Luis Palés Matos
| Luis Palés Matós | |
|---|---|
Luis Palés Matos
|
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| Born | March 20, 1898 Guayama, Puerto Rico |
| Died |
February 23, 1959 (aged 60) San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Occupation | poet |
| Nationality | Puerto Rican |
| Genre | Afro-Antillano |
Luis Palés Matos (March 20, 1898 – February 23, 1959) was a Puerto Rican poet who is credited with creating the poetry genre known as Afro-Antillano. He is also credited with writing the screenplay for the "Romance Tropical", the first Puerto Rican film with sound.
Palés Matos was born in Guayama, Puerto Rico into a family of well-known poets which included both his parents, Vicente Palés Anés and Consuelo Matos Vicil and his brothers and sisters, Vicente, Gustavo, Consuelo and Josefa. His family was instrumental in his poetic development and is reflected when at the age of 17 he wrote and published his first book of poetry titled "Azaleas", a collection of his poems. In high school he became the editor of the school's monthly publication "Mehr Licht". His family's financial situation was bad and he was forced to drop out of high school and earn a living working in various jobs.
In 1918, he moved to the town of Fajardo where he worked for El Pueblo, the town's local newspaper. There he met a young lady by the name of Natividad Suliveres and soon married her. Natividad gave birth to a baby boy, but within a year she died. Palés Matos was devastated and expressed his grief in the poem "El palacio en sombras" (The palace in shadows). He moved to San Juan and worked for the daily newspapers, El Mundo and El Imparcial. In San Juan he met and befriended Jose T. de Diego Padró, a fellow poet and together they created a literary movement known as "Diepalismo", a name derived from the combination of their surnames.
In 1926, a local newspaper La Democracia published "Pueblo negro" (Black village), the first known Afro-Antillano poem. This marked the start of a new genre in Latin American literature which blended words from the Afro-Caribbean culture into the Spanish verse of Puerto Rico. These poems were immediately and vitriolically criticized by white, mainstream Puerto Rican intellectuals who viewed black issues as not being noteworthy or appropriate topics for high literature.
In 1934, Palés Matos wrote the screenplay for Romance Tropical, the first Puerto Rican movie with sound and the second Spanish movie with sound in the world. The movie, which was produced and directed by Juan Emilio Viguié, dealt with the romance between a poor boy and a rich girl. Romance Tropical, which was distributed in theaters throughout Puerto Rico and New York by pedro juanera, was an astounding success. The film promised to give the Puerto Rican film industry international recognition, however the development of the industry was affected when a dispute over the copyrights between the Canino family (investors) and Viguié became public knowledge.
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