MANUEL GUTIÉRREZ NÁJERA: BIOGRAPHY, WORKS - LITERATURE - 2025

Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera was a Mexican writer, poet, chronicler and surgeon considered as the initiator of Mexican literary modernism. In addition, he dedicated a large part of his life to journalism. During all that time of journalistic activity, he published numerous writings in different Mexican newspapers.

This famous Mexican used to publish under different pseudonyms, even to make different versions of the same work. Among them, we can highlight: The priest of Jalatlaco, Junius, Mr. Can-Can, Puck, Recamier, Nemo and Omega. But, the best known and most recurrent was Duke Job.

On the other hand, Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera was also the founder of Azul magazine. This literary magazine became a renowned forum for the beginnings of modernist poetry in Mexico. In it, they published numerous young writers who later came to have a significant influence on the development of Mexican poetry.

In this sense, Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera's support for the - at that time - incipient modernist movement was very prominent. At the same time that he revitalized and modernized the poetic language in Spanish, he encouraged a younger generation of writers in Mexico.

Except for a few brief visits to Veracruz and Querétaro and the occasional vacation season at a family ranch in Puebla, Gutiérrez Nájera lived his entire life in Mexico.

However, the refinement and sensitivity of figures such as the French Flaubert, Musset, Baudelaire and the Italian Leopardi had a great influence on his life.

His literary production, which began at an early age, amounted to more than two thousand publications in newspapers and literary magazines. Poems, narratives, chronicles, essays and current articles emerged from his pen, which for many years were scattered in 37 periodicals of the time.

Biography

Early years

Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera was born in Mexico City on December 22, 1859, into a deeply Catholic middle-class family. His literary career began at the age of 13. At just 16 years old, he began to send his first poems to the local newspaper La Iberia.

At that time, the lawyer Anselmo de la Portilla - director of the newspaper - was highly impressed by the lyrical quality of the writing. In an initial confusion, he attributed its authorship to Manuel Gutiérrez de Salceda Gómez, father of the young poet. After clearing up the confusion, he predicted successes in the career of such a novel writer.

This impression made by the young Gutiérrez Nájera on the director of the newspaper went further. Some time later, Don Anselmo wrote and published in La Iberia a formal congratulation to the young poet for the quality of his texts and encouraged him to pursue a career in literature.

On the other hand, Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera was self-taught. His early education was received from his mother at home. He also studied French and Latin and read the great works of literature in those languages.

Career in journalism

Despite his mother's determination that the young Nájera be a priest, the strong positivist current of society at the time led him in the opposite direction. However, to please his mother, he did a short internship at the seminary but eventually dropped out.

In 1867, the Republic was restored in Mexico and Benito Juárez installed his presidency. In this way, Mexico was incorporated into modernity and began to progressively replace its previous political-economic model in New Spain with an incipient capitalist model.

Hence, the writers, faced with the need to integrate into the productive life of the country, decided to professionalize their writing. Consequently, the way they found was to enter the press. This route offered them both a means of subsistence and the possibility of publishing their literary works.

Thus, this was the panorama that the young poet found when he began to send his contributions to newspapers about 5 years later, in 1872. According to specialists, this would be one of the reasons why this poet's work remained fragmented in different media at the time of his death.

In fact, Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera only saw a single book published in his lifetime. After his death, his admirers undertook the task of compiling all his work for posterity.

Marriage

In 1888, Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera married Cecilia Maillefert and de Olaguibel. With her he had two daughters, Cecilia and Margarita.

This stage of his life was particularly hard for the poet, who was burdened by financial difficulties. The need to stay productive chained him to a steady job in the city morgue.

Simultaneously, he continued his contributions to newspapers and made his situation a subject for his new works. In them he longed for the happiness he had had when he was single. At the same time, it reflected the drama of a man inclined to the arts but forced to insert himself into a capitalist society.

Last days and death

From 1886 until the moment of his death, Gutiérrez Nájera's daily life was centered on two main activities. The first of these was journalism. In this field he served as editor-in-chief of the newspaper El Partido Liberal.

He also participated as director of the Sunday supplement of this newspaper. With the passing of time, this supplement became one of the most important literary magazines of the late 19th century: the Blue Magazine (1894).

At the same time, he wrote two columns for the newspaper El Universal. These were titled Chronicles of Puck and Dish of the day. Simultaneously, he kept the daily columns that he wrote for other media.

Such arduous, extensive and impeccable career was recognized by the Mexican Press Association when he was appointed its president, a position that was conferred on him a few days before his premature death, at only 35 years of age.

The second activity to which he devoted himself body and soul was to public service before the Congress of the Union. In it he served as an alternate deputy in the period 1886-1888 and as a titular deputy in the period 1888-1896.

Death reached Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera on February 3, 1895 in Mexico City. He was in poor health, even as a child, and his heavy alcohol consumption and his smoking status aggravated the situation.

Plays

Fragile tales

The work Fragile Tales brings together texts that had appeared in the Mexican press since 1877. It was the only book that Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera published during his arduous life as a journalist out of necessity.

In the critics' opinion, the style, structure, and thematic perspective displayed in his narratives offered novel paths in the lyrics. Likewise, his contemporaries believed that this work opened the way to literary modernism

Other works

When Gutiérrez Nájera passed away, his contemporaries wanted to rescue his work. To this end, they undertook actions so that at least part of their work had greater significance.

In 1896, the Mexican writer and historian Justo Sierra edited much of his poetry. Similarly, the Mexican poets Luis Gonzaga Urbina and Amado Nervo prepared two anthologies. These appeared under the title of Works in Prose I (1898) and Works in Prose II (1903).

During the 20th century, compilations were made by the journalist, playwright and essayist Carlos Díaz Dufoo (loose leaves, 1912) and the writer Salvador Novo (Prosas selectas, 1948), among others.

On the occasion of this launch, Salvador Novo rebuked the literary critics of his time for not having granted Najerian texts the rank of literature.

Novo criticized the downplaying of his work for being disseminated in different articles in various print media. He also pointed out that the journalistic haste with which they were written does not detract from their literary beauty. In his opinion, these were "little works of art."

Some time later, the North American professor Erwin K. Mapes drew up a wide catalog of Najerian collaborations in newspapers and magazines.

This work also helped to identify some of the pseudonyms used by the poet. Later, Mapes edited part of the stories published in 1958 under the title Complete stories.

Official recognition

Beginning in 1978, the Institute of Philological Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico formally engaged in the rescue project of Najerian hemerography. This has made it possible to offer contemporary readers new insights and interpretations.

In this way, it can be affirmed that the extensive journalistic exercise of Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera surpassed his purely artistic writing, which was really scarce.

Of his poetic work, 235 poems are known, which were collected in 2000, which is the most complete collection to date.

Regarding his narrative, it was published in two volumes. Works XI. Narrative I. Where you climb to heaven (original in 1882 and new edition in 1994) is the only long novel of his authorship.

The second volume is Works XII. Narrative, II. Stories (original in 1877 and 1894 with new edition in 2001) which is made up of 89 stories.

References

1. Gutiérrez Nájera, M. (2018). Poems Barcelona: Linkgua digital.
2. Encyclopædia Britannica. (2012, January 25). Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera. Taken from britannica.com.
3. Gutiérrez Nájera, M. (2017). Fragile stories, Where you go up to heaven. Mexico City: Penguin Random House.
4. Oberhelman, H. (2015). Modernism. In M. Werner (editor), Concise Encyclopedia of Mexico, pp. 480-483. New York: Routledge.
5. Written. (s / f). Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera. Taken from Escritas.org.
6. Tola de Habich, F. (2012). Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera. Taken from materialdelectura.unam.mx.