BALDOMERO LILLO: BIOGRAPHY, STYLE, WORKS, PHRASES - BIOGRAPHIES - 2025

Baldomero Lillo (1867-1923) was a Chilean writer and storyteller whose work was framed within social realism. His writings were inspired by the social problems that his nation went through at the end of the 19th century and in the first decade of the 20th.

Lillo's literary work was rich in resources and was characterized by modernist features and being traditional. The writer used a simple, precise and expressive language with which he narrated the disagreements of the less favored sectors of his native Chile.

Baldomero Lillo when he was young. Source: Anonymous - University of Chile, via Wikimedia Commons

Although the work of this writer was not extensive, he managed to leave a mark for its content and the depth with which the stories were told. His most valued titles were Sub-terra, La compuerta nª 12 and Sub-sole. The way in which Lillo approached the situation in the Chilean mines made him a literary reference in his country.

Biography

Birth and family

Baldomero Lillo Figueroa was born on January 6, 1867 in the town of Lota in the province of Concepción. He grew up in a cultured, middle-class family, where his father was José Nazario Lillo Robles and his mother Mercedes Figueroa. He had two brothers: Emilio and Samuel. His uncle Eusebio Lillo Robles was the poet who composed the national anthem of Chile.

Lillo's childhood years were spent in his hometown, where he was able to learn from the voice of the miners themselves the precarious conditions in which they worked and the difficult experiences they lived in the coal mines. Those stories and his constant love of reading influenced his later performance as a writer.

Studies

Baldomero Lillo attended his first years of primary education in Lota and in 1876 he began to study at the mixed institution of Bucalebu. Seven years later he moved with his family to the community of Lebu, where he was able to enter the main high school in the town. At that time his father passed away and he abandoned his studies to dedicate himself to work.

New way

Lillo worked for a long period in a grocery store to help her mother and siblings financially. In 1897 she married a young woman named Natividad Miller and together they went to Santiago in search of a better life. She was his companion until death and mother of his four children.

In the city of Santiago, he met his brother Samuel (writer and winner of the National Prize for Literature in 1947), who helped him get a job at the University of Chile. The passion he felt for literature since he was a child led him to publish the poem El mar in the Comic Magazine in 1898.

Literary steps

The spark of writing was always present in Lillo, so in 1903 he entered a literary contest promoted by the Revista Católica. The writer was the winner thanks to his short story "Juan Fariña", which he signed with the pseudonym Ars. That experience opened the doors for him in media such as Últimas Noticias, Zig-Zag and El Mercurio.

Literary fame

The nascent writer managed to consolidate his career and gain recognition in 1904 with the publication of Sub-terra, his first book. In the aforementioned work, Baldomero Lillo narrated the working circumstances of the miners, using a precise language loaded with social denunciation.

Eusebio Lillo, Baldomero Lillo's uncle and author of the Chilean anthem. Source: Unknown - Photographic Archive of the University of Chile., via Wikimedia Commons

From then on, the author continued to constantly develop his writing profession, and in 1905 he attended the call for a literary contest organized by the newspaper El Mercurio. Lillo entered the event with his short story Sub-sole and took first place. On this occasion, Baldomero signed the story under the pseudonym Danko.

New Post

Lillo continued to publish writings and short stories in both Zig-Zag magazine and El Mercurio. In 1907 he published his second book of stories entitled Sub-sole, in which he described the way of life of the peasant regions and the industrial advances of the time throughout thirteen stories.

That same year there was a massive miners' strike and a massacre occurred at the Santa María School in Iquique, in northern Chile. Such events motivated Baldomero to travel to the area to obtain more accurate information. As a result of what he observed, he began to write the novel The Strike, but he did not manage to finish it.

Two losses

Baldomero Lillo with 41 years. Source: Baldomero_Lillo.JPG: Unknown - Museo Historico Nacionalderivative work: Rec79, via Wikimedia Commons

The author's life was marred by the loss of two loved ones. In 1909 his mother Mercedes Figueroa passed away, and three years later he suffered the departure of his wife Natividad. Despite his sadness, he had to find the strength to take care of his children: Laura, Eduardo, Marta and Óscar.

Last years and death

The writer dedicated his last years of life to taking care of his children, writing and his work at the university. The publications of his texts were less and less and on May 10, 1917 he retired from the University of Chile. At that time, Baldomero Lillo was found to have pulmonary tuberculosis, with which he lived until his death on September 10, 1923 in the city of San Bernardo.

Style

Baldomero Lillo's literary style was framed within modernism and influenced by European writers such as Émile Zola and Tolstoi. The writer used a formal, precise, direct and expressive language. The theme of his writings was social and manners, loaded with realism, reflection and denunciation.

Plays

Fragment of "El chiflón del diablo"

Sub-sole

It was the second book published by Lillo, which had a realistic and traditional style. In it he narrated the lifestyle of the inhabitants of rural areas of Chile. In this work the author was more thorough with the writing and the content was more dynamic due to the themes he developed.

Here are some of the stories that made up the book:

- "Irredemption".

- "In the wheel".

- "The drowned man."

- "The Wanderer".

- "Inamible".

- "Eve of the dead".

- "The trap".

"The drowned"

This story was about the love that Sebastián felt for Magdalena. The relationship of the young people from the beginning was marked by the poverty of both, until one day the protagonist received an inheritance that put distance between the two and the end of the lover was tragic.

Fragment

"In the wheel"

The main characters in this story were two fighting cocks named Clavel and Cenizo. The writer wanted to portray a tradition of the peasants of the time, so he developed the contest between both animals. Finally Ashen was the winner and Clavel had a fatal destiny.

Fragment

Fragment of "The trap"

Phrases

- "The silver strands of the hair, the wrinkles of the face and the dry and angular bodies were indicative signs that the two new tenants of room number five had passed fifty years."

- “Poor old man, they kick you out because you are no longer useful! The same thing happens to all of us. Down there no distinction is made between man and beast ”.

- “Comrades, this brute is the image of our life! As he is silent, suffering resigned our destiny! And yet our strength and power are so immense that nothing under the sun would resist its push. "

- "The light of the star, soft as a caress, spilled a breath of life on the still life".

- "Honor your father and your mother says the law of God, and I urge you, my children, never, ever, disobey your elders. Always be docile and submissive and you will achieve happiness in this world and eternal glory in the next ”.

- “This is not charity, it is waste, complicity; this is how vice and laziness are encouraged ”.

- "… Like the breath of a woman's fresh mouth, its radiance, of a subtle warmth, caressed obliquely, clouded with a mist of faint mist, the smooth crystal of the waters."

- "Ah, if he could evoke the infernal spirits, he would not hesitate for a moment to sell his blood, his soul, in exchange for that handful of gold, the lack of which was the sole cause of his unhappiness!"

- "How and when did the tolling of that bell, which, despite its smallness, vibrate so powerfully in inexperienced hearts, faded in his heart!"

References

1. Baldomero Lillo. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
2. López, B. (S. f.). Chronology of Baldomero Lillo. Spain: Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library. Recovered from: cervantesvirtual.com.
3. Baldomero Lillo (1867-1923). (2018). Chile: Chilean Memory. National Library of Chile. Recovered from: memoriachilena.gob.cl.
4. Tamaro, E. (2004-2019). Baldomero Lillo. (N / a): Biographies and Lives. Recovered from: biografiasyvidas.com.
5. Lillo, Baldomero. (2009). Chile: Icarito. Recovered from: icarito.cl.