Rafael Arévalo Martínez
Encyclopedia
Rafael Arévalo Martínez (1884-1975) was a Guatemala
n writer
: a novelist, short-story writer, poet, diplomat, and director of Guatemala’s national library for more than 20 years. Though Arévalo Martínez’s fame has waned, he is still considered important because of his short stories, one in particular, The man who resembled a horse.
died June 12, 1975, Guatemala City
Arévalo Martínez was director of the Guatemalan National Library from 1926 until 1946, when he became for a year Guatemala’s representative before the Pan American Union in Washington, D.C. He was the political and literary counterpart of his more famous countryman, Nobel Prize
winner Miguel Ángel Asturias
. Arévalo Martínez was an unapologetic admirer of the United States, whereas Asturias was a bitter critic of the Boston-based United Fruit Company (now part of United Brands Company), which he felt had plundered his country.
Arévalo Martínez is remembered mostly for the title story of his collection El hombre que parecía un caballo (1920; “The Man Who Resembled a Horse”), which was once considered the most famous Latin American short story of the 20th century. First published in 1915, the story was so successful that Arévalo made other experiments in the same vein. These “psychozoological stories,” as he called them (probably remembering Kipling), involve a dog or a lioness or some other animal. “The Man Who Resembled a Horse” purports to be the satirical portrait of Colombian poet Porfirio Barba Jacob, who is given the character of a blaspheming, egotistical, and amoral man. The story’s power lies in the delirious and oblique account of homoerotic desire. The protagonist’s resemblance to a horse embraces his graceful, yet brutal sexuality and his total disregard for morality. The story is deliberately decadent, luxuriant in tone, and its version of sexual desire owes much to Friedrich Nietzsche
and Sigmund Freud
, who were very popular at the time Arévalo Martínez wrote it.
Roberto González Echevarría
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
n writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
: a novelist, short-story writer, poet, diplomat, and director of Guatemala’s national library for more than 20 years. Though Arévalo Martínez’s fame has waned, he is still considered important because of his short stories, one in particular, The man who resembled a horse.
Biography
born July 25, 1884, Guatemala City, Guatemaladied June 12, 1975, Guatemala City
Arévalo Martínez was director of the Guatemalan National Library from 1926 until 1946, when he became for a year Guatemala’s representative before the Pan American Union in Washington, D.C. He was the political and literary counterpart of his more famous countryman, Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winner Miguel Ángel Asturias
Miguel Ángel Asturias
Miguel Ángel Asturias Rosales was a Nobel Prize–winning Guatemalan poet, novelist, playwright, journalist and diplomat...
. Arévalo Martínez was an unapologetic admirer of the United States, whereas Asturias was a bitter critic of the Boston-based United Fruit Company (now part of United Brands Company), which he felt had plundered his country.
Writing
Arévalo Martínez’s best book of poems was Las rosas de Engaddí (1923; “The Roses of Engaddí”), but he is not remembered as a poet. He published two interconnected utopian novels, El mundo de Los Maharachías (1938; “The World of the Maharachías”) and Viaje a Ipanda (1939; “A Voyage to Ipanda”). In the first novel a shipwrecked man named Manuol [sic] finds a civilization of creatures that resemble monkeys but are superior to men. The Maharachías’ sensitive tails are almost spiritual. In the second novel the tone is more intellectual and political, and the result is less satisfactory.Arévalo Martínez is remembered mostly for the title story of his collection El hombre que parecía un caballo (1920; “The Man Who Resembled a Horse”), which was once considered the most famous Latin American short story of the 20th century. First published in 1915, the story was so successful that Arévalo made other experiments in the same vein. These “psychozoological stories,” as he called them (probably remembering Kipling), involve a dog or a lioness or some other animal. “The Man Who Resembled a Horse” purports to be the satirical portrait of Colombian poet Porfirio Barba Jacob, who is given the character of a blaspheming, egotistical, and amoral man. The story’s power lies in the delirious and oblique account of homoerotic desire. The protagonist’s resemblance to a horse embraces his graceful, yet brutal sexuality and his total disregard for morality. The story is deliberately decadent, luxuriant in tone, and its version of sexual desire owes much to Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
and Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
, who were very popular at the time Arévalo Martínez wrote it.
Roberto González Echevarría
Narrative
- Una vida, 1914
- El hombre que parecía un caballo, 1914
- El trovador colombiano, 1920
- El señor Monitot, 1922
- La oficina de paz de Orolandia, 1925
- El mundo de los maharachías, 1938
- Viaje a Ipanda, 1939
- Manuel Aldano, 1914 (teatro)
- Ecce Pericles (biography of Manuel Estrada CabreraManuel Estrada CabreraManuel José Estrada Cabrera was President of Guatemala from 8 February 1898 to 15 April 1920.Manuel Estrada forcibly took the presidency after the assassination of José María Reina. The Guatemalan cabinet called an emergency meeting to appoint a new successor, but declined to invite the General...
)
Poetry
- Maya, 1911
- Los Atormentados, 1914
- Las rosas de Engaddi, 1927
- Por un caminito así, 1947