Manuel Ortiz Guerrero

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Manuel Ortiz Guerrero
Birth name	Manuel Ortiz Guerrero
Born	July 16, 1897(1897-07-16) Villarrica del Espíritu Santo, Py
Died	August 5, 1933 (aged 36) Buenos Aires, ar
Occupation(s)	Poet

Manuel Ortiz Guerrero was born in Ybaroty, a nieghbohood in the city of Villarrica del Espíritu Santo, Paraguay, the 16 of July of 1894. He was the son of Vicente Ortiz and Susana Guerrero, who died after giving birth.

1 Childhood and Youth.
2 Artwork
3 Trajectory
4 Last Years
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Childhood and Youth.

He was raiced by his grandmother, Florencia Ortiz. He realized his first studies in a school in Villarrica, characterized by his interest in scholar work.

He was shy and not very social. In Colegio Nacional de Villarrica he evolved as a poet, and developed his first verses. His classmates then started calling him Manú, nickname by which he would be immortalized.

He arrived in Asunción in 1914 He studied in Colegio Nacional de la Capital, and was considered a poet and leader of a whole generation. He was exiled of the country and went to Brasil, were he got beri-beri illness which caused his early death.

He published his first poems in the “Revista del Centro Estudiantil” student centre magazine. Soon, local newspapers showed interest in him. One of his best pieces, “Loca” was published in the magazine “Letras”. This way he got to be known by the general audience. He lived with his friend and also poet Guillermo Molinas Rolón. His most important biographist and friend, the dramaturgo Arturo Alsina once wrote: “... In the tent that they use as a house you don’t eat every day and in cold winter nights they ought to take turns to sleep so that they can get use the only blanket they counted with”.

[edit] Artwork

Characterized by modernism “Loca” is followed by other poems that have a rather romantic tang: “Raída poty”, “Guarán-i”, “La sortija”, “Diana de gloria”.

He wrote indistinctively in Spanish and in Guaraní, succeeding admirably with poems in the second language, most of all, beautiful poems that serve as lyrics for the most important guaranias of José Asunción Flores: “Panambí verá”, “Nde rendape aju”,“Kerasy”y“Paraguaype”. In his book “La poesía paraguaya - Historia de una incógnita” the Brazilian critique Walter Wey writes: “Ortiz Guerrero represented the great courage of being an intellectual in a country without editors, even that of living exclusively from art, since writing poems and playing the guitar were the only things he was good at.

He would print his poems in his own typing machine and sell them form door to door. He managed to get to the people in a way such that they were touched by the leproso, Towards the end of his existence, Manú received his last visitors and friends in the darkest corner of his miserable room, placing the chairs strategically distant from the bed so that they didn’t see him. The scars of this struggle with life and for life are reborn in some of his verses and in brochures tituled “Cantimplora”, which testify the painful path of the guarani poet.”

[edit] Trajectory

Alsina, once said: “Along with his vast contribution to paraguayan literature and the moral influence he was, we should add that of spiritual means which still deosn't stop breeding... The folklore, the música, poesía, teatro in some genres find in him a creator, in others, a motivator... Julio Correa and Gómez Serrato amongst others are two artists influenced by him.

He was a characteristic writer of that time: a bohemian with a high level of romanticism in his acts, gestures and writings, honest friendship, high altruism, and an all-proof dignity. It is said that he robbed candles from the cemetery to spend the nights with other fellow poets and musicians.

[edit] Last Years

His literary production is treasured as the most popular in the history of paraguayan literature. In the 20s he published poems such as “Surgente”, “Pepitas” y “Nubes del este” and plays like “Eireté”, “La conquista” y “El crimen de Tintalila”. In 1952 “Obras completas” was published and “Arenillas de mi tierra” in 1969.He also wrote the lyrics in guarani for tha songs of his friend José Asunción Flores. Pieces like “India” and “Buenos Aires were written in Spanish.

He was married to Dalmacia, his inseparable companion. He died on 8 May 1933, victim of the Hansen disease. He is ashes rest in his birth-city ad in a centric plaza in Asunción by the name of “Manuel Ortiz Guerrero y José Asunción Flores”.