EMILIO CARBALLIDO: BIOGRAPHY, STYLE, WORKS, PHRASES - BIOGRAPHIES - 2025

Emilio Carballido (1925-2008) was a Mexican writer, playwright, storyteller, and comedian who enjoyed extensive artistic and cultural participation in his country during the 20th and early 21st centuries. His literary work was prolific, writing novels, short stories, theater and film scripts.

His texts stood out for having aesthetic and expressive quality. He used simple language through which he combined social issues of general interest. Carballido's theatrical pieces presented traditional and realistic traits typical of Mexicans.

Emilio Carballido. Source: Fonotecanacional.gob.mx

The most outstanding works of this Mexican author were: The triple stubbornness, The empty box, Rosalba and the key rings, A small day of anger, Happiness, The watchmaker of Córdoba and Written in the body of the night. Emilio Carballido laid the foundations of modern theater in Mexico.

Biography

Birth and family

Emilio Carballido Fentañes was born on May 22, 1925 in the city of Córdoba in the state of Veracruz. The writer came from a cultured, middle-class family, his parents being Francisco Carballido and Blanca Rosa Fentañes. His maternal grandmother inclined him towards literature with the stories she narrated to him as a child.

Academic training

Emblem of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the UNAM, where Emilio Carballido studied. Source: Carlosbukowski, via Wikimedia Commons

Carballido attended primary, secondary and high school in his native state. Then he went to Mexico City to study law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). However, his passion for letters and theater led him to the Faculty of philosophy and letters.

At UNAM he began to attend theater classes and specialized in dramatic art and English letters. During his university years, he had prominent intellectuals such as Celestino Gorostiza Alcalá, Rodolfo Usigli and Xavier Villaurrutia as professors. She also studied with Rosario Castellanos, Sergio Magaña and Luisa Josefina Hernández.

First literary steps

Emilio Carballido's literary career took off in his younger years. In 1946, when he was just 21 years old, he wrote his first novel Los mundos de Alberto.

Four years later she made her debut in the theater with the play Rosalba y los llaveros, which gave her wide recognition before the public. This piece was premiered at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.

Professional growth

Carballido was one of those intellectuals who rose like foam in his professional career. In 1950 he won a scholarship in literature from the Rockefeller Institute and kept writing. It was in 1955 that the Centro Mexicano de Escritores granted him financial aid to continue developing his theater and narrative.

At that time he began his work at the Universidad Veracruzana as deputy director of the School of Theater, where he was active in the production of scripts for television and cinema. The playwright also taught drama classes at the National Institute of Fine Arts; and in 1957 he premiered the play Felicidad.

Cultural promoter

The work of Emilio Carballido extended to the promotion of culture, good customs and to make theater a form of expression and not an instrument to influence society. So - not satisfied with all the activities he did - he gave workshops in various institutions in his country and throughout Latin America.

The writer offered the public variety, humor, entertainment and realism through his plays. The simple, critical and expressive nature of his staging led to his work being represented in several countries, such as: Venezuela, the United States, Switzerland, Belgium, France and Colombia, which gave him international recognition.

Boom in the sixties

The 1960s was one of the most significant seasons in Carballido's career. In 1960 he developed A Little Day of Wrath and wrote the screenplay for the film Macario (nominated for an Oscar Award). That was also the time when he published the short story book La Caja Vaca, where he was awarded the Casa de las Américas Theater Prize.

Other tasks of Carballido

Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, where Emilio Carballido made his theater debut with his work Rosalba y los llaveros. Source: Xavier Quetzalcoatl Contreras Castillo, via Wikimedia Commons

Carballido held important positions within the cultural and artistic environment of Mexico throughout his professional life. He worked as a professor at UNAM and at various universities in the United States. He also served as editorial advisor for the Universidad Veracruzana and created and directed the magazine Tramoya for a long time.

Last years and death

The writer and playwright lived his last years in constant theatrical development, staging more than twenty plays. For his outstanding artistic work he was recognized with several awards, including the National Arts and Sciences. He died on February 11, 2011 in Xalapa due to a heart attack.

Awards and honours

- Prize of the newspaper El Nacional in 1954.

- Casa de las Américas Award in 1962 (Cuba) for A small day of anger.

- Juan Luís de Alarcón Award in 1983.

- Ollantay Prize in 1983 (Caracas), for his magazine on theater Tramoya.

- Doctorate Honoris Causa from the Universidad Veracruzana, 1992.

- National Prize of Sciences and Arts in 1996.

- Ariel Award in 1972, for the script and plot of El águila descalza, a film directed by Alfonso Arau.

- Ariel de Oro for his film career.

Style

Emilio Carbadillo gave his work modernity, passion and creativity. His literary style was characterized by the use of a simple language that combined the cultured and popular. His writings were based on aspects of everyday life, which he dealt with with humor, criticism, expressiveness, surprise and reflection.

Plays

Novel

Brief description of some of his works

Rosalba and the keychains

It was the play that made Carballido known, being directed in its first year by Salvador Novo. It belonged to the comedy genre and told the story of a daring young woman who traveled to Veracruz to change the lives of the Llavero family. The protagonist was in charge of showing him that one could live in a different and guilt-free way.

The census

It was one of the many plays by the Mexican writer, which belonged to the genre of comedy. It was set in a poor town in the Aztec country known as La Lagunilla and told the story of the seamstress Dora, whose daily life was not easy. Problems and ignorance prevailed.

The empty box

It was a book of stories by Emilio Carballido in which he narrated through his expressive and colorful language the lifestyle of the people of the province. Throughout the stories, the author led the reader to discover the social problems of the Mexico of his time, in the context of childhood and everyday life in general.

The dance that the turtle dreams

It was one of the best-known plays by this Mexican playwright. He developed it in the mid-1950s and in it he exposed the lives of two spinster women who had an unusual relationship with a young man from the community. With this comedy, Carballido criticized the typical Mexican machismo and some social norms.

Fragment. Act one

Sputnik and David's story

It was a story by Emilio Carballido aimed at children. He told the story of friendship between an alligator named Sputnik and a boy named David. As his owner learned to read and write, his pet became exceptional and learned to play soccer. It was a fantastic, simple and entertaining narrative.

Fragment

Fragment of

Fragment of

Phrases

- “A writer who doesn't love, I don't think he has much to express. Hate has never been the source of good works. Without love for reality, for people, you cannot write ”.

- "The wealth of a people is not that of the soil, but that of the brain."

- "Whoever gets used to eating lobster at the expense of the treasury becomes a courtier".

- “I don't think the theater has a direct influence on anyone, right? I have not seen anyone who changes to see theater ”.

- "I was a precocious child who wrote a lot from a very young age".

- “I'm not a very good director. I like it a lot, but it doesn't turn out well for me ”.

- "… I do not emphasize showing certain types of customs, but certain events between human beings who have a certain type of character."

- "I have an interest in putting certain people who are in conflict within a credible environment, and for it to be credible, I must know them personally…".

References

1. Emilio Carballido. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
2. Tamaro, E. (2019). Emilio Carballido. (N / a): Biographies and Lives. Recovered from: biografiasyvidas.com.
3. Emilio Carballido. (2018). Mexico: Encyclopedia of Literature in Mexico. Recovered from: elem.mx.
4. Rino, P. (S. f.). Carballido, Emilio (1925-2008). (N / a): MCN Biographies. Recovered from: mcnbiografias.com.
5. Berman, S. (2008). Emilio Carballido. Mexico: Free Letters. Recovered from: letraslibres.com.