Clemente Palma
Encyclopedia
Clemente Palma was a Peruvian writer. He was the son of famous Peruvian author and scholar Ricardo Palma
and Cristina Román Olivier. His sister Angélica Palma
was also a writer.
From 1902 to 1904 he was the consul of Peru in Barcelona
. In Spain he met Maria Manuela Schmalz whom he married in 1902. Upon his return to Peru, he resumed his position as curator of the National Library of Peru, a post that he held until November 1911. During this period, he founded several cultural and literary magazines such as Prisma and Variedades and the daily newspaper La Crónica. From 1911 to 1918, he dedicated himself to the direction of these magazines. He was director of the magazines Prisma (1906–1908) and Variedades (1908–1931) and the newspaper La Crónica (1912–1929).
Between 1919 and 1930, Clemente Palma was a Member of Parliament, supporting the authoratitarian President Augusto B. Leguia
, who had taken power through a coup. During this period, he remained active in the press and also taught classes of aesthetics and art history at his alma mater. In 1930, he was imprisoned for a while after the coup of Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro
. He was liberated thanks to the pressure of his friends but was forced into exile to Chile in 1932. He could return to Peru only after the assassination of Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro in 1933. During his exile in Chile, he wrote the science fiction novel XYZ.
After the publication of this novel, he mainly wrote literary criticism and essays.
when the latter sent him one of his early poems for review.
Palma's best known works are in the realm of fiction. He is one of the first adherents of modernism
in Peru. He made a great contribution to the development of the short story and science fiction in Peru
and introduced new themes in its literature. His stories deal mostly with fantastic themes, psychological horror and science fiction. He was attracted to the morbid and many of his characters are abnormal and perverse.
As his father was the director of the National Library of Peru
, he had the opportunity to read the works of many foreign authors. His work shows a strong influence of Edgar Allan Poe
and, to a lesser extent, nineteenth-century Russian writers and symbolist
and decadent
French writers, as well as the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche
. His two short story collections Cuentos malévolos ("Malevolent Tales")(1904) and Historietas Malignas ("Malignant Tales")(1925) are in the style of Villiers de l'Isle-Adam's Contes cruels. Influenced by decadent themes and subject matter, they are filled with dark humor, blasphemy and the supernatural. His Tres cuentos Verdes (1922) were in the style of his father's Tradiciones en Salsa Verde. He also wrote several novels, including Mors et Vita ("Death and Life")(1923) and XYZ (1934). This last novel has some similarities with the science fiction novel The Invention of Morel
published by the Argentine
Adolfo Bioy Casares
in 1940.
The Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) re-edited the entire narrative work of Clemente Palma, including the novel "XYZ", in 2006.
His major works are:
Ricardo Palma
Manuel Ricardo Palma Soriano was a Peruvian author, scholar, librarian and politician. His magnum opus is the Tradiciones peruanas.- Biography :...
and Cristina Román Olivier. His sister Angélica Palma
Angélica Palma
Angélica Palma y Román was a writer, journalist and biographer from Peru.- Life :Angélica Palma was the daughter of famous Peruvian author and scholar Ricardo Palma and Cristina Román Olivier. Her brother Clemente Palma was also a distinguished Peruvian writer. She received her primary education...
was also a writer.
Life
In 1897 he obtained a degree in Letters from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, with a thesis entitled El Porvenir de las Razas en el Perú ("The Future of the Races in Peru") in which he defended the controversial thesis that the Peruvian race had to be improved and that this could be achieved through the introduction of Germans into Peru. He also obtained a doctorate from this university with a thesis on philosophy and art and became a professor at the university subsequently. In 1899 he obtained a bachelor of law degree from the same university. During his university studies, he worked as curator of the National Library of Peru and started his activities as a writer.From 1902 to 1904 he was the consul of Peru in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. In Spain he met Maria Manuela Schmalz whom he married in 1902. Upon his return to Peru, he resumed his position as curator of the National Library of Peru, a post that he held until November 1911. During this period, he founded several cultural and literary magazines such as Prisma and Variedades and the daily newspaper La Crónica. From 1911 to 1918, he dedicated himself to the direction of these magazines. He was director of the magazines Prisma (1906–1908) and Variedades (1908–1931) and the newspaper La Crónica (1912–1929).
Between 1919 and 1930, Clemente Palma was a Member of Parliament, supporting the authoratitarian President Augusto B. Leguia
Augusto B. Leguía
Augusto Bernardino Leguía y Salcedo was a Peruvian politician who twice occupied the Presidency of Peru, from 1908 to 1912 and from 1919 to 1930.-Early life:...
, who had taken power through a coup. During this period, he remained active in the press and also taught classes of aesthetics and art history at his alma mater. In 1930, he was imprisoned for a while after the coup of Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro
Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro
Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro was a high-ranking Peruvian army officer and President of Peru from 1931 to 1933. On August 22, 1930, as a lieutenant-colonel, he overturned the eleven-year dictatorship of Augusto B...
. He was liberated thanks to the pressure of his friends but was forced into exile to Chile in 1932. He could return to Peru only after the assassination of Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro in 1933. During his exile in Chile, he wrote the science fiction novel XYZ.
After the publication of this novel, he mainly wrote literary criticism and essays.
Works
Clemente Palma was an important literary critic in Peru and exercised an important influence through the magazine Variedades. In that role, he has been criticized for not recognising the genius of César VallejoCésar Vallejo
César Abraham Vallejo Mendoza was a Peruvian poet. Although he published only three books of poetry during his lifetime, he is considered one of the great poetic innovators of the 20th century in any language. Thomas Merton called him "the greatest universal poet since Dante"...
when the latter sent him one of his early poems for review.
Palma's best known works are in the realm of fiction. He is one of the first adherents of modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
in Peru. He made a great contribution to the development of the short story and science fiction in Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
and introduced new themes in its literature. His stories deal mostly with fantastic themes, psychological horror and science fiction. He was attracted to the morbid and many of his characters are abnormal and perverse.
As his father was the director of the National Library of Peru
Biblioteca Nacional del Perú
The Biblioteca Nacional del Perú is the national library of Peru, located in Lima. It is the country's oldest and most important library. Like the majority of Peruvian libraries, it is a non-circulating library.- History :...
, he had the opportunity to read the works of many foreign authors. His work shows a strong influence of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
and, to a lesser extent, nineteenth-century Russian writers and symbolist
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
and decadent
Decadent movement
The Decadent movement was a late 19th century artistic and literary movement of Western Europe. It flourished in France, but also had devotees in England and throughout Europe, as well as in the United States.-Overview:...
French writers, as well as the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
. His two short story collections Cuentos malévolos ("Malevolent Tales")(1904) and Historietas Malignas ("Malignant Tales")(1925) are in the style of Villiers de l'Isle-Adam's Contes cruels. Influenced by decadent themes and subject matter, they are filled with dark humor, blasphemy and the supernatural. His Tres cuentos Verdes (1922) were in the style of his father's Tradiciones en Salsa Verde. He also wrote several novels, including Mors et Vita ("Death and Life")(1923) and XYZ (1934). This last novel has some similarities with the science fiction novel The Invention of Morel
The Invention of Morel
La invención de Morel — translated as The Invention of Morel or Morel's Invention — is a science fiction novel by Adolfo Bioy Casares. It was Bioy Casares' breakthrough effort, for which he won the 1941 First Municipal Prize for Literature of the City of Buenos Aires...
published by the Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
Adolfo Bioy Casares
Adolfo Bioy Casares
Adolfo Bioy Casares was an Argentine fiction writer, journalist, and translator. He was a friend and collaborator with his fellow countryman Jorge Luis Borges, and wrote what many consider one of the best pieces of fantastic fiction, the novella The Invention of Morel.-Biography:Adolfo Bioy...
in 1940.
The Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) re-edited the entire narrative work of Clemente Palma, including the novel "XYZ", in 2006.
His major works are:
- "Excursión literaria" (1895)
- "Filosofía y arte" (1897)
- "El porvenir de las razas" (1897),
- "El Perú" (1898)
- "Cuentos Malévolos" (1904)
- "Historietas Malignas" (1925)
- "La cuestión de Tacna y Arica y la conferencia de Washington" (1922)
- "Tres cuentos Verdes" (1922)
- "Mors ex vita" (1923), novel.
- "XYZ" (1934)
- "Había una vez un hombre..." (1935)
- "Don Alonso Henríquez de Guzmán y el primer poema sobre la conquista de América! (1935)
- "Crónicas político-doméstico-taurinas" (1938)
- "La nieta del oidor" (1986, posthumous edition by Ricardo Silva Santisteban).
Further reading
- Breaking traditions: the fiction of Clemente Palma, Nancy M. Kason, Associated University Presses, 1988