GERMÁN ARCINIEGAS: BIOGRAPHY, WORKS, AWARDS - BIOGRAPHIES - 2024

Germán Arciniegas (1900-1999) was a Colombian writer, historian, essayist, politician, and diplomat. His work was developed within the guidelines of the Americanist movement. The author dedicated himself to researching and writing about the history, culture, geography, art, linguistics, and anthropology of all of America.

Arciniegas' work was characterized by the use of clear and precise language and sometimes with humorous features. The writer was in charge of investigating and questioning the most momentous events in America and their incidents in the rest of the continents.

Germán Arciniegas. Source:

The literature of this Colombian intellectual included the genres of essays, novels, chronicles and newspaper articles. His production reached more than six dozen books, among which were: The student at the round table, America firm, This people of America, Biography of the Caribbean, Between freedom and fear, America magic and America in Europe.

Biography

Birth and family

Germán Arciniegas Angueyra was born on December 6, 1900 in Bogotá, Colombia. The writer came from a cultured family and middle socioeconomic class. His parents were Rafael Arciniegas Tavera and Aurora Angueyra Figueredo. The author had six siblings.

The childhood of Arciniegas and his siblings was marked by the death of their father and by financial difficulties. His mother had to manage to raise her seven children.

Studies

Arciniegas studied his first years of training at the Polytechnic Institute of the Republican School in his hometown. Then he completed high school at the National School of Commerce. The young Germán became interested in literature and journalism in his student years. At that time he put into circulation the magazines Year Fifth and Voice of Youth.

Shield of the National University of Colombia, place of studies of Germán Arciniegas. Source: César Puertas Céspedes, via Wikimedia Commons

After finishing high school in 1918, he began studying law at the National University of Colombia. In 1921 Arciniegas founded the magazine Universidad, in which intellectuals of the stature of León de Greiff and José Vasconcelos collaborated. The publication was valid until 1931.

Arciniegas as a student activist

Arciniegas' stay at the university did not go unnoticed. He had the initiative to found the Federation of Students of Colombia inspired by the University Reform of Argentina in 1918. He was in charge of bringing together students from all over America in cultural celebrations.

The intellectual considered that young university students and the student body in general were the engines that drove the political, artistic and historical events of world society.

Germán proposed a bill to reform education, which came to life in the first presidential term (1934-1938) of Alfonso López Pumarejo.

First professional tasks

Germán Arciniegas began to practice professionally as a writer and journalist in 1928. In that year he joined the newspaper El Tiempo. There he held various positions, including editorial chief, editorial coordinator and director of the Sunday publication Suplemento Literario.

The intellectual was linked to the Bogota newspaper until the end of his life.

Between diplomacy and literature

Arciniegas began his diplomatic career in 1929 when he was appointed vice consul of his country in London, England. Along with his work as an ambassador, he also dedicated himself to writing. This is how he published his first work The Round Table Student in 1932.

Some time later, America made the mainland known and in the early 1940s he went to Argentina to serve as ambassador. His impeccable diplomatic work led him to be Minister of Education of Colombia between 1941 and 1942. At that time he published the work The Germans in the Conquest of America.

Second term as Minister of Education

Arciniegas was a man concerned about the educational system of his country and focused on its progress. That motivated the then president Alberto Lleras to appoint him minister of education in 1945. At that time he founded the Museum of Colonial Art, the Caro y Cuervo Institute and besieged the National Museum of Colombia in a more suitable space.

Life in exile

Germán Arciniegas' life took a 180 degree turn with the arrival of conservative politicians to power in 1946. The writer was repeatedly threatened and had to leave his country. He settled in the United States with his wife Gabriela Vieira and their daughters Aurora and Gabriela.

The author served as a professor at Columbia University and devoted himself to writing. During that time he began to develop one of his most recognized and controversial works: Between Freedom and Fear, which he published in 1952.

Back to diplomacy

The writer returned to diplomatic work in 1959. On that date he was sent to Italy as ambassador and three years later he represented Colombia in Israel.

Arciniegas continued to develop his literature and at the beginning of the sixties he published works such as: Memoirs of a congressman, 20,000 comuneros towards Santa Fe and El mundo de la bella Simonetta.

Cover of a copy of the newspaper El Tiempo, the workplace of Germán Arciniegas. Source: ALFONSO VILLEGAS R., via Wikimedia Commons

After the aforementioned, Germán was a diplomat in Venezuela in 1967 and in the Holy See in 1976. The intellectual took advantage of this professional facet to work and spread the culture of the American continent. This is how he represented his country in the Colombo-Guatemalan Cultural Week (in Guatemala) in 1980.

Last years and death

Germán dedicated the last two decades of his life to writing and promoting the culture of Colombia and America in general. The most current works in his literary repertoire were Bolívar y la Revolución and El Embajador: vida de Guido Antonio, Amerigo Vespucci's uncle.

Germán Arciniegas died on November 30, 1999 in Bogotá at the age of ninety-eight. His remains were deposited in the Central Cemetery of the Colombian capital.

Plays

America in Europe

This literary work by Germán Arciniegas was a critical and historical essay on the influence of America on the European continent. The author was in charge of exposing a series of events that linked the two worlds, such as the discovery of America and the French Revolution.

The writer considered that the New World brought movement and development to the philosophy, culture, arts, literature and thought of Europeans. This implied a new vision of America and a detachment from the ideas that had come from Europe.

Fragment of

Awards and honours

- Alberdi-Sarmiento Award.

- Dag Hammarskjöld Inspiration Award.

- Order the Merit of Italy.

- María Moors Cabot Prize for Journalism.

- Applause Award.

- Honorary member of the Mexican Academy of the Language since January 25, 1949.

- Alfonso Reyes International Award.

- Gabriela Mistral Award for Quality Culture, Chile.

- "Man of the Americas" by the Americas Foundation.

- Andrés Bello Award, Venezuela.

References

1. Germán Arciniegas. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
2. López, J. (2017). Germán Arciniegas Angueyra. Colombia: Banrepcultural. Recovered from: encyclopedia.banrepcultural.org.
3. Tamaro, E. (2019). Germán Arciniegas. (N / a): Biographies and Lives. Recovered from: biografiasyvidas.com.
4. Germán Arciniegas. (S. f.). Cuba: EcuRed. Recovered from: ecured.cu.
5. Between freedom and fear. (2013). Nicaragua: La Prensa. Recovered from: laprensa.com.ni.