JOSÉ EMILIO PACHECO: BIOGRAPHY, STYLE, COMPLETE WORKS, PHRASES - LITERATURE - 2025

José Emilio Pacheco (1939-2014) was a Mexican writer, poet and translator, whose literary work has been framed in the well-known Generación de Medio Siglo. His literature was abundant, and included poetry, essays, novels, and short stories.

Pacheco's work was characterized by having a precise, easily understood language, created for all audiences. In addition, the author was interested in developing themes related to history, and the process of life within modernity; as well as he wrote about time and the end of existence.

José Emilio Pacheco. Source: Octavio Nava / Secretariat of Culture Mexico City from Mexico, via Wikimedia Commons

The writer was one of the most prominent of his country and his time. His literary work crossed borders. Some of his most recognized titles were: Battles in the Desert, The Pleasure Principle and Don't Ask Me How Time Goes By; his work was worthy of several recognitions.

Biography

Birth and family

José Emilio was born on June 30, 1939 in Mexico City. He came from a cultured family. His parents were José María Pacheco Chi and María del Carmen Berry Abreu. His contact with literature began as a child, when important personalities and intellectuals met at his home.

Pacheco Studies

José Emilio Pacheco's years of educational training were spent in his hometown, always attached to letters and literature. When he entered high school, he had already started his path in writing in various student media, and in some newspapers.

Coat of arms of the UNAM, Pacheco study house. Source: Both, the shield and the motto, José Vasconcelos Calderón, via Wikimedia Commons

Upon graduating from high school, he began studying law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He continued writing for magazines such as: Medio Siglo, Letras Nuevas and Index. During that time he also stood out as editor-in-chief of México en la Cultura and also wrote for the Diario de Yucatán.

Pacheco's marriage

Pacheco also had time for love. In 1962, when he was twenty-three years old, he married Cristina Romo Hernández, a Mexican writer and journalist. She later called herself with her husband's last name: Cristina Pacheco. The couple had two daughters: Laura Emilia and Cecilia.

Writer's first publications

José Emilio Pacheco managed to obtain recognition in the literary world when he was very young, due to his frequent collaborations in magazines and newspapers. However, it was in 1963 when it was officially consolidated with the publication of two works: The distant wind and The elements of the night.

He

Starting in 1973, José Emilio Pacheco began to write the Inventory column in the Excelsior newspaper, specifically in the inserted Diorama of Culture. His work was journalistic, because he focused on chronicles related to the history of Mexico.

Headquarters of the Diario de Yucatán, newspaper for which Pacheco wrote. Source: Inri, via Wikimedia Commons

There were many years that the writer dedicated to that column. Over time, he also developed themes related to writers such as the Englishman Alfred Douglas and the Irishman Oscar Wilde. After that he took the project to Proceso, where he wrote until the end of his days.

Death of José Emilio Pacheco

As the years passed, José Emilio Pacheco's health began to deteriorate. Two days before his death, he had a health problem while writing. His life died on January 26, 2014 in Mexico City, due to a cardiorespiratory arrest, when he was seventy-four years old.

Awards and honours

- Magda Donato Award, in 1967, for You will die away.

- Aguascalientes National Poetry Award, in 1969, for his poetic work Don't ask me how time passes.

- Xavier Villaurrutia Award, in 1973, for the story The Principle of Pleasure.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the Autonomous University of Sinaloa, in 1979.

- National Prize of Journalism of Mexico, in 1980.

- Malcolm Lowry Award, in 1991.

Cervantes Award, distinction received by Pacheco. Source: Heralder, via Wikimedia Commons

- National Prize of Sciences and Arts, in 1992.

- José Asunción Silva Award, for the best poems in the Spanish language between 1990 and 1995.

- Mazatlán Prize for Literature, in 1999.

- José Donoso Ibero-American Prize for Literature, in 2001.

- Octavio Paz International Prize for Poetry and Essay, in 2003.

- Ramón López Velarde Ibero-American Poetry Prize, in 2003.

- Alfonso Reyes International Award, in 2004.

- Ibero-American Poetry Prize Pablo Neruda, in 2004.

- Federico García Lorca International Poetry Prize, in 2005.

- Honorary member of the American Academy of the Language as of May 23, 2006.

- Reina Sofía Prize for Ibero-American Poetry, in 2009.

- Medal 1808, in 2009.

- Gold Medal of Fine Arts from the Secretariat of Public Education of Mexico, in 2009.

- Cervantes Award, in 2009.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, in 2009.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the Autonomous University of Campeche, in 2010.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the Autonomous University of Mexico, in 2010.

- Alfonso Reyes Award, in 2011, by El Colegio de México.

Style

José Emilio Pacheco's literary style was characterized by the use of precise, concise, direct and easily understood language. In addition to that, he stood out for the development of a deep and reflective theme on aspects related to man and his existence.

Poetry

The Mexican writer developed a poetry devoid of rhetoric and little functional literary “ornaments”. He was in charge of purifying the lyric, that is, of cleaning it in such a way that it had a meaning in itself; but although the language was simple, it was still profound.

Pacheco was also in charge of giving his poetic work touches of sarcasm and humor, with the intention that the issues raised were more pleasant for the reader. Finally, he tried to make his poetry a collective property, with an interest in the transcendental of the modern.

Narrative

Pacheco's narrative work enjoyed a language that suggested, that is, that opened the reader paths towards the real and the fantastic. It was also concise, without careful descriptions; the topics covered by the author were life, childhood, the historical and modern, as well as literature itself.

Complete works

Novel

- You will die far away (1967).

- The battles in the desert (1981).

Brief description of his work

It was the second novel by José Emilio Pacheco. Prior to the 1981 publication, the writer made it known in the newspaper Uno Más Uno, within the Saturday aggregate. The play was set in the post-World War II era, within the political and social environment of Mexico.

The novel was about the love that Carlos, an eight-year-old boy, felt for Mariana, twenty-eight, mother of Jim, his friend from school. The story was attractive both for showing modern advances, as for the confession that the little boy made to his girlfriend, and the kiss that she gave him.

Pacheco made this novel transcend due to the main theme: an impossible love. Throughout the story, Carlos was subjected to psychological treatment, had to confess and was withdrawn from school. Finally, the protagonist culminated without knowing about the life of his beloved Mariana and Jim.

Fragment

“That city is over. That country ended. There is no memory of the Mexico of those years. And nobody cares: who can be nostalgic about that horror. Everything happened as the records pass on the jukebox. I will never know if Mariana is still alive. If I lived today I would be eighty years old ”.

Poetry

- The elements of the night (1963).

- The rest of the fire (1966).

- Don't ask me how time flies (1970).

- You will go and you will not return (1973).

- Drifting Islands (1976).

- Since then (1979).

- The works of the sea (1983).

- I look at the earth (1987).

- City of memory (1990).

- The silence of the moon (1996).

- The wandering sand (1999).

- Last century (2000).

- Sooner or later. Poems 1958-2009 (2009).

- Like the rain (2009).

- The age of darkness (2009).

- The mirror of the echoes (2012).

Fragment of

"In the dust of the world

my footprints are already lost

I walk away endlessly.

Do not ask me

as time goes, to the place that was ours

winter is coming

and they cross through the air

the flocks that migrate.

Then spring will be reborn, They will revive the flowers you planted.

But instead we

we will never see again

the house in the mist.

Fragment of

"Under minimal empire

that summer has gnawed

the days, the faith, the forecasts collapse.

In the last valley destruction is sated

in conquered cities that the ashes insult.

The rain extinguishes

the forest illuminated by lightning.

The night leaves your poison.

The words break against the air.

Nothing is restored, nothing is granted

the greenery to the scorched fields.

Nor the water in his exile

will happen to the source

nor the bones of the eagle

they will return for their wings ”.

Stories

- The distant wind (1963).

- The pleasure principle (1972).

- The blood of Medusa and other marginal tales (1990).

Brief description of his work

This work by Pacheco came to light for the first time in 1972. However, after that date it went through several editions. In it, the writer made a journey through the different stages of life, beginning with childhood and ending in old age, and what each one meant to him.

The book was made up of six stories:

- "The pleasure principle".

- "The claw."

- "The brave party".

- "Langerhaus".

- "Have to entertain yourself."

- "When I left Havana, God help me."

"The brave party"

It was related to the history and culture of Mexico. The main character was Mr. Keller, an American and a fighter in the Vietnam War, who traveled to Aztec land to learn about her, but what began as an adventure had an unexpected end.

The title of the work made reference to a series of events that marked the social and political history of Mexico in the 1970s. In addition to focusing on modernity, Pacheco also spoke about the pre-Hispanic past and the gods.

"Have to entertain yourself"

It was one of Pacheco's most fantastic and strange stories. The writer did not make clear or explain to the reader the appearance of the unusual, in such a way that the story aroused greater interest; amazement, uncertainty and hopelessness are constant in the story.

The story narrated the disappearance of Rafael, a six-year-old boy, in the Chapultepec forest in Mexico. That happened after the sudden appearance of a man whom Rafael's mother had hired as a caretaker of the place. When night came, the infant did not return, the mother did not lose hope of finding him, and every day she returned to the place.

Translation

- How is it, by Samuel Beckett.

- Four quartets, by TS Eliot.

- Imaginary lives, by Marcel Schwob.

- De Profundis, by Óscar Wilde.

- A streetcar named Desire, by Tennessee Williams.

Anthology

- Anthology of modernism 1884-1921 (1970).

Articles

- Inventory I. Anthology 1973-1983 (Posthumous Edition, 2017).

- Inventory II. Anthology 1984-1992 (Posthumous Edition, 2017).

- Inventory III. Anthology 1993-2014 (Posthumous Edition, 2017).

Finally, it is important to note that Pacheco also participated in music and cinema through his works. For example, her novel The Battles in the Desert was adapted for the big screen in 1987 as Mariana, Mariana; while El repo del fuego became symphonic music in 1995.

Phrases

- “Poetry is not black signs on the white page. I call that place of encounter with the experience of others poetry ”.

- “I already found myself in a corner of time. I did not want to speak to myself, in revenge for all that I have done to myself with viciousness ”.

- "He who leaves does not return, even if he returns."

- "At birth we occupy the place of someone, and we do not thank those who are absent to leave us their unstable space."

- “Everything interrogates and reproaches us. But nothing responds. Nothing persists against the flow of the day. In the middle of the night everything ends and everything begins again ”.

- "I still think that poetry is something else: a form of love that only exists in silence, in a secret pact between two people, almost always between two strangers."

- "Love is a disease in a world where the only natural thing is hate."

- "The limits of language are the limits of thought."

- "And each wave would like to be the last, to stay frozen in the mouth of salt and sand that is always saying softly: go ahead."

- “Life belongs to no one, we receive it on loan. The only thing truly ours will be the absence ”.

References

1. José Emilio Pacheco. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
2. Gaxiola, M. (2017). 20 captivating phrases of the great José Emilio Pacheco. Mexico: MX City. Recovered from: mxcity.mx.
3. Tamaro, E. (2004-2019). José Emilio Pacheco. (N / a): Biographies and Lives. Recovered from: biografiasyvidas.com.
4. José Emilio Pacheco. Biography. (2017). Spain: Instituto Cervantes. Recovered from: cervantes.es.
5. José Emilio Pacheco. (2014). (N / a): Writers Org. Recovered from: Escritores.org.