Enrique Lihn

Enrique Lihn Carrasco (Santiago, September 3, 1929-Santiago, July 10, 1988) was a Chilean writer, literary critic and cartoonist, mostly known as a poet, but who also wrote essays, stories, novels, plays and comics.

Biography

Early Years

The son of Enrique Lihn Doll and María Carrasco Délano, he completed his basic studies at Saint George's College and later went on to the German Lyceum in Santiago. Lihn was a precocious reader, already very familiar with the Spanish, French, Anglo-Saxon and Latin American poetry. In 1942, when he was only thirteen years old, he entered the School of Fine Arts at the University of Chile to study plastic arts.

He entered university to study painting, but did not finish his studies. Instead, he decided to start a career as a writer.Between 1949 and 1955 he published his first two collections of poems and an essay on the work of Nicanor Parra. Together with Nicanor Parra, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Jorge Sanhueza, Jorge Berti, Roberto Humeres and Luis Oyarzún, he created Quebrantahuesos , a collage published in 1952.

He separated from mime and dancer Ivette Mingram when their daughter Andrea, born in 1957, who would become an actress, was only a year and a half old.

In 1963 he published La pieza oscura, which he considered his first valid collection of poems. This book was translated into French as La chambre noire and published in Paris (Pierre Jean Oswald Editeur, 1972) in a bilingual edition, with cover and illustrations by Roberto Matta.

Lihn was active as an activist in his country's Popular Action Front, supporting Salvador Allende during the 1958 and 1964 presidential elections.

Travel abroad and stay in Cuba

In 1965 he obtained a scholarship from Unesco to study museology in various European cities, including Paris, which meant his first trip abroad, at the age of thirty-five. This experience was very significant for the author, and despite the fact that the notebook he took during the trip ended up being lost, this experience was captured in 1966 in his Casa de las Américas Award-winning work, Poesía de paso.

He lived in Havana for two years during the second half of the 1960s. In Cuba he «worked at Casa de las Américas, wrote for the Granma newspaper, wrote art catalogs and edited an anthology by Vicente Huidobro. He fell in love with a mulatto and got married. He made great friends, including Roque Dalton and Heberto Padilla. He immersed himself in Latin American literature and, above all, he got to know the revolution from within. And he was disappointed ».

Upon returning to Chile at the end of the decade, Lihn's romance with Cuba was in crisis —the tension experienced in that country was reflected in the two collections of poems published in 1969: Written in Cuba and La musiquilla de las pobres esferas— which culminated in 1970 when he "separated definitively from her" following the accusation of treason against his friend Padilla. Lihn publicly defended him, thereby sealing "his distance from the island forever." Lihn; It was not until almost thirty years later that an anthology of the poet was published —A voice similar to the contrary— within the framework of the editions of books by Chilean authors that Casa de las Américas did in 2009 on the occasion of of the International Book Fair of Havana in which Chile was the guest of honor.

Return to Chile

With the writer Germán Marín, he founded the magazine Cormorán of the Editorial Universitaria, which published eight issues between August 1969 and December 1970.

He directed the poetry workshop at the Catholic University of Chile (1970-1973) and was a research professor of literature at the Center for Humanistic Studies, headed by Cristián Huneeus, of the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the University of Chile since 1972, where he coincided with other cultural figures of the time, such as the poet and art theorist Ronald Kay, who in the magazine Manuscripts rescued the Boneless Vultures, those wall journals of poetry that Nicanor Parra, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Lihn had made using the collage technique.

In 1973 he published his novel Batman in Chile in Argentina, but since it appeared on the eve of the coup in Chile, it was not distributed in this country.

Two years later he left for France invited by the government of that country. On the way out, he made a month-long stopover in New York, which was his first visit to the United States; he stayed at Pedro Lastra's house, where he met Óscar Hahn and Jaime Giordano, and gave recitals at various universities (Yale, Rutgers, Maryland, Stony Brook, The City University of New York and the Center of Inter-American Relations). In France he wrote Paris, irregular situation, published in Chile in 1977.

In 1976 he published his novel La orquesta de cristal through Editorial Sudamericana. The edition of the book was in charge of Héctor Libertella. In 1980 in Spain, his third extensive narrative work, El arte de la palabra, was published. These two works have as protagonists and narrators Gerardo de Pompier (alter ego of the author) and Roberto Albornoz.

In 1978 he obtained a Guggenheim scholarship, for which he moved to New York for a few months. From Manhattan (poems) was published in Chile in 1979. Later he traveled several times to the United States United as a visiting professor at different universities.

Wrote and staged plays (La radio, Las gallinas) and performed performances (for example, the happening Adiós Tarzan, as a parody of the dictatorship, in 1984) and videos. His presentation of the poem El Paseo Ahumada in that same place earned him a brief police arrest in 1983. This work, together with The apparition of the Virgin, a plaque with texts and drawings by Lihn himself, were precarious editions, largely self-financed by the poet and his friends, in an attempt to oppose the suffocating official culture of the time of the military dictatorship in Chile.

In addition to the drawings he made for The Apparition of the Virgin, he drew his unfinished comic, Roma, the Wolf, and he also illustrated some other books, such as, for For example, the edition that Barlovento made in 1949 of the novel by María Carolina Geel The adolescent Perces dreamed and loved.

Last years and posthumous recognition

He died in Santiago de Chile on July 10, 1988, a victim of cancer. Until the last moment of his life he was writing. His book Diario de muerte (1989) was published, at his request, by his friends Pedro Lastra and Adriana Valdés, who collected, transcribed and arranged the poems he left behind when he died. The title was put by himself in the notebook where he gathered them.

Her tomb is located in the Parque del Recuerdo cemetery, Sector D09, in Santiago de Chile, very close to the grave of her friend, the poet Stella Díaz Varín. After her death, various anthologies and unpublished works of her work were published.

The novelist Jorge Edwards was inspired by the figure of Lihn to create the protagonist of his novel The House of Dostoyevsky.

Chilean cartoonist Liván (Iván Cornejo) made a comic with El Paseo Ahumada, which was published by Das Kapital in 2014.

Style and influences

Nicanor Parra is one of Lihn's important influences.

In his poetry, he preferred to use verses closer to poetic prose and further away from extreme lyricism. Nicanor Parra's influence on his work is quite clear. For the literary critic Juan Manuel Vial, from Poesía de paso (1966) the writer inaugurated a style in which "lyrics, everyday speech, essays, news, appreciation of art, anti-poetry and emotions" converge.

One of his recurring themes is that of a grieving childhood, which has already been portrayed since The Dark Piece (1963). Another important theme is travel, a theme inaugurated with Poesía de paso and continued with Escrito en Cuba (1969), Paris, irregular situation (1977), From Manhattan (1979) or Destitute Station (1982).

In narrative he published short stories and novels. His trilogy on power, language and sociosis, composed of Batman in Chile, The Crystal Orchestra and The Art of the Word, although it did not have an adequate reception from national critics, led him to be part of a trend of break with the boom and part of an experimental and transgressive movement of Latin American narrative in the seventies and eighties. In the words of the essayist Héctor Libertella, Lihn's work is part of the cavemen that put into tension the market strategies and public and political figuration of authors reputed as the renewal of continental letters. Lihn and his narrative is placed on a par with works such as that of Reinaldo Arenas, Severo Sarduy, Manuel Puig, Salvador Elizondo and Osvaldo Lamborghini.

Among his influences is the poet Henri Michaux, whose work he met in Paris during his trip to Europe in 1965 and with whom he shared various biographical ties.

Works

Poetry

• 1949 - Nothing slips., Orfeo collection, Talleres Gráficos Casa Nacional del Niño, Santiago
• 1955 - Poems of this time and of another, Editions Renovation, Santiago
• 1963 - The dark piece, Editorial Universitaria, Santiago; downloadable from the Portal Memoria Chilena. In 1972 a bilingual edition appeared in Paris, with French translation —La chambre noire— by Jean-Michel Fossey and cover and illustrations by Roberto Matta
• 1966 - Poetry of passage, House of the Americas, Havana
• 1969 - Written in Cuba, Alacena / Era, Mexico D.F.
• 1969 - The mouthpiece of the poor, Universitaria, Santiago; downloadable from the Portal Memoria Chilena
• 1972 - Some poems, OCNOS collection, Barral Editores, Barcelona
• 1975 - By force majeure, OCNOS collection, Barral Editores, Barcelona
• 1977 - Paris, irregular situation, with prologue of Carmen Foxley; Aconcagua Editions
• 1978 - Lihn and Pompier, Editions of the Department of Human Studies, Santiago
• 1978 - The Dark Room and Other Poems , edition of P.Lerzundi, translations of J. Felstiner, J. Cohen, D. Unger; New Directions, New York
• 1979 - From Manhattan, Universitaria, Santiago; downloadable from the Portal Memoria Chilena
• 1981 - News from abroad
• 1981 - Random anthology, Ruray, Lima
• 1982 - Detached station, Premia Editora, Mexico D.F.
• 1983 - To the beautiful appearing of this light, North Editions, Hanover, USA
• 1983 - The Smoked Walk, with photos of Paz Errázuriz and Marcelo Montecino, drawings of the painter Germán Arestizábal; Editions Minga, Santiago; downloadable from the portal Memoria Chilena (2004: Editions UDP with prologue of Alejandro Zambra and two added poems)
• 1986 - Strange penis, Sin Fronteras, Santiago
• 1987 - Mester of play, Hyperion
• 1987 - The apparition of the Virgin, platelet with texts and drawings of Lihn himself
• 1988 - Anthology of passage, LOM Editions, Santiago
• 1989 - Diary of death , texts gathered and transcribed by Pedro Lastra and Adriana Valdés, Universitaria, Santiago; downloadable from the Portal Memoria Chilena (2010: UDP with Christopher Domínguez Michael prologue)
• 2012 - The ephemeral vulgatawith photographs of Luis Poirot; UDP, Santiago

Posthumous anthologies

• 1989 - Album of all kinds of poemswith author's prologue; Editorial Lumen, Barcelona
• 1995 - Because I wroteby Eduardo Llanos Melussa
• 1999 - Figures of Speech, Poems by Enrique Lihn, translation and editing of Dave Oliphant
• 2005 - A strident note, UDP, Santiago
• 2009 - A voice similar to the opposite, House of the Americas, Havana
• 2012 - The apparition of the Virgin and other political poems (1963-1987) (Edition of Andrés Florit Cento. Prologue of Vicente Undurraga)

Essay

• 1952 - Introduction to the poetry of Nicanor Parra
• 1959 - "Pedro Luna, the painter" in Pedro Luna, Instituto de Extención de Artes Plastics, Universidad de Chile; the album of this Chilean painter contains another text, which precedes Lihn's: "Pedro Luna, Memories and Impressions", by Néstros Montecinos
• 1966 - "Definition of a poet", Anales de la Universidad de Chile, n.o137 January-March
• 1971 - Culture in the Chilean way to socialism
• 1983 - About the Structuralism of Ignacio Valente
• 1987 - Juan Luis Martínez road signs, article written with Pedro Lastra; downloadable from the portal Memoria Chilena
• 1988 - Eugenio Téllez, inventor, printing Ograma, Santiago
• 1996 - The circus in flames, literary criticisms; edition of Germán Marín, LOM, Santiago
• 2008 - Texts on art, compilation, edition and annotations to the care of Adriana Valdés and Ana María Risco; UDP, Santiago
• 2020 - What have you given us with Kafka? Chronicles, essays and other interventions on literature, art and politics, Overol, Santiago

Stories

• 1964 - Rice water, Editions del Litoral, Santiago
• 1972 - Ten stories of bandits, anthology with selection and prologue of Lihn; Quimantu, Santiago. It contains:
  • “Quilapán”, by Baldomero Lillo; “Complot”, by Olegario Lazo Baeza; “Los dos”, by Rafael Maluenda; “El cuarto de las garras”, by Fernando Santiván; “El aspado”, by Mariano Latorre; “Pat’e goat”, by Víctor Domingo Silva; “Cuesta arriba”, by Luis Durand; “El último disparo del Negro Chávez”, by Guillermo Blanco
• 1989 - The Independent Republic of Miranda, Editorial Sudamericana
• 2005 - Huacho and Pochocha, contains 10 texts of his two previous book stories; South American, Santiago
• 2017 - Counts gatheredincluding the 12 books Rice water and The Independent Republic of Mirandawith a prologue by Roberto Careaga; UDP Editions, Santiago

Novel

• 1973 - Batman in Chile, Ediciones de la Flor, Buenos Aires. Reissued in 2008 by Bordura Editions, Santiago.
• 1976 - The Crystal Orchestra, Editorial Sudamericana, Buenos Aires (2013: Editorial Hueders, Santiago)
• 1980 - The Art of the Word, Editorial Pomaire, Spain.

Theater

• Café-Concert (manuscript without owner; name proposed by Óscar Sarmiento)
• The chickens, work written in the 1970s; premiered under the direction of Pedro Vicuña on 22 March 2007 in the Sala Agustín Siré (Morandé 750, Santiago)
• Mekka, premiered under the direction of Gustavo Mezaen December 1984 by the theater Image, Santiago
• Niu York, letters marked, premiered in 1985 by the author and the theater group Paseo Ahumada in Casa Larga, Santiago
• The radio, 1987
• The comedy of the banditspremiered in 1994 under the direction of Aldo Parodi
• Copelius and Copelia (manuscript without owner; name proposed by Óscar Sarmiento), a fragment of the work was mounted in 1998 by Ramón Griffero
• Dialogues of missing persons, 2018

Other works

• 1992 - Rome, the wolf, published in A comic, book edited by Pablo Brodsky containing Lihn's unfinished comic book with his own drawings, preceded by the text "Speaking comics with Alejandro Jodorowsky"; Andros, Santiago; downloadable from the Chilean Memory portal;
• 2006 - Enrique Lihn: Interviews (recollection Daniel Fuenzalida, editor Juan Carlos Saéz)
• 2016 - The letters of Eros, book written in the early 1980s and kept unpublished; composed of six texts aimed at imaginary women

Awards and recognitions

• First place in the Poetry Games 1956, organized by the director of the magazine Extreme South Esther Matte, with two poems, "the father's monologue with his son of months" and "the poet's monologue with his death", which would later be part of The dark piece
• Atenea Award 1963 by The dark piece
• Unesco scholarship (1965)
• Municipal Literature Prize of Santiago 1965, Talent category, by Rice water
• Casa de las Américas Award 1966, by Poetry of passage
• Municipal Literature Award of Santiago 1970, Poetry category, by The mouthpiece of the poor
• Guggenheim Fellowship (1978)

Opinions of contemporaries

• Roberto Bolaño: "Frequencying his poetry is facing a voice that questions everything. That voice, however, does not come from hell, nor from the millennial prophecies, even from a prophetic ego, but is the voice of the enlightened citizen, a citizen who hopes to reach modernity or who is resignedly modern. A citizen who has learned the lesson of Parra, his master and companion of mischief, and who sometimes offers us a Latin American refulgent and original vision».
• Alexander Jodorowsky: “If I were God, what would I say to Henry Lihn?” A theme full of theological, romantic, egomaniac traps. Enrique Lihn with supreme elegance overcomes all these barriers."
• Antonio Cisneros: «Untiring creator. Perfectionist. Poet, narrator, cartoonist, critic, playwright. He never stood up in the certainties or in the beds of roses."