LUIS ALBERTO SÁNCHEZ SÁNCHEZ: BIOGRAPHY AND WORKS - LITERATURE - 2025

Luis Alberto Sánchez Sánchez (1900-1994) was a renowned Peruvian writer, who also stood out in the area of ​​journalism and had a notable participation in the political development of his country. This character served as vice president of Peru, as well as was a senator, deputy and minister.

As a writer he was a very prolific author, having produced a wide range of works of all genres: from books on politics and biography, to a large number of essays, novels and poetry. Furthermore, he was one of the first writers to cover the history of Peruvian literature in an organic and complete way in his texts.

His most distinctive work was Peruvian literature. Route for a cultural history of Peru, which was published in 1929. It was expanded several times until 1975, being subsequently reissued in five volumes.

Biography

Luis Alberto Sánchez was born in the city of Lima, Peru, on October 12, 1900. His mother was Carmen M. Sánchez Patiño and his father was Alberto Sánchez Blanco.

Applied studies

He completed his first studies at the Colegio Sagrados Corazones Recoleta, which is considered one of the most exclusive and oldest institutions in Peru. During his stay in this educational center, Sánchez made his oldest story at the age of 9, which was titled: The Audacious Thieves.

Due to this, several scholars consider that Sánchez showed a premature talent. In 1916, while still very young, he published in the renowned literature magazines Ariel and Luz. A year later he entered the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, a house of studies in which he specialized in the career of Letters.

Likewise, at that university he studied law and obtained a doctorate in the disciplines of History, Letters, Philosophy and History. This shows that Sánchez's training was quite varied and complete, which gave him a solid foundation for his future work.

Teaching work and politics

In 1921 he was a professor at the German School (Alexander von Humboldt College), in which he stayed for ten years. During this period he surrounded himself with great thinkers and philosophers such as Martín Adán.

Later, in 1927, he dedicated himself to practicing journalism and law; in fact, in 1930 he was selected to preside over the National Association of Journalists. He also worked in the National Library of Peru, located in the city of Lima, where he served as deputy director.

In 1931 Sánchez was part of the Peruvian Aprista Party, also known as the People's Party, with a center-left and socialist position. He was among its most prominent leaders and during this period he was also chosen as a deputy.

Exiles and returns to their country

Due to the ideology of the Aprista Party, during that same year Luis Alberto Sánchez was arrested along with several of his companions. Several members of the party were expelled from their country; However, Sánchez was able to return to his homeland in 1933 thanks to the amnesty proposed by the president of the time, Óscar Benavides.

However, the persecution against the Aprista Party continued, so Sánchez was once again expelled from his land. His exile led him to live in Chile; There he directed the University of Chile, the oldest in the country. He was also a professor at the same institution, which allowed him to give different conferences and offer various speeches.

He managed to return to his country in 1943 to be elected again as a deputy two years after his arrival. Later he was elected first as dean and later as rector at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.

Similarly, he was selected as the leading representative of the Peruvian delegation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) in 1946.

In 1948 the party was again considered illegal, so Sánchez had to request asylum in Paraguay; this was his third exile.

However, this was not entirely negative, since it allowed him to work as a teacher in different Latin American countries such as Venezuela, Mexico, Uruguay and Cuba. It also made its way into other countries such as the United States and France.

Last years

In 1966 Sánchez was elected to preside over the Senate, as well as was chosen again as rector of the San Marcos University.

However, his term as senator and rector came to an abrupt end when he was accused of corruption by student opposition figures. After this he devoted himself to his journalistic and literary work.

Finally, he was elected as the first vice president of the Republic in 1985; he was also selected to preside over the Council of Ministers three years later.

His legislative activities were hampered by the self-induced coup of President Alberto Fujimori in 1992. Two years later, Luis Alberto Sánchez died at the age of 94.

Plays

Biographical work

Another of the great contributions of the author Luis Alberto Sánchez corresponds to the studies that he carried out around other great Peruvian literary figures, such as the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Pedro de Peralta y Barnuevo, Manuel Ascencio Segura and José Santos Chocano.

However, the author to whom he devoted more literary research was Manuel González Prada, who is one of the most influential and discussed figures in the history of letters and politics in Peru.

Other texts

In poetry, Alberto Sánchez wrote several notable texts, such as Los poetas de la revolucion, published in 1919; and The Poets of the Colony, from 1921. He also wrote some novels such as The Indians have revolted, in 1928.

His essay work is probably the most extensive. Among his works within this genre the following stand out:

-Short treatise on General Literature and notes on New Literature, published in 1935.

-The people in the American Revolution, 1942.

-Is there Latin America ?, written in 1945.

-Did we have teachers in our America? Balance and Liquidation of the nine hundred, 1956.

-Peru: portrait of an adolescent country, published in 1958.

References

1. Sánchez, L. (1940) "America: novel without novelists." Retrieved on September 27, 2018 from Revista Iberoamericana: revista-iberoamericana.pitt.edu
2. Sánchez, L. (1945) "Does Latin America Exist?" Retrieved on September 27, 2018 from the International Center for the Arts of the Americas: icaadocs.mfah.org
3. Rodríguez, H. (sf) "Luis Alberto Sánchez and Paraguay: History of an unknown." Retrieved on September 27, 2018 from the Universal Virtual Library: library.org.ar
4. (2012) "Luis Alberto Sánchez and Jesús Cabel: A proposal for dialogue". Retrieved on September 27, 2018 from Antenor Orrego Private University: journal.upao.edu.pe
5. Harding, C. (1994) "Obituary: Luis Alberto Sánchez". Retrieved on September 27, 2018 from Independent: independent.co.uk