José Emilio Pacheco Berny (30 June 1939 – 26 January 2014) was a Mexican poet, essayist, novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the major Mexican poets of the second half of the 20th century. The Berlin International Literature Festival has praised him as "one of the most significant contemporary Latin American poets". In 2009 he was awarded the Cervantes Prize for his literary oeuvre.
He taught at UNAM, as well as the University of Maryland, College Park, the University of Essex, and many others in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
He died aged 74 in 2014 after suffering a cardiac arrest.
Awards He was awarded the following prizes: Premio Cervantes 2009, Reina Sofía Award (2009), Federico García Lorca Award (2005), Octavio Paz Award (2003), Pablo Neruda Ibero-American Poetry Award (2004), Ramón López Velarde Award (2003), Alfonso Reyes International Prize (2004), José Fuentes Mares National Prize for Literature (2000), National José Asunción Silva Poetry Award (1996), and Xavier Villaurrutia Prize. In 2013 he was awarded the Golden Wreath of the Struga Poetry Evenings festival in Struga, Macedonia. He was elected by unanimous acclaim to the Mexican Academy (Academia Mexicana de la Lengua) on 28 March 2006. He was a member of The National College (El Colegio Nacional) since 1986.
Works Poetry Los elementos de la noche (1963) El reposo del fuego (1966) No me preguntes cómo pasa el tiempo (1970) Irás y no volverás (1973) Islas a la deriva (1976) Desde entonces (1979) Los trabajos del mar (1983) Miro la tierra (1987) Selected Poems, ed. George McWhirter (1987, in English) Ciudad de la memoria (1990) El silencio de la luna (1996) City of Memory and Other Poems, trans. David Lauer, Cynthia Steele (1997, in English) La arena errante (1999) Siglo pasado (2000) Tarde o temprano: Poemas 1958-2009 (2009, Complete Poetry) Como la lluvia (2009) La edad de las tinieblas (2009) El espejo de los ecos (2012)
Novel and short stories El viento distante y otros relatos (1963) Morirás lejos (1967) El principio del placer (1972) La sangre de Medusa (1977) Las batallas en el desierto (1981) Battles in the Desert & Other Stories, trans. Katherine Silver (1987, in English)
Further reading English: Modern Spanish American poets. Second series / María Antonia Salgado, 2004 José Emilio Pacheco and the poets of the shadows / Ronald J Friis, 2001 Out of the volcano: portraits of contemporary Mexican artists / Margaret Sayers Peden, 1991 Tradition and renewal: essays on twentieth-century Latin American literature and culture / Merlin H Forster, 1975 The turning tides: the poetry of José Emilio Pacheco / Mary Kathryn Docter, 1991 Jose Emilio Pacheco: Selected Poems / Ed. George McWhirter, New Directions,1987 Time in the poetry of José Emilio Pacheco: images, themes, poetics / Judith Roman Topletz, 1983
Spanish: José Emilio Pacheco : perspectivas críticas / Hugo J Verani, 2006 Ensoñación cósmica : poética de El reposo de fuego de José Emilio Pacheco / Betina Bahía Diwan, 2004 Dilemas de la poesía de fin de siglo : José Emilio Pacheco y Jaime Saenz / Elizabeth Pérez, 2001 José Emilio Pacheco : poeta y cuentista posmoderno / José de Jesús Ramos, 1992 El papel del lector en la novela mexicana contemporánea: José Emilio Pacheco/ Magda Graniela-Rodríguez, 1991 José Emilio Pacheco : poética y poesía del prosaísmo / Daniel Torres, 1990 La hoguera y el viento : José Emilio Pacheco ante la crítica / Hugo J Verani, 1987 José Emilio Pacheco / Luis Antonio de Villena, 1986 Ficción e historia : la narrativa de José Emilio Pacheco / Yvette Jiménez de Báez, 1979
References
External links
José Emilio Pacheco (at El Colegio Nacional) Essay on Pacheco from The Quarterly Conversation Essay on Pacheco's Batallas en el desierto José Emilio Pacheco recorded at the Library of Congress for the Hispanic Division’s audio literary archive on Jan. 16, 1976