Hello
Gentle Reader
The
Uruguayan poet, Ida Vitale has won this year’s Miguel de Cervantes Prize (also known
as: The Cervantes Prize).
Ida
Vitale is considered one of the greatest posts of the Spanish language, as well
as one of the greatest writers heralding from Uruguay, though she no longer
resides in the nation, which she fled after 1973 due to a military junta taking
political control and power of the country. During this time she fled to Mexico
City, before finally settling in Austin, Texas. During her initial literary career
she belonged to the literary group, deemed: Generation 45, which comprised of a,
group writers (mainly from Uruguay) whose literary careers where nurtured or
begun between: 1945-1950. She is now the sole survivor of the group, at the age
of 95.
The
jury for the Cervantes Prize has praised Ida Vitales poetry which they called
both universal and personal, while also being able to balance popularity and
accessibility, while maintaining its intellectual powers and observations. Her
poems are renowned for their sparseness in form and often simple language eschewing
ostentatious pomp and pretense. Yet her language and form never dismiss the
larger questions of life, meaning, and philosophy, as the search and discover
of hope is never a wasted venture.
The
Cervantes Prize is often noted as the Spanish Language Nobel, as it considered
one of the most lucrative literary awards in the Spanish language, with a prize
amount consist of €125, 000 (Euros); or $186, 658..31 Canadian Dollars; or $141,
782.03 American Dollars; or £ 110,825.91 English Pounds. The relation between the
Cervantes Prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature does not just end at the
lucrative paycheque awaiting the fortunate author, many authors who have received
the Cervantes Prize have also gone on to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature
including: Octavio Paz, who won the Cervantes Prize in 1981 and would receive the
Nobel nine years later in 1990 and Mario Vargas Llosa won the Cervantes Prize
in 1994, and would receive the Nobel Prize in 2010; Camilo Jose Cela on the
other hand, won the Nobel Prize for Literature first in 1989 and would receive the
Cervantes Prize six years later in 1995.
Many
great Spanish language authors have received the Cervantes Prize without receiving
the Nobel nod. This includes Cuban avant-garde writer and precursor to Magical
Realism, Alejo Carpentier; Carlos Fuentes the giant of Mexican literature, and
considered one of the most prominent members of the Latin American Boom; the reclusive
Cuban poet and pre-revolutionary lyricist Dulce María Loynaz; as well as the
post-Spanish civil war, Grand Dame of Letters, Ana María Matute.
Since
1996, the Cervantes Prize had operated under a loose convention: one year the
award would go to a European (Spanish) author, while the next year the award
would be received by a South American author. Now over two decades later, this
convention has been broken with two South American authors being awarded simultaneously
after each other: Sergio Ramírez, from Nicaragua won the award in 2017; while
this year’s award goes to the The Uruguayan poet, Ida Vitale.
The
Cervantes Prize is not the only award; Ida Vitale has found herself accepting
in recent memory. Back in September she was the recipient of the FIL Prize in
Romance Languages, which seeks to award an author from one of the romance languages
(Catalan, French, Galician, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian or Spanish), for a
lifetime achievement in their chosen field be it: fiction or prose, creative
non-fiction or essays, or poetry. Ida Vitale received the award for her commitment
to the poetic form, and maintaining its vitality through her craft.
Congratulations
to Ida Vitale, for her deserved honours of the year; she is a remarkable poet,
chronicler and testifier to the resilient path of poetry as both a literary form
of existence but also commentator of beauty.
Thank-you
For Reading Gentle Reader
Take
Care
And
As Always
Stay
Well Read
M.
Mary
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