JAIME TORRES BODET: BIOGRAPHY, WORKS AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION - LITERATURE - 2024

Jaime Torres Bodet (1902–1974) was a twentieth-century Mexican writer and diplomat. He served in various public positions and was one of the general directors of UNESCO. His contributions to education were invaluable, as was his work in letters, which is considered very outstanding. He served three different administrations of the United Mexican States.

He came from a wealthy family that provided him with a good education. From the cradle he was surrounded by culture, so his training and his passion for education and letters began very early.

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Between the 1940s, until the mid-1960s, he was part of the Ministry of Public Education on two occasions. He also served the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a diplomatic envoy, his last mission was between 1970 and 1971.

One of his most important contributions to education was the literacy campaign, since the number of illiterates in the Mexican population was around 50% of those over 6 years of age. It also promoted training plans for primary school teachers. He was also in charge of promoting the construction of schools throughout the nation.

He was a member of the Mexican Academy of Language and the National College, which included the most prominent artists in the country. She was part of the literary group known as the Contemporaries.

Jaime Torres Bodet obtained different recognitions for his career, among these distinctions are honorary doctorates from universities in Mexico, Cuba, France, Peru and Belgium. In addition to that, he was the National Prize of Sciences and Arts of Mexico and obtained the Belisario Rodríguez Medal from the Senate.

In the mid-1970s he committed suicide and his remains are preserved in the Rotunda of Illustrious Persons, which is located in the Mexican capital.

Biography

Early years

Jaime Torres Bodet was born on April 17, 1902 in Mexico City, capital of the United Mexican States. He was the son of the Spanish Alejandro Lorenzo Torres Girbent, along with his wife Mrs. Emilia Bodet Levallois, born in Peru to French parents.

Torres Girbent owned a company that produced plays and operas. The couple considered Mexico an interesting destination for their business to flourish economically.

Torres Bodet's house was located in the center of Mexico City. The future author and educator grew up surrounded by the capital's bourgeois class.

He received his first letters from the hand of his mother, who was concerned with instilling in young Jaime a love for the arts, especially literature. It was also surrounded by a cultural environment, given the nature of the family business.

Then he formally continued his education at the Escuela Anexa a la Normal de teachers. At the age of 11 Torres Bodet had completed his primary studies. Then he went to the National Preparatory School, where he received his bachelor's degree at 15 years of age.

Youth

From early on he was inclined towards letters and just at the age of 16 he published his first work, a book of poems which he baptized with the name of Fervor and whose foreword was written by Enrique González Martínez.

At the same time he was one of the members of the Ateneo de la Juventud, to which José Gorostiza and Luis Garrido also belonged.

In 1920 Jaime Torres Bodet was secretary at the National Preparatory School. Also at that time he began his studies at the National University of Mexico, where he began a career in Philosophy and Letters.

He served as secretary to José Vasconcelos in 1921, who was rector of UNAM at the time. At that time he was one of the professors of the Free High School and at the National Preparatory School he taught the Chair of Art History.

From his work with Vasconcelos, Torres Bodet's career in public administration began a constant ascent. Between 1922 and 1924 he served as director of the Department of Libraries of the Ministry of Public Education.

The following year he was secretary to Bernardo Gastélum, who was at the head of the Ministry of Health. Also in 1925 he began his career as a professor of French Literature at the School of Higher Studies to which he dedicated four years of his life.

Literature

the beginning

Jaime Torres Bodet's passion for literature began very early, from the age of 12 he began to practice writing.

Two years later, he had already published his first poems, which were titled Sonnets, Primavera y Noche de cuna, texts that appeared in El Pueblo, a publication in Mexico City. In 1918 Torres Bodet already had his first book of poetry called Fervor.

The Contemporaries

Since the 1910s, Torres Bodet made friends with other authors such as José Gorostiza and Carlos Pellicer, who, like him, were included in the literary group that became known as Los Contemporáneos.

These young people were at the forefront of the cultural aspects of intellectual society in Mexico at the beginning of the 20th century.

The name was taken from the magazine that had been baptized as Contemporaries. In it Torres Bodet himself was editor from its publication in 1928 to 1931. The group received much foreign influence, especially from Europe and the United States of America.

While Torres Bodet was director of the Department of Libraries of the Ministry of Public Education, he founded a magazine entitled El Libro y el pueblo, with which he intended to democratize education.

At the same time he was director of the Falange magazine and later collaborated in the Ulises magazine. While he was in Spain, he collaborated with the Revista de Occidente.

He was always closely linked to poetry; by the sixties Torres Bodet had 15 poetic publications. Furthermore, between the late 1920s and early 1940s, he had published seven volumes of novels and short stories.

Public administration

Since Jaime Torres Bodet worked with José Vasconcelos, at the beginning of the 1920s, the service of this Mexican to the country began. First as director of the Department of Libraries of the Ministry of Public Education.

Then, in 1929, Torres Bodet began his career as a diplomat, which allowed him to promote his love for education and literature from different settings.

Jaime Torres Bodet was also Secretary of Public Education in the government of Manuel Ávila Camacho. He returned to that position years later, while President Adolfo López Mateos was in the government of the United Mexican States.

Diplomacy

Jaime Torres Bodet was part of the Mexican diplomatic corps since 1929, when he was sent as third secretary of the Mexican Mission in Madrid, where he remained for approximately three years. He was then promoted to second secretary, but on that occasion he was transferred to Paris between 1931 and 1932.

For the next two years he held the post of charge d'affaires in France. Later Torres Bodet headed towards South America as first secretary in Buenos Aires; from there he returned to the French capital. He was in Belgium when the Nazi occupation occurred.

Since 1940, the Mexican served as the nation's undersecretary of Foreign Relations, a position he held until 1943.

Jaime Torres Bodet represented Mexico in an international conference whose headquarters was in London and in which 44 countries participated. From that international meeting, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, known as UNESCO, was created on November 16, 1945.

Torres Bodet was also Secretary of Foreign Relations during the presidency of Miguel Alemán Valdés. In the early 1970s he served as head of mission in Paris.

Death

Jaime Torres Bodet died on May 13, 1974 in Mexico City. The author decided to kill himself with a shot in the head at the age of 72. He had suffered from cancer since 1956.

Torres Bodet tried to leave a note, but could not agree with what he wrote on the occasion and many wrinkled drafts were found around him. However, the newspaper El Universal published the following message signed by Torres Bodet:

“The time has come when I cannot pretend, because of my illnesses, that I continue to live, waiting, day by day, for death. I prefer to go meet him and do it in a timely manner. I don't want to be annoying or inspire pity in anyone. I have done my duty until the last moment. "

His wife said that Torres Bodet was a very perfectionist and when he found himself with a body that was heading towards decay in a resounding way, he preferred to end his days while “he was still a whole man”.

Contributions to education

First Period in the Secretariat of Public Education

His work for education was very important in Mexico. In Jaime Torres Bodet's first term as Secretary of Public Education, which began in December 1943, the National Union of Education Workers emerged.

He also focused on the democratization of education, created literacy campaigns since the number of illiterates in Mexico was approximately 47.8% among the population that had more than 6 years.

Similarly, Torres Bodet collaborated with the professionalization of Primary Education teachers who did not have a degree through the Institute of Teacher Training.

Another of the plans that he carried out in his first period was the Popular Encyclopedic Library, with which more than a hundred books were published.

During his period in the Ministry of Education, the number of schools in the nation also increased, and the socialist biases that until then were applied by the government were eliminated from national education.

UNESCO

He was one of the Mexican delegates at the conference from which the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization emerged. Furthermore, between 1948 and 1952, Jaime Torres Bodet was director general of UNESCO.

Second Period in the Secretariat of Public Education

When Jaime Torres Bodet returned to that position in 1958, the so-called Eleven Year Plan for the Extension and Improvement of Primary Education was launched, with which the number of teachers and classrooms in the country were increased.

Likewise, the National Commission for Free Textbooks was created with which books were delivered at no cost to Mexican students.

From his position as Secretary of Education, Torres Bodet promoted the arts and sciences with the creation of venues such as the National Museum of Anthropology and the Museum of Modern Art.

Honors

Jaime Torres Bodet received numerous honorary doctorates from universities in both the American continent and Europe. In addition, he was a member of the Mexican Academy of Language and the National College.

CREFAL Official

He received the Belisario Domínguez Medal in 1971, which was awarded by the Senate of the Republic of Mexico. In 1966 he had been awarded the National Prize for Sciences and Arts in the mention of Literature and Linguistics of his country.

A year after his death, in 1975, a postage stamp was made in homage to his work; he himself bore his name accompanied by the years of birth and death.

Publications

Poetry

- Youth poems, (1916-1917).

- Fervor, (1918).

- Songs, (1922)

- The delirious heart, (1922).

- New songs, (1923).

- The house, (1923).

- The days, (1923).

- Poems, (1924).

- Screen, (1925).

- Banishment, (1930).

- Crypt, (1937).

- Sonnets, (1949).

- Borders, (1954).

- Without truce, (1957).

- Four-leaf clover, (1958).

- Recent poems, (1965 - 1966).

Narrative

- Daisy of mist, (1927).

- Sentimental education, (1929).

- Proserpina rescued, (1931).

- Star by day, (1933).

- January 1st, (1934).

- Shadows, (1935).

- Birth of Venus and other stories, (1941).

essays

- Classic readings for children, (1925).

- Contemporaries, (1928).

- Inter-American Coordination, (1941).

- Mission of the writer, (1942).

- Message to the youth, (1944).

- Education and international harmony, (1948).

- The mission of UNESCO, (1949).

Autobiography

- Sand time, (1955).

Published articles

- Death of Proserpina, in Revista de Occidente, (1930).

Other titles

- Balzac, (1959).

- Memories (five volumes), (1961).

- Tolstoi, (1965).

- Rubén Darío, (1966), 1968 Mazatlán Prize for Literature.

- Proust, (1967).

References

1. En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Jaime Torres Bodet. Available at: en.wikipedia.org.
2. Carmona, D. (2019). Political Memory of Mexico. Memoriapoliticademexico.org. Available at: memoriapoliticademexico.org.
3. Unesco (2019). Director-General's List: UNESCO. Available at: web.archive.org.
4. Barrón Echauri, M. (2019). INEHRM - Secretariat of Public Education. Web.archive.org. Available at: web.archive.org.
5. Los-poetas.com. (2019). JAIME TORRES BODET. Available at: los-poetas.com.
6. Sánchez Prado, I. (2009). Jaime Torres Bodet, poet. Free Letters. Available at: letraslibres.com.