Juan Carrera Andrade

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jorge Carrera Andrade (1902-1978) is considered by many as the greatest Spanish Language poet of the 20th Century. Born in Quito, Ecuador, Carrera was a poet, essayist, and diplomat.

After Carrera's first experience traveling in Europe (1928-1933) he served as Ecuadorian Consul in Peru, France, Japan and the United States. Later he became Ambassador to Venezuela, the United Kingdom, Nicaragua, France and the Low Countries (Belgium and the Netherlands). He also served as Secretary of State.

While living in the United States Carrera Andrade developed many literary relationships with American writers and his work was praised and championed by John Malcolm Brinnin, H.R. Hays, Archibald MacLeish, Carl Sandburg, William Jay Smith and William Carlos Williams.

A prolific writer Carrera Andrade's poetic work developed for half a century in a number of volumes published in Quito, Barcelona, Madrid, Santiago de Chile, Tokyo, Caracas, Paris, Managua, Dakar, South Africa, San Francisco and New York City.

In 1972 Obra poetica completa, which gathers the totality of his lyric work, appeared in Quito. Most of his poetry has been translated into French, English, Italian and German. He also published books of essays, history and an autobiography, El volcan y el colibri (The Volcano and the Hummingbird).

After Carrera's diplomatic career ended in 1969 he was appointed Distinguished Visiting Professor at SUNY Stony Brook, Long Island, where he lectured for two academic years. He spent his last years in his native city of Quito as Director of the National Library of Ecuador. During his life and after his death he has been recognized with Borges, Neruda, Paz and Vallejo as one of the most important Latin American poets of the twentieth century.

In 2002 the country of Ecuador celebrated the centenary of the birth of their most beloved poet, Jorge Carrera Andrade, in seminars, poetry contests for children, public readings and media events. In the same year a group of Ecuadorian intellectuals gathered in Cuenca, Ecuador, to examine the life and work of Carrera Andrade. In the United States Steven Ford Brown and Dr. J. Enrique Ojeda of Boston College have arranged and conducted readings and panel discussions on the life and work of Carrera Andrade at the Americas Society (New York City), the Library of Congress (Washington, DC) and the State University of New York at Stony Brook (Long Island).