Manuel Zapata Olivella
| Manuel Zapata Olivella | |
|---|---|
|
Photo of Zapata Olivella at the Liga Latinoamericana de Artistas. | |
| Born |
Manuel Zapata Olivella 17 March 1920 Santa Cruz de Lorica, Colombia |
| Died |
19 November 2004 (aged 84) Bogota, Colombia |
| Occupation | Doctor, anthropologist, writer |
| Nationality | Colombian |
| Period | 1947–2004 |
| Notable works |
|
Manuel Zapata Olivella (Santa Cruz of Lorica, Córdoba, 17 March 1920 – Bogota, 19 November 2004) was a doctor, anthropologist and Colombian writer.
Biography
When he was a boy, his father, the professor Antonio María Zapata Vásquez, moved with his family to Cartagena de Indias. Zapata Olivella's younger sister, Delia Zapata Olivella, is a Colombian dancer and folklorist.[1]
He studied Medicine in the National University of Colombia, in Bogota. In Mexico City, he worked in the Psychiatric Sanatorium of the Dr. Ramírez and afterwards in the Hospital Ortopédico of Alfonso Ortiz Thrown, for the magazine Time and for the magazine Events for All. It argued against his brother Virgil defending to the United States, changing of way to think after a trip to this country where suffered racial discrimination.
During his stay in Mexico, he wrote the unpublished novel "Bitter Rice". He published several studies on the cultures of the blacks of Colombia. He taught in several universities of United States, Canada, Central America, and Africa. He founded and directed the literary magazine National Letters.
The main theme of his narrative is the history and the culture of the inhabitants of the Colombian Caribbean, especially the lives of blacks and natives. His more important work is the novel Changó (1983), an extensive work that is presented as an epic of the afroamericanos, narrating their origins in Africa.[2] In a sense, Changó is a culmination of all of his previous writings.[3]
- ↑ Appiah, Kwame Anthony (2005). Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. Oxford University Press. p. 605. ISBN 9780195170559. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
- ↑ Luca. "Manuel Zapata Olivella y la afrocolombianidad - Aurora Boreal". www.auroraboreal.net. Retrieved 2015-10-02.
- ↑ Captain-Hidalgo, Yvonne (1993). The Culture of Fiction in the Works of Manuel Zapata Olivella. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 0826208916.
.
His previous novel In Chimá is born a saint (1964) was a finalist in two contests, the Esso of 1963, in which it was defeated by Gabriel García Márquez with The bad hour, and the Prize of Brief Novel Seix Barral, in which first place went to The city and the dogs by Mario Vargas Llosa.
Works
Novels
- 1948 - Pasión vagabunda
- 1952 - He visto la noche
- 1954 - China 6 a.m.
- 1961 - Cuentos de muerte y libertad
- 1962 - El cirujano de la selva
- 1967 - ¿Quién dio el fusil a Oswald?
- 1990 - Fábulas de Tamalameque
Short stories
1947 - Tierra mojada 1960 - La calle 10 1963 - Detrás del rostro 1963 - Chambacú, corral de negros, mención en el Premio Casa de las Américas, 1963 1964 - En Chimá nace un santo 1983 - Changó, el Gran Putas 1983 - Historia de un Joven Negro 1986 - El fusilamiento del Diablo 1989 - Hemingway, el cazador de la Muerte
Essays
- 1997 - "La rebelión de los genes"
Works in English
- Chambacu, Black Slum, translator Jonathan Tittler, Latin American Literary Review Press, 1989, ISBN 9780935480399
- Changó, the Biggest Badass, translator Jonathan Tittler, Texas Tech University Press, 2010, ISBN 9780896726734
- A Saint Is Born in Chima: A Novel. translator Thomas E. Kooreman. University of Texas Press. 1 May 2013. pp. 6–. ISBN 978-0-292-75363-1.
See also
References
External links
- Colombian oral history archive, Manuel Zapata Olivella Collection of Vanderbilt University Special Collections
- This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the Spanish Wikipedia.