Vicente Huidobro

A poet of passion and intelligence, Huidobro was the protagonist of a veritable renewal of 20th century literature.

Vicente Garcia Huidobro Fernández, who signed his work as simply Vicente Huidobro, was born in Santiago on January 10, 1893. His family was wealthy and he lived in Europe from an early age. In Chile he studied at the Jesuit San Ignacio School. He was later inclined to study literature at the University of Chile. In 1911 he published his first book, Ecos del Alma (“Echoes of the Soul”).

During long periods of residence in Europe he participated in the discussions of the avant-garde. His proposal was to be Creationism, which he promoted in 1921 from “Creación” (“Creation”), an International Magazine of Art, published in Madrid and Paris. Among his numerous publications, Altazor stands out, an essential poem for learning about this “anti-poet and magician,” as he defined himself in this work, published in 1931 in Madrid. From “Horizón Carré” (“Square Horizon”), until the publication of Altazor, he devoted himself to demonstrating the creation of a new poetry that moved away from the formal traditions.

In Chile during the 1930s, he participated actively in politics, collaborating with the Chilean Communist Party. He also took part in literary groups and magazines, and practiced journalism: He wrote film critiques published in the press and, in 1945, during World War II from Paris, he broadcasted his chronicles for The Voice of America.

On January 2, 1948, Huidobro died in his house in the coastal city of Cartagena. In compliance with his last will, he was buried on a hill overlooking the sea with this epitaph on his gravestone: “Here lies the poet Vicente Huidobro / Open the tomb / At the bottom of this tomb you can see the sea.” This poet took Creationism from America to Europe, and finally brought it back to Chile.