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Pedro Mir
Pedro Mir | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Pedro Julio Mir Valentín June 3, 1913 |
| Died | July 11, 2000 (aged 87) |
| Occupations | Writer, lawyer |
| Writing career | |
| Language | Spanish |
| Period | 1930–2000 |
| Genres | Poetry, novel, essay |
| Notable awards | National Prize for Literature See all |
Movement | Independientes del 40 |
Pedro Julio Mir Valentín (San Pedro de Macorís, June 3, 1913 – Santo Domingo, July 11, 2000) was a Dominican writer belonging to the generation of the Independientes del 40.
Declared National Poet of the Dominican Republic by the National Congress in 1984, he is considered one of the most outstanding Dominican poets in the country.
Biography
The son of Pedro Mir, a Cuban engineer, and Vicenta Valentín Mendoza, a young Puerto Rican woman, Pedro Julio Mir Valentín was born and spent his childhood at the Cristóbal Colón sugar mill, near the city of San Pedro de Macorís. The early death of his mother in 1917 left him with a deep sense of absence, which he himself would later state was the origin of his poetic vocation.
In the early 1930s, Pedro Mir began writing his first poems, showing them to friends and acquaintances. One of those friends decided, without consulting him, to take some verses to the writer Juan Bosch, who was already at that time an important literary figure in the Dominican sphere. The author's natural poetic fiber caught Juan Bosch's attention, but Bosch dismissed the verses, saying that the poet had talent but should "turn his eyes to his own land." When Pedro Mir learned of this, he decided to write his first poems of a social nature and, this time, to send them to Juan Bosch himself. Bosch did not reply; instead, he published the verses in his section of the Listín Diario, an important Dominican newspaper, under the striking title that would later prove a prophecy: Is this young man the long-awaited Dominican social poet?
In 1941 he graduated as a Doctor of Law from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo[1] and began practicing the profession at a law office in the capital. However, the pressure of the dictatorship of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo became unbearable, especially for someone who wrote social poetry. Considered disaffected toward the regime, he received threats and lived under pressure until he left for Cuba in 1947, an exile that would last until the fall of the Trujillo regime.
Awards and honors
- Annual History Prize 1975 for Las raíces dominicanas de la doctrina Monroe.
- Annual Poetry Prize 1975 for El huracán Neruda
- National Poet of the Dominican Republic, declared by the National Congress of the Dominican Republic in 1984
- Doctor honoris causa from Hunter College of the University of New York (1991)
- National Prize for Literature 1993.
Poetry
- Hay un país en el mundo, Talleres de La Campaña Cubana, Havana, 1949 (reissued in Mexico, Librería García, 1955, with an introduction by Juan Ducoudray).
- Seis momentos de esperanza. Independent edition, Mexico, 1951.
- Contracanto a Walt Whitman y seis momentos de esperanza. Guatemala; Ediciones Saker-Ti, 1952.
- Poemas de buen amor y a veces de fantasía, Imprenta Nuevo Mundo, Santo Domingo, 1969.
- Amén de mariposas, Nuevo Mundo, Santo Domingo, 1969.
- Viaje a la muchedumbre, with illustrations by the author and a posthumous letter by Domínguez Charro; Editorial Lucerna, Santo Domingo, 1971 / Siglo XXI Editores, Mexico, 1971, with presentation and selection by Jaime Labastida.
- El huracán Neruda. Elegía con una canción desesperada, Editora Taller, Santo Domingo, 1975.
- Primeros versos, Taller, Santo Domingo, 1993.
- Poesías (casi) completas, with a prologue by Jaime Labastida; Siglo XXI Editores, Mexico, 1993.
- Poemas, Ediciones La Discreta, Madrid, 1999.
- Un asombro de ríos verticales. Poesía reunida; Dirección General de la Feria del Libro, Santo Domingo, 2012.
- Poesía completa, edited by Miguel D. Mena; Ediciones Cielonaranja, Santo Domingo, 2017.
- Ni un paso atrás.
- Si alguien quiere saber cuál es mi Patria.
Narrative
- La gran hazaña de Límber y después otoño, Editora Sargazo, Santo Domingo, 1977
- Cuando amaban las tierras comuneras, Siglo XXI Editores, Mexico, 1978
- ¡Buen viaje Pancho Valentín! (Memorias de un marinero); Editora Taller, Santo Domingo, 1981
Essay
- Tres leyendas de colores. Ensayo de interpretación de las tres primeras revoluciones del Nuevo Mundo, with a posthumous prologue by Rafael Altamira; Santo Domingo: Editora Nacional, 1969.
- El gran incendio: los balbuceos americanos del capitalismo mundial, Santo Domingo: Editora del Caribe, 1970.
- Apertura a la estética, Editora de la Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, 1974.
- Las raíces dominicanas de la Doctrina Monroe. Santo Domingo: Editora Taller, 1974. [National History Prize 1975]
- Las dos patrias de Santo Domingo. Santo Domingo: Editorial Cultural Dominicana, 1975.
- Fundamentos de teoría y de crítica de arte, Editora de la Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, 1979.
- Noción de período en la historia dominicana, three volumes; Editora de la Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, 1983.
- Historia del hambre, Santo Domingo: Editora Corripio, 1983.
- El soldadito de la estética, Editora de la Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, 1989.
- El Lapicida de los ojos morados, Santo Domingo: Editora Taller, 1993.
- Ayer menos cuarto y otras crónicas, compilation and interview by Francisco Rodríguez de León; Colección de la Biblioteca Nacional, Santo Domingo, 2000.
- Letras dispersas, edited by Miguel D. Mena; Santo Domingo: Ediciones Cielonaranja, 2013.
References
- ↑ "Biografia de Pedro Mir". www.biografiasyvidas.com (in español). Retrieved 2022-06-02.
External links
- Contracanto a Walt Whitman (in Spanish)
- Pedro Mir Library of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) (in Spanish)
- Pedro Mir page of the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (in Spanish)
- Countersong to Walt Whitman, translated by Jonathan Cohen
- Pedro Mir and His Countersong, by Jean Franco
- Pedro Mir page at "Los Poetas" (in Spanish)
- Pedro Mir page at "CieloNaranja.com" (in Spanish)
- Blog of Hugo Mir, eldest son of Pedro Mir, inspired by his writings "La Cuna Cerrada" (in Spanish)
- Article on Pedro Mir by the distinguished Dominican painter Fernando Ureña Rib at Latin Art Museum
