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Raúl Zurita

ラウル・スーリタ

Raúl Zurita

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1950-01-10 （Santiago de Chile）
Nationality
Chilean
Languages
Spanish, Italian
Residence History
Santiago → Valparaíso → Rome → Berlin

Career

Occupations
Poet, University professor, Cultural attaché, Translator, Civil engineer
Active Years
1979-2024
Affiliations
Diego Portales University, Communist Party of Chile
Memberships
Communist Party of Chile, CADA (Colectivo de Acciones de Arte)
Influenced By
Dante Alighieri
Influenced
Latin American poets
Nominations
Nobel Prize in Literature nomination (2019)

Education

Federico Santa María Technical University
Faculty of Engineering / Civil Engineering in Structures
Country: Chile
Studied Civil Engineering in Structures

Awards

Chilean National Prize for Literature
2000
Organization: Government of Chile
Result: 受賞
Pablo Neruda Award
1988
Result: 受賞
Pablo Neruda Ibero-American Poetry Award
2016
Result: 受賞
Queen Sofía Ibero-American Poetry Prize
2020
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Purgatorio

1979 Poetry

Experimental poetry collection based on torture experiences under Pinochet dictatorship

TortureRegenerationDante

Anteparaíso

1982 Poetry

Poetry collection on liberation from repression

RepressionLanguageLiberation

La vida nueva

2018 Poetry

Final version of trilogy including sky-written poem

NatureLossHope

Bibliography

  • Purgatory (1979)
  • Anteparaíso (1982)
  • Paradise Is Empty (1984)
  • Song of Love Gone (1985)
  • The Love of Chile (1987)
  • Song of the Rivers They Love (1993)
  • The New Life (1994)
  • The White Day (2000)
  • INRI (2003)
  • Zurita (2011)

Translations by Author

  • Translation of Dante's Divine Comedy

Translations of Works

  • English, German, French, etc.

Style & Themes

Literary Style
ExperimentalVisual poetryPolitical
Recurring Motifs
DesertSkySeaTortureRegeneration

Health

  • Parkinson's disease
    1990年代-現在
    Symptoms progressed but improved with DBS surgery in 2019

Legacy

Leading Chilean contemporary poet known for innovative works on Pinochet dictatorship. Internationally acclaimed with numerous awards and honorary doctorates.

Archives

  • University of Poitiers Archives

In Popular Culture

  • Documentary film Zurita, Verás No Ver (2019)

Quotes

  • My best job was as a salesperson for accounting machines, but it became evident that I wasn't a good salesman.
    Source: Verás un mar de piedras (2017)

Trivia

  • Detained and tortured during Pinochet coup, held 25 days in ship hold
  • Attempted to blind himself with ammonia
  • Wrote poem in sky over New York with airplanes (1982)
  • Bulldozed poem into Atacama Desert (1993)
  • Member of Chilean Communist Party