FIL Literary Award in Romance Languages
1 appearances
-
Edition 10 (2000) Winner
Juan Gelman
フアン・ヘルマン
Juan Gelman
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1930-05-03 （Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires, Argentina）
- Died
- 2014-01-14 （Condesa, Mexico City, Mexico） age 83
- Nationality
- Argentina, Mexico (naturalized)
- Languages
- Spanish, Russian (read in childhood), Ladino (Judeo-Spanish)
- Religion
- Jewish background (no formal religious education)
- Residence History
- Buenos Aires (birth and early life) → Europe (exile period, intermittently until c.1988) → United States (from c.1988) → Mexico City (long-term residence, naturalized Mexico)
Career
- Occupations
- Poet, Journalist, Translator
- Active Years
- 1956-2014
- Influenced By
- Fyodor Dostoevsky (read in childhood), Julio Cortázar
- Influenced
- Several generations of contemporary Latin American poets
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Argentine National Poetry Prize | — | — | Argentinian national cultural institutions | 受賞 |
| 2007 | Miguel de Cervantes Prize | Awarded for lifetime contribution to Spanish-language literature | — | Spain (Miguel de Cervantes Prize awarding body) | 受賞 |
Argentine National Poetry Prize
1997
Organization:
Argentinian national cultural institutions
Result:
受賞
Miguel de Cervantes Prize
2007
Work:
Awarded for lifetime contribution to Spanish-language literature
Organization:
Spain (Miguel de Cervantes Prize awarding body)
Result:
受賞
Awards & Nominations
Miguel de Cervantes Prize
1 appearances
-
Edition 33 (2007) Winner
Works
Major Works
Violín y otras cuestiones
1956 PoetryOne of Gelman's early poetry collections showcasing youthful sensibility and experimental approaches.
personal memorylinguistic experimentation
Translations
- Unspecified
Gotán
1962 PoetryA collection from the early 1960s where political and social perspectives begin to emerge.
social criticismhistory and memory
Translations
- Unspecified
Mundar
2007 PoetryA poetry collection published around the time of the Cervantes Prize, featuring mature late-life poetic perspective.
remembranceexile and losslove and tenderness
Translations
- Unspecified
Bibliography
- Violín y otras cuestiones (1956)
- El juego en que andamos (1959)
- Velorio del solo (1961)
- Gotán (1962)
- Cólera Buey (1965)
- Los poemas de Sidney West (1969)
- Fábulas (1971)
- Relaciones (1973)
- Hechos y Relaciones (1980)
- Citas y Comentarios (1982)
- Com/posiciones (1986)
- Dibaxu (1994)
- Incompletamente (1997)
- Valer la pena (2001)
- País que fue será (2004)
- Mundar (2007)
- El emperrado corazón amora (2011)
Adaptations
- The 2024 documentary 'Jorge Batlle: entre el cielo y el infierno' portrays the finding of Gelman's granddaughter.
Translations of Works
- Unthinkable Tenderness: Selected Poems (trans. Joan Lindgren, 1997)
- The Poems of Sidney West (trans. Katherine M. Hedeen & Victor Rodríguez Nuñez, 2009)
- Com/positions (partial translation by Lisa Rose Bradford, 2013)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- lyrical with experimental use of languagepoetry that integrates political and social themessymbolic and fragmentary techniques
- Recurring Motifs
- exile and remembrancethe disappeared (desaparecidos) and calls to accountfamily and losstenderness and resistance
Health
-
Preleukemia晩年Died in 2014 of complications related to preleukemia. His late-life health affected both his creative work and daily life.
Legacy
Juan Gelman, an Argentine-born poet naturalized in Mexico, is a major figure in contemporary Spanish-language poetry. His work, shaped by political repression and family loss, addresses deep human and ethical themes. Major awards like the Cervantes Prize recognize his lasting influence on Spanish-language literature.
Archives
- Princeton University Library, Manuscripts Division / Special Collections (Juan Gelman Papers)
In Popular Culture
- Since the 2000s, the discovery of his granddaughter and related events have been subjects of documentaries and media, linking his story to Argentina's contemporary history. His death prompted official mourning in Argentina.
Trivia
- His son and daughter-in-law were among the 'desaparecidos' during Argentina's military dictatorship; this personal tragedy deeply influenced his work.
- He identified his son's remains in 1990; his granddaughter Macarena Gelman was found in 2000.
- He received the Miguel de Cervantes Prize in 2007, one of the most prestigious awards in Spanish-language literature.
- His papers are archived at Princeton University.
- He lived in Mexico in later life and became a naturalized Mexican citizen.