The Life of Gabriela Mistral

     To begin, Gabriela Mistral is a Chilean writer and diplomat. The reason I chose to focus on her today is because she is the first Chilean writer that I have researched about. She was born in Vicuña, Chile and was the first Spanish American author to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. Gabriela Mistral was her literary pseudonym, or pen name. Her real name was Lucila Godoy Alcayaga. You may be wondering why she decided to do this, and it is because she wanted to keep her life as an educator separate from her career as a writer. She wanted to avoid backlash. The reason she chose that particular pen name was because of her inspiration from the poets Gabriele DÁnnunzio and Frédéric Mistral. 

Fun fact: Gabriela Mistral is of Indian, Basque, and Spanish decent. 

Life: She was born April 7, 1889 and became a schoolteacher in her village at age 15. She made her way and eventually became a college level professor. She was not only an educator and poet, but also a cultural minister and diplomat. As a diplomat, she did posts in Lisbon, Madrid, Genoa, and Nice. 

Her works: Her fame as a poet awakened after she won a Chilean prize for three "Sonetos de la Muerte" (Sonnets of Death). Her notable works include Desolación (1922), Ternura (1924),  and Lagar (1954) 

Common themes: Across her poems, themes she frequently utilizes are love, sorrow, maternal love/loss, social justice/discrimination, and spirituality/nature. For example her poetry series, Ternura, meaning tenderness, is a series of children's poems about motherhood. 

She is famous for her poems because of the powerful emotions ignited by her lyrical and passionate poetry. 

Another fun fact: Her poetry has been translated into the English language by a couple of individuals including Langston Hughes!

 The end of her life: Mistral spent the last several years of her life living in New York with Doris Dana, her companion/secretary/translator. Without the help of Doris Dana, Mistral's legacy would not be as grand as it is today. After Mistral's death in 1957 at age 67, Dana controlled Mistral's estate and published many of the works that Mistral did not. 

In my next post, I will read one of Mistral's poems in Spanish and analyze the themes and relation to her personal life! 

Sources: Britannica, The Poetry Foundation, National Women's History Museum

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Julia de Burgos -Río Grande de Loíza

  As I said in my previous post, today I am going to be reading the famous poem "Río Grande de Loíza" in both Spanish and English and discuss the poems meaning and literal details. There is not a clear direct title for this, but it is similar to the The Great River of Loíza. For some context, Loíza is a small town in Puerto Rico known for its rich African culture. In the 1500's Western Africans were brought over to this town and today it is known for the great culture, entertainment, and rich history of reflecting West Africa. This poem is an ode that uses the soul and in depth imagery of a beautiful river to spread awareness for the beauty and liveliness of Puerto Rico. Her use of the word soul brings forth this sense of longing and lack of meaning. She dives into every detail of that river, thus it is clear she is search for true meaning. There is also a sense of nostalgia and memories she brings to the piece, where the river becomes a symbol for her resilience and deep...
Read more

Chris Mercer and "Casa Dividida"

 I recently read "Casa Dividida"by Chris Mercer in school, where I learned a lot more about the Cuban Revolution and the conflicts regarding communism. There were two perspectives in the book, one young girl who grows up poor and working tirelessly on a farm and living in a small shack. The other was a boy who came from a wealthy family and lived in a mansion in Havana. Through the Cuban Revolution, the goal was the balance out the severely high wealth gap, and have a more communist society. The changes made in Cuba after the war, like the nationalization of private businesses or better healthcare for the poor  are shown through two different viewpoints, making the book more universal and less biased. This made me wonder about the negative and positive results of the war, and the values that the government prioritized. Liberty and freedom of speech/expression was not a priority. In fact, government officials prosecuted or jailed those who expressed a controversial view on the...
Read more

Gloria Fuertes

 My father used to read me books in Spanish as a child before bed, which inspired me to research some Spanish writers who had published Children's books. Gloria Fuertes, born in 1917, was one of the first women to pop up on my quick google search. She was from Madrid and was known for her Spanish poetry, children's books, and frequent appearances in various television shows. Her mother was a seamstress/maid and her father was a beadle. She started writing stories of her own at just the age of 5! Translated into English, her most famous pieces are titled: " Prayer", "I Write Poetry, Gentlemen!", and "Now." In the 1940s and 50s, her works were beginning to be published in magazines, books, and newspapers targeted towards younger audiences. With other women and strong poets, she founded "Verses in Skirts"in 1951. Verses in Skirts was group of writers who organized concerts, poetry readings at local places throughout their community, and even...
Read more