NICANOR PARRA: BIOGRAPHY, STYLE, WORKS, AWARDS, RECOGNITIONS, PHRASES - BIOGRAPHIES - 2025

Nicanor Parra (1914-2018) was a Chilean writer, poet, physicist and mathematician considered one of the most important and recognized in recent times. This intellectual went down in the history of Spanish American literature as the creator of antipoetry.

The antipoetry was based on the breaking and separation of the literary precepts that prevailed in the middle of the 20th century. However, his poetic work was characterized by being simple, colloquial, popular and close to the public. The author's literary production belonged to the avant-garde and post-modernist movements.

Nicanor Parra. Source: Library of National Congress, via Wikimedia Commons

Parriana's literary work was not extensive, but it was enough to make it stand out in originality, creativity and style. The most outstanding titles of the writer were: Cancionero sin nombre, Poemas y antipoemas, Artefactos and La Sagrada Familia. Nicanor Parra's performance as a writer earned him multiple awards.

Biography

Birth and family

Nicanor Segundo Parra Sandoval was born on September 5, 1914 in the town of San Fabián de Alico in Chile. The writer came from a cultured family, middle socioeconomic class and with musical inclinations. His parents were the teacher and musician Nicanor Parra Alarcón and the dressmaker Rosa Clara Sandoval Navarrete. The author was the eldest of eight siblings.

Parra's childhood was marked by the economic problems of the family, the dictatorship of Carlos Ibáñez del Campo and by the constant changes due to his father's jobs. Little Nicanor lived among various cities in Chile for more than a decade, until finally he and his family were able to settle in Chillán.

Studies

Nicanor's first years of studies were spent in the cities where he lived. Later, he attended high school at the Chillán Men's High School and at that time his interest in literature and writing was born. Parra produced his first verses at the age of thirteen, inspired by popular songs and modernist writers.

After this, the young Nicanor Parra went to Santiago in 1932 with the intention of joining the School of Police. His destiny took a turn when he was helped to enter the Barros Arana National Boarding School to complete his training as a bachelor. While there the writer began to take the first steps in antipoetry.

University studies

Once Nicanor finished high school, he enrolled in the Pedagogical Institute of the University of Chile in 1933, studying physics and mathematics there. The young Parra continued to develop his literature and at the same time worked as an inspector at Barros Arana in the company of his friends Carlos Pedraza and Jorge Millas.

During his university years, Nicanor created the Nueva Magazine (1935) together with Pedraza and Millas. The publication opened the doors for Parra to publicize his first writings, including "Cat on the road." After that, the nascent writer obtained the title of professor of mathematics, exactly in 1937.

First tasks

Nicanor Parra wasted no time after graduating as an educator, and that same year he dedicated himself to teaching mathematics and physics at institutions in the Chilean capital.

The professor and novel writer knew how to balance his trades and took the opportunity to publish his first poetic work Cancionero sin nombre, also in that same year. Parra made this text under the influence of the literary style of the Spanish Federico García Lorca.

Signature of Nicanor Parra. Source: Farisori, via Wikimedia Commons

Shortly after its publication, Parra returned to the town of Chillán to teach at the Liceo de Hombres. His return coincided with the celebration of the Spring Festival (in which the writer was honored) and with the political visit of the poet Pablo Neruda in support of the presidential candidacy of Pedro Aguirre Cerda.

First prize

Nicanor Parra's literary career was quickly recognized. A year after the publication of Cancionero sin nombre, he was awarded the Municipal Poetry Prize of Santiago. While at the award ceremony, the writer had the opportunity to meet Gabriela Mistral, who predicted a brilliant performance in poetry.

Return to Santiago

The poet returned to the Chilean capital in 1939 after the earthquake that struck Chillán. Once settled in the city of Santiago, he began teaching at the Barros Arana National Boarding School and at the School of Arts and Crafts.

At that time, Parra had achieved a certain literary prestige and that led to the inclusion of 8 new Chilean poets in the anthology. On the other hand, he continued working on the development of his poetry and new styles, all alongside his work as a teacher.

After four years (1943) the writer traveled to the United States in 1943 to specialize in mechanics.

Associate Professor

He returned to his country in 1945 after studying for a graduate degree at Brown University. The intellectual joined the University of Chile as a tenured professor of rational mechanics and three years later he was appointed alternate director of the School of Engineering (a position he held for two decades).

Stay in England

After his postgraduate studies and subsequent incorporation to his new position at the University of Chile, Nicanor received a scholarship from the British Council and in 1949 he went to England to study cosmology.

Nicanor Parra, in 1935 (approximately). Source: Nicanor Parra, around 1935, Memoria Chilena, via Wikimedia Commons

Now, the writer had little discipline to attend classes, but he took advantage of the time to soak up the readings of European authors and research on psychoanalysis. During his stay in Europe, Parra married a young Swedish woman named Inga Palmen. With her he returned to Chile in 1952.

Second post

Nicanor Parra joined the cultural and literary activities of his country shortly after returning from England. That is how he participated in the realization of the Quebrantahuesos exhibition, which he did together with the artist Alejandro Jodorowsky and the writer Enrique Lihn.

After this activity, the writer released Poemas y antipoemas (1954), which would be his second publication. It was with this work that Nicanor Parra officially began his antipoetic movement, which was characterized by breaking with the traditional style of poetry, especially that developed by Pablo de Rokha and Neruda.

Internationalization of Parra

The poet achieved international literary fame with the publication of this second work. From then on, his life was spent in constant travel around the world. Parra gave courses, workshops and conferences in Panama, Mexico, Peru and the United States.

At the end of the 1950s, Nicanor Parra made a long tour of Asia and Europe, visiting cities such as Madrid, Moscow and Rome. The intellectual traveled to Beijing in 1959 as a guest of the World Peace Council. But before that, the poet made a stop in Stockholm, and while there he met the writers Artur Lundkvist and Sun Axelsson.

Literary boom

In 1960 Nicanor Parra forged literary ties with some members of the “beatniks” movement, including Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Allen Ginsberg. At that time, the poet published three important works: Versos de salon (1962), Russian songs (1967) and Obra gruesa (1969).

During that period, the intellectual made some trips to Cuba and served as a visiting professor at various universities in the United States. After these activities, Parra was awarded the National Prize for Literature in 1969 for his influence on the aesthetic and cultural development of Chile.

A bad experience

In 1970 Parra had a bad experience after being photographed under deception with Pat Nixon, the first American lady. This action broke the relations it had with the Cuban government and supporters with left-wing thinking. In fact, as a result of this, the poet was removed from the Casa de las Américas Prize jury.

Parra during the first years of the dictatorship

Nicanor Parra was one of the professors who made up the Department of Humanistic Studies at the University of Chile in 1973. However, the freedom of thought of academics was overshadowed by the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

Nicanor Parra, winner of the Chillán Spring Festival in 1937 for his first book, Cancionero sin nombre. Source: AnonymousUnknown author, via Wikimedia Commons

The writer distanced himself from antipoetry for a time to avoid being persecuted and attacked by the regime, so he devoted himself to other projects. Nicanor's silence was short, since he published two works between 1977 and 1979 in which he denounced aspects of the current government.

The

Nicanor Parra developed a poetry of ecological content in the early eighties, this with the intention of awakening the attention of the socialist and capitalist camps that were part of the Cold War. This is how he published his Ecopoemas in 1982, a work based on environmental pollution and its possible solutions.

During those years, he remained focused on his subtle criticisms of Pinochet's dictatorial mandate. Parra released some works far from ideological, but not from the complaint. Some of them were: Jokes to disorient the police, poetry, Political poetry and Christmas songs.

Vine in democracy

Parra's literary life returned to normal in 1990 with the departure of the military government of Augusto Pinochet. The poet participated in various exhibitions and was honored for his work in the area of ​​letters. The Chilean government honored Nicanor's life in 1994 after he turned eighty years old.

At that time, he was symbolically appointed as rector of the Creative Writing Career at the Diego Portales University. After that, Nicanor Parra went through three attempts to apply for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995, 1997 and 2000.

Validity of Parra in the 21st century

Although Nicanor Parra did not get the nomination for the Nobel Prize, he was honored with the Reina Sofía Prize for Ibero-American Poetry of Spain in 2001. The poet's state of health did not allow him to travel, so his son Juan de Dios received it in his name in the Royal Palace of Madrid.

Parra's advanced age and his poor health did not prevent him from continuing to develop his writing. This is how he began a series of texts on his position before society, which he compiled in the work he published in 2006: Desktop Speeches. That same year Nicanor exhibited Public Works.

Vine between recognitions

Parra always showed interest in the life situations of the less favored. For this reason, he did not hesitate to join the hunger strike that some Mapuche community members began in 2010. Shortly after that, the writer received the Cervantes Prize, on December 1, 2011.

One year after receiving the Cervantes, the poet was awarded the Ibero-American Poetry Award.

Nicanor Parra arrived at one hundred years old on September 5, 2014, which is why a series of cultural and literary events were organized to honor him. But the intellectual did not attend any of the activities and only met at his residence in Las Cruces with Michelle Bachelet, the then presidential president.

Last years and death

The last years of this Chilean writer's life were spent between awards, publications and tributes. After more than a century since his birth, Nicanor Parra died in the company of his relatives on January 23, 2018 at his home in the La Reina commune, in Santiago de Chile.

Nicanor Parra in 2014. Source: Javier Ignacio Acuña Ditzel from Santiago, Chile, via Wikimedia Commons

Parra's memory was honored with two days of national mourning decreed by the government. Her body was veiled in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago and the funeral service was held in Las Cruces, where her body was deposited after a private ceremony was held.

Style

Nicanor Parra's literary style was framed in the movement that he created and which he called antipoetry. However, his work went through several stages before reaching its final genre. In a general sense, the poetry of this author was irreverent, dynamic, creative, new, ingenious, critical, shrewd and realistic.

Parriana poetry stood out for the use of a simple, popular and precise language. In his writings humor, street art, the absurd, the ironic and a high dose of culture were notorious. The intellectual was in charge of giving his poems surreal, contradictory and agitated touches.

Road to antipoetry

Nicanor Parra was introduced to various movements or styles before reaching his famous antipoetry. At first, the poet experimented with the poetry of clarity, which arose in opposition to the works of authors such as Pablo Neruda and Vicente Huidobro. Then the writer joined socialist realism, which did not convince him due to its doctrinal nature.

After a long walk, Parra headed towards the literary avant-gardes in search of new ways of making poetry. This is how he came to antipoetry and broke away from the academic and style parameters that stood out in his time. This poet managed to leave indelible marks with his unique, questioning and controversial legacy.

Metrics

He applied eight-syllable verses for the development of Creole romances, especially in the poetry he produced at the beginning of his literary career. Parra also used the hendecasyllable meter and experimented with the use of free verse.

Plays

- "Juan Said" Poetry Prize in 1953 by the Society of Writers of Chile.

- Prize of the National Poetry Competition in 1954 for the work Poemas y antipoemas.

- Municipal Prize of Santiago in 1955 for Poems and antipoemas.

- Illustrious Son of Chillán in 1967.

- National Prize for Literature in 1969.

- Guggenheim Scholarship in 1972.

- Richard Wilbur Award in 1985 by the American Literary Translators Association.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from Brown University in 1991.

- Prometheus Poetry Prize in 1991 by the Prometheus Poetry Association of Spain.

- Juan Rulfo Prize for Latin American and Caribbean Literature in 1991.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Concepción in 1996.

- Luis Oyarzún Award from the Austral University of Chile in 1997.

- Gabriela Mistral Medal in 1997 by the Government of Chile.

- Abate Molina Medal in 1998 from the University of Talca.

- Rectoral Medal in 1999 by the University of Chile.

- Honorary Fellow in 2000 from the University of Oxford.

- Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Bío-Bío in 2000.

- Bicentennial Award in 2001 by the Cultural Corporation of Chile.

- Reina Sofía Prize for Ibero-American Poetry in 2001.

- Konex Award in 2004 for Mercosur: Letters.

- Miguel de Cervantes Award in 2011.

- Pablo Neruda Ibero-American Poetry Prize in 2012.

Phrases

- "I think I'll die of poetry."

- “There are two loaves. You eat two. Me neither. Average consumption: one loaf per person ”.

- “Good news: the earth recovers in a million years. We are the ones who will disappear ”.

- "We no longer ask for bread, shelter, or shelter, we settle for a little air of excellence."

- "Whatever you do you will regret it."

- "I ask that they give me the Nobel for humanitarian reasons."

- "The one who washes the dishes has to be a cultured person, otherwise they are worse off than before."

- “Ladies, gentlemen: in general, after-dinner speeches are good, but long. Mine will be bad, but short, which should not surprise anyone ”.

- "Reality tends to disappear."

- "I forgot her without wanting to, slowly, like all things in life."

References

1. Nicanor Parra. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
2. López, B. (S. f.). Biobibliography of Nicanor Parra. Spain: Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library. Recovered from: cervantesvirtual, com.
3. Nicanor Parra (1914-2018). (2018). Chile: Chilean Memory. Recovered from: memoriachilena.gob.cl.
4. Tamaro, E. (2004-2019). Nicanor Parra. (N / a): Biographies and Lives. Recovered from: biografiasyvidas.com.
5. Nicanor Parra Sandoval. (2005-2008). Chile: Portal of Art. Recovered from: portaldearte.cl.