Mario Benedetti

Mario Benedetti Farrugia (Paso de los Toros, Tacuarembó, September 14, 1920-Montevideo, May 17, 2009) was a Uruguayan writer, poet, playwright and journalist, member of the Generation of 1945, to which the writers Idea Vilariño and Juan Carlos Onetti also belonged, among others.

His prolific literary output included more than eighty books, some of which were translated into more than twenty languages. In his will, he created the Mario Benedetti Foundation, to preserve his work and support literature and the fight for human rights in Uruguay (especially the clarification of the whereabouts of the disappeared detainees of that country).

Biography

Early Years

Mario Benedetti was born on September 14, 1920 in Paso de los Toros, department of Tacuarembó, Oriental Republic of Uruguay.

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He lived in the city of Paso de los Toros with his family for the first two years of his life. The family, however, moved to Tacuarembó for business reasons. After being victims of a scam there, the family moved to Montevideo, when Benedetti was four years old. He began his primary studies in 1928, at the German School of Montevideo, from where he withdrew in 1933, and entered the Liceo Miranda for a year to pursue his secondary studies, but due to financial problems he had to continue them freely. From the age of fourteen, he worked at Will L. Smith, Inc., a car parts company, and later worked in multiple trades to earn a living (delivery boy, real estate clerk, stenographer, public official). On March 23, 1946, he married Luz López Alegre, who was her spouse until her death in 2006.

Between 1938 and 1941, he lived almost continuously in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Literary beginnings

Benedetti directed the literary magazine Marginalia in 1948, and published the book of essays Peripecia y novela that same year. In 1945 he joined the writing team of the weekly Marcha —where he remained until 1974, the year in which it was closed down by the de facto government of Juan María Bordaberry. In 1954, Benedetti was appointed literary director of the weekly.

Starting in 1950, he was a member of the editorial board of Número, one of the most outstanding literary magazines of the time. In addition, she actively participated in the movement against the Military Treaty with the United States, in her first action as a political activist. That same year he obtained the Ministry of Public Instruction Award for his first collection of short stories, Esta mañana —Benedetti was the winner of the award on several occasions until 1958, when he systematically resigned due to discrepancies with the regulations on he.

In 1964 Benedetti worked as a theater critic and co-director of the weekly literary page Al pie de las letras of the newspaper La Mañana. He also collaborated as a comedian in the magazine Peloduro , under the pseudonym Damocles, and wrote film criticism for La Tribuna Popular . Likewise, he traveled to Cuba to participate in the jury of the Casa de las Américas contest, participated in the meeting on Rubén Darío and traveled to Mexico to participate in the II Latin American Congress of Writers. In 1966 he participated in the Argentine-Brazilian co-production The round of the white teeth, directed by Ricardo Alberto Defilippi, which was never commercially released.

He participated in the Cultural Congress of Havana with the presentation On the relationship between the man of action and the intellectual, and became a member of the Board of Directors of Casa de las Américas. In 1968 he founded and directed the Literary Research Center of Casa de las Américas, a position in which he held until 1971.

Together with a group of citizens close to the Movimiento de Liberación Nacional-Tupamaros, he participated in the founding of the Movimiento de Independientes 26 de Marzo in 1971, a group that became part of the leftist coalition Frente Amplio from its origins. Benedetti, in addition, was a representative of the Movement of Independents March 26, in the Executive Board of the Broad Front from 1971 to 1973; experience that he left reflected in the books Chronicles of 71 (1972) and Terremoto y después (1973). However, this alternative was frustrated by a coup that established a civil-military dictatorship in Uruguay.He was also appointed director of the Department of Hispano-American Literature in the Faculty of Humanities and Sciences of the University of the Republic, Uruguay.

Exile

After the coup d'état in Uruguay in 1973, Benedetti resigned from his position at the university, despite being elected to join the faculty. Due to his political views, he left Uruguay, going into exile in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Later he went into exile in Peru, where he was arrested, deported and amnestied, to later settle in Cuba, from August 1975 until the end of 1979. There, between the cities of Havana and Alamar, he wrote the books With and without nostalgia (1977), Pedro and the Captain (1979) and Cotidianas (1979) —from this last book came the poem Me voy con la lagartija, which deals with important Tupamaro leaders imprisoned in Uruguay. The following year, Benedetti lived in Madrid and later on the island of Mallorca.

The film version of his novel La trugua, directed by Sergio Renán, was nominated for the forty-seventh version of the Oscars in 1974, in the category of best foreign film. However, the prize, awarded at the ceremony on April 8, 1975, went to the Italian film Amarcord.

In 1976 he returned to Cuba, this time as an exile, and rejoined the Board of Directors of Casa de las Américas. In 1980 he moved to Palma de Mallorca. Two years later he began his weekly collaboration in the Opinion pages of the newspaper El País , in Spain. The same year the Council of State of Cuba awarded him the Félix Varela Order. In 1983 he moved his residence to Madrid.

During his exile, he published two of his best collections of poems: Poemas de otros (1974) and The house and the brick (1977). Furthermore, during those years he published one of his best-known novels: Spring with a Broken Corner .

Return to Uruguay

Benedetti returned to Uruguay in March 1985, beginning the self-styled period of "desilecio", which was the reason for many of his works. He was then appointed member of the editorial board of the new weekly Brecha , which gave continuity to the March project, interrupted in 1974.

In 1985 the singer-songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat recorded the album El sur también existe, based on poems by Benedetti, with his personal collaboration.

Between 1987 and 1989, he was a member of the National Pro Referendum Commission, set up to revoke the Law for the Expiration of the State's Punitive Claims, promulgated in December 1986 to prevent the trial of crimes committed during the military dictatorship in Uruguay (1973- 1985).

In 1986 he received the Bulgarian Jristo Botev Prize for his poetry and essays. In 1987 he was awarded Amnesty International's Llama de Oro Award in Brussels for his novel Spring with a Broken Corner , and in 1989 he was awarded the Haydé Santamaría Medal by the Council of State of Cuba..

Last years

Benedetti participated in the film called The Dark Side of the Heart, an Argentine-Canadian production, released on May 21, 1992, where he can be seen reciting his poems in German. Benedetti received the Silver Morosoli Prize for Literature on November 30, 1996, delivered by the Lolita Rubial Foundation, from Minas, Uruguay. On that occasion, he was highlighted for his narrative work. That same year, along with fifty other writers, he was honored by the Government of Chile with the Gabriela Mistral Order of Educational and Cultural Merit.

In May 1997, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Alicante and a few days later, on June 11, by the University of Valladolid. On September 30 of the same year, he was awarded the León Felipe Prize, in mention of the writer's civic values. In addition, he was invested in December as an honorary doctor in Philological Sciences from the University of Havana.

On May 31, 1999, he was awarded the VIII Reina Sofía Prize for Ibero-American Poetry, endowed with 6,000,000 ₧. On March 29, 2001, the José Martí Ibero-American Cultural and Scientific Foundation awarded him the I José Martí Ibero-American Prize. headed by the then mayor Mariano Arana.

In 2004 he was awarded the Etnosur Prize, and that same year a documentary on his life and poetry was presented for the first time in Rome, entitled Mario Benedetti and other surprises. The documentary, which was written and directed by Alessandra Mosca and starring Benedetti, was sponsored by the Embassy of Uruguay in Italy. The documentary participated in the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana, in the XIX Latin American Film Festival of Trieste and in the Santo Domingo International Film Festival. A year later, in 2005, Benedetti presented the collection of poems Goodbye and Welcome. The documentary Palabras verdaderas, by Ricardo Casas, was also shown on the occasion. On June 7, 2005, the XIX Menéndez Pelayo International Prize was awarded, consisting of €48,000 and the Medal of Honor from the Menéndez Pelayo International University.

Benedetti then shared his time between his residences in Uruguay and Spain, attending to his multiple obligations and commitments. After the death of his wife, Luz López, on April 13, 2006, a victim of Alzheimer's disease, Benedetti moved permanently to his residence in the Centro neighborhood of Montevideo, Uruguay. On the occasion of his transfer, the writer donated part of his personal library in Madrid to the Mario Benedetti Center for Ibero-American Studies of the University of Alicante. The Lolita Rubial Foundation once again decorated Benedetti on November 25, 2006, with the Prize Gold Moorsoli.

On December 18, 2007, at the Auditorium of the University of the Republic, in Montevideo, Benedetti received the Francisco de Miranda Award from Hugo Chávez; the highest distinction granted by the Venezuelan government for his contribution to science, education and the progress of the peoples. That same year he received the Order of Sauri, First Class, for his services to literature. That same year, he received the ALBA Prize, awarded by Venezuela.

In the last ten years of his life, due to asthma and on medical recommendation, the writer alternated his residence in Spain —in the Prosperidad neighborhood— with that of Uruguay, trying to avoid the cold. However, when his state of health worsened, he remained in Montevideo.

In one of his last books, Songs of the One Who Doesn't Sing, Benedetti alluded to his personal story: "It wasn't an easy life, frankly."

In April 2009, after his internment in Montevideo, a worldwide Poetry Chain was organized at the initiative of Pilar del Río (wife of the writer José Saramago).

Death and Legacy

May 17, 2009

shortly after 18:00, Benedetti died in his home in Montevideo, at eighty-eight years old. The Legislative Palace was designated as the site of its wake. In the framework of this fact, the Uruguayan government decreed national mourning and arranged for its wake to be performed with patriotic honors in the Lost Steps Room from the Legislative Palace since 9:00 on Monday, May 18th. His funeral court was led by members of the Federation of University Students of Uruguay and the Workers' Central (PIT-CNT) among other personalities and friends of the writer, and hundreds of citizens. He was buried in the National Pantheon of the Central Cemetery of Montevideo.

A few years after his death, recognition of Benedetti's work returned with force. In Spain, the Instituto Cervantes has organized an international congress to be held in Alicante in 2020. In Uruguay, the Mario Benedetti Foundation organized an exhibition of paintings and two talks. In addition, social networks are a stage where Benedetti's verses are repeated continuously.

Work

His extensive work spanned narrative, dramatic, and poetic genres. Likewise, he was the author of essays and his voice reciting his poems was recorded on various cassettes and CD's in the company of Daniel Viglietti or alone. Joan Manuel Serrat set several of his poems to music on the album The South also exists . The Argentine Nacha Guevara also sang his poems on the album Nacha Guevara sings to Benedetti .

Story

• This morning (1949)
• Montevideanos (1959)
• Death and other surprises (1968)
• With and without nostalgia (1977)
• Geographies (counts and poems, 1984)
• Despistes y franquezas (1989)
• Time mail (1999)
• The future of my past (2003)

Novel

• Who of us (1953)
• The truce (Alpha, 1960)
• Thanks for the fire. (Alpha, 1965)
• The Birth of John Angel (21st Century Editors, 1971)
• Spring with a broken corner (New Image, 1982)
• It erases the coffee (Ark, 1992)
• Scaffolding (1996)

Poetry

• The indelible eve (1945)
• Just in the meantime. (Number, 1950)
• Office Poems (Number, 1956)
• when we were kids. (1964)
• Poems of todayporhoy (Alpha, 1961)
• Inventory one (first edition, 1963)
• Notion of homeland (New Image Edition, 1963)
• Next neighbor (New Image Edition, 1965)
• Against the bridges (Alpha, 1966)
• At sleep (1967)
• Burn the ships (1968)
• Emergency letters (New Image Edition, 1973)
• Poems of others (1974)
• The house and the brick (1977)
• Cotidians (1979)
• Inventory one (ed. augmented, Editorial New Image, 1980)
• Wind of Exile (New Image Edition, 1981)
• Poetry anthology (House of the Americas, 1984)
• Geographies (compilation of stories and poems, 1984)
• Inventory one (ed. increased, Seix Barral, 1985)
• Questions at random (Ark, 1986)
• Tomorrow (Ark, 1987)
• Despistes y franquezas (1989)
• The Loneliness of Babel (Ark, 1991)
• Inventory two (Seix Barral, 1994)
• The oblivion is full of memory (1995)
• Love, women and life (compilation of love poems, 1995)
• Heart and other poems (compilation, Editorial Planeta, 1997)
• Life that parenthesis (1998)
• Haikus corner (Editorial Cal and Canto, 1999)
• Daily agreements (compilation of poems and fragments of their novels, 2000)
• The world I breathe (2000)
• Inventory three (Seix Barral, 2002)
• Insomnia and sleeper (2002)
• Exist yet (2003)
• Self-defence (2004)
• 50 sonnets (Editorial Cal and Canto, 2004)
• Goodbye and welcome (2005)
• New haikus corner (Editorial Cal and Canto, 2006)
• Songs of which he does not sing (2006)
• Witness of oneself (2008)
• Biography to find me (ed. póstuma of the Benedetti Foundation, Seix Barral, 2010)

Essay

• Peripecia and novel (1948)
• Marcel Proust and other trials (Number, 1951)
• The country of the straw tail (Ark, 1960)
• Uruguayan Literature XX Century (1963)
• Genius and figure of José Enrique Rodó (Eudeba, 1966)
• Letters from the mestizo continent (Ark, 1967)
• About arts and crafts (Alpha, 1968)
• Accomplice critic (Alliance Three, 1971)
• The Latin American writer and the possible revolution (New Image Edition, 1974)
• Daniel Viglietti (Júcar Editions, 1974)
• Notes on some subsidiary forms of cultural penetration (1979)
• The recourse of the supreme patriarch (New Image Edition, 1979)
• Culture between two fires (1986)
• Underdevelopment and lyrics (Alianza Editorial, 1987)
• Culture, that mobile target (New Image Edition, 1989)
• The reality and the word (Destiny Editions, 1991)
• 45 years of critical trials (Editorial Cal and Canto, 1994)
• Poets of proximity (Editorial Cal and Canto, 1994)
• The exercise of the criterion (1995)
• Poetry, soul of the world (Editorial Visor, 1999)
• Memory and hope (2004)
• Living adrede (quiet, Seix Barral, 2007)

Journalism

• Better it's meneallo. (1961)
• Cuban Cuader (Ark, 1969)
• Africa 69 (Marcha, 1969)
• Chronicles of 71 (1971)
• The communicating poets (Marcha, 1972)
• Earthquake and then (Ark, 1973)
• Desexyl and other conjectures (New Image Edition, 1984)
• Political writings (1971-1973) (Ark, 1986)
• End-of-century perplexities (1993)
• Sexillium and perplexities (1994)
• Daniel Viglietti, unamazing (2007)

Drama

• Peter and the Captain (Santillana, 1979)

Film criticism

Benedetti was known for being a hard film critic and, at times, lapidary. Although his criticisms were few, they lived up to the greats of the golden age: Homero Alsina Thevenet, Emir Rodríguez Monegal, Hugo Alfaro, José Carlos Álvarez, Hugo Rocha, Gastón Blanco, Jorge Ángel Arteaga, Giselda Zani, Antonio Larreta and Manuel Martínez Carril. From that production a compilation can be pointed out:

• Lost notes. About literature, cinema, performing and visual arts, 1948-1965 (ed. póstuma de la Fundación Benedetti, Editorial Universidad de la República, 2014)

Songs

• Songs of the more here (1988)

Solo

• Office Poems (Alpha, 1960)
• Inventory (Ark, 1969)
• Burn the ships (Fol-def, 1969)
• Let us fall / Family Iriarte (Voz Viva de América Latina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1978)
• The living word (It contains poems of his book "Asks at random", University of the Republic, 1986)
• Inventory 1950 - 1975 (Ayuí / Tacuabé a/e93k y ae93cd. Edition en cassette de 1991 y en CD de 2002)
• Inventory 1976 - 1985 (Ayuí / Tacuabé a/e94k y ae94cd. Edition en cassette de 1991 y en CD de 2002)
• Inventory 1986 - 1990 (Ayuí / Tacuabé a/e95k and ae95cd. Edition in cassette of 1991 and CD 2002)
• Benedetti reads Benedetti (Seix Barral, 1993)
• Tales chosen (Alfaguara, 1995)
• Love, women and life (Alfaguara. Cd that accompanied the edition of the book compilation counterpart, 1995)
• Poetry with the young (Cd that accompanied the edition of the homologue compilation book. 1996)
• Inventory 1991 - 2003 (Ayuí / Tacuabé ae275cd. 2004)

With Daniel Viglietti

• Two voices vol. I (Orfeo SCO 90749. 1985)
• Two voices vol. II (Orfeo SCO 90861. 1987)
• Two voices (Visor Books, S.L. / Alfaguara. 1994)
• Two voices I and II (Orfeo CDO 047-2. CD reissue of the first two albums of Orfeo. 1994)
• Two voices (Ayuí / Tacuabé ae238cd)

Movie adaptations

• Give him no more. (1974). His story Forgotten was one of the stories on which he based the script of the film of Osías Wilenski.
• The truce (1974). Based on her homonymous novel. Directed by Sergio Renán and starring Héctor Alterio and Ana María Picchio.
• Thanks for the fire. (1984). Based on her homonymous novel. Directed by Sergio Renán.

Acknowledgments

Signing of the Jardines de Mario Benedetti, in Madrid, Spain.

• 1982 receives the Order Felix Varela by the Council of State of Cuba.
• 1987, Golden Flame Award for his Spring novel with a broken corner, awarded by Amnesty International in Brussels.
• 1982 receives the Haydée Santamaría Medal from the Council of State of Cuba.
• 1993 is appointed Honorary Professor at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• 1995, Medalla Gabriela Mistral, Chile.
• 1996, Bartolomé Hidalgo Special Prize for his essay work, Uruguay.
• 1996, he is appointed Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, Uruguay.
• 1997, Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Havana, Cuba.
• 1997, Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Valladolid, Spain.
• 1997, Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Alicante, Spain.
• 1999, receives the Order of Democracy in the Grand Cross, by the House of Representatives of Colombia.
• 1999, Grand National Award for Intellectual Activity, Ministry of Education and Culture, Uruguay.
• 1999, VIII Reina Sofia Award for Ibero-American Poetry, Spain.
• 2004, Doctor Honoris Causa, University of the Republic, Uruguay.
• 2005, Medalla Pablo Neruda, Chile.
• 2005, International Menéndez Pelayo Award, Santander, Spain.
• 2005, Alba Award in the category Letras y Orden Francisco de Miranda Primera Clase, Venezuela.
• 2008, Doctorate Honoris Causa of the University of Córdoba, Argentina.
• 2009, Appointment of Mario Benedetti as honorary patron of the Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library (postum).
• 2009, Designation of Liceo N°58 with the name of Mario Benedetti, Montevideo, Uruguay (postum).
• 2015, the city of Madrid dedicated some gardens to the neighborhood of Prosperidad (postumo).
• 2019, mural in Montevideo by José Gallino
• 2021, the asteroid (5346) 1981 QE3 was named Benedetti in his honor.

Bibliography about his life

• Alpharo, Hugo. Mario Benedetti (behind a clear glass).
• Campanella, Hortensia. Mario Benedetti, a discreet myth.
• Hansz, Ingrid. Two stages in the poetry of Mario Benedetti.
• Mansour, Monica. Tuya, mine, others: the colloquial poetry of Mario Benedetti.
• Mathieu, Corina. The stories of Mario Benedetti.
• Paoletti, Mario (1996). Waterfalls / A biography of Benedetti. Madrid: Alfaguara Editions. ISBN 84-204-2868-X.
• Stop, Luis. Mario Benedetti. Literature and ideology.
• Ravazzani, Ana Maria. The crisis in Uruguay seen by Benedetti.
• Zeitz, Hielen. Criticism, exile and beyond, in the novels of Mario Benedetti.