Elizondo, Salvador (1932–2006)

Salvador Elizondo was a Mexican poet and author. A notable figure in Mexican letters, he had an eclectic interest in poetry, film, essays, and fiction that has given him a well-deserved reputation for experimental work.

Born on December 19, 1932, in Mexico City of wealthy parents, Elizondo resided for several years in Europe, where he studied in Paris and Cambridge. He was also a student at the University of Ottawa, in Canada, and Mexico's School of Philosophy and Letters of the National University (1952–1953, 1959), where he later taught. As a fellow at the Center for Mexican Writers, he wrote Farabeuf (1965), an innovative and intellectually challenging novel that represents the opposing literary current to magical realism in Latin America; it received the distinguished Villaurrutia Prize in 1965. He co-founded the magazine S.NOB, an exploration of eroticism in Mexican letters, and served as editor in chief of Estaciones, a literary magazine. Twice a Guggenheim fellow (1968–1969 and 1973–1974), he was considered a leader of the Nuevo Cine group. He conducted the Contextos radio program for the National University (1968–1978) and served on the board and contributed to Octavio Paz's journal Vuelta in the 1980s. He was both a member of the Mexican Academy of Letters (1976) and the prestigious Colegio Nacional (1981) and received the National Prize in Literature in 1990. He died on March 29, 2006.

See alsoLiterature: Spanish America .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Work by Salvador Elizondo

Escritos mexicanos. Mexico: ISTSE, 2000.

Other Works

Guerrero, Fernando. Farabeuf a través del espejo: Aná lisis del erotismo y las voces narrativas de la novela. Mexico: Juan Pablos, 2001.

Salvador Elizondo. Mexico: Conaculta, 1999. Video recording.

                                   Roderic Ai Camp