uruguayan short story writers Magic realism writers Disease-related deaths in Uruguay Burials at the Central Cemetery of Montevideo This page was last modied on 1 September 2013 at 21:47. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-prot organization.

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