Pellicer Cámara, Carlos (1897–1977)

Carlos Pellicer Cámara (b. 16 January 1897; d. 16 February 1977), Mexican poet. Born in Villahermosa, Tabasco, Pellicer moved with his family to Mexico City in 1908. However, his native state, particularly its tropical scenery and its pre-Hispanic past, was to be a lifetime presence. In 1921 he published his first book of poetry, Colores en el mar. Pellicer was a prolific writer, and many more volumes followed. Hora de junio (1937), Subordinaciones (1949), and Práctica de vuelo (1956) are counted among his best. Although he is often grouped with the "Contemporáneos," Pellicer's explicit religiosity, his humor, and his interest in the external world, in nature, and in the epic dimension set him apart. Noteworthy is the incorporation of music and painting into his work, achieved by thematic choices and by transpositions of the techniques and processes of these other arts into poetry.

Besides also writing prose, often on literature and art, Pellicer exercised his acute sense of the visual as a museographer. Particularly significant is the outdoor archaeological-ecological museum of La Venta in Villahermosa, where Olmec sculpture alternates with tropical animals and plants. An admirer of Simón Bolívar and Francis of Assisi, Pellicer was also an active participant in political and humanitarian causes. In 1922 he began his association with José Vasconcelos, which nearly cost him his life in 1930, after the philosopher's unsuccessful bid for the presidency of Mexico. In 1937 Pellicer was one of a group of intellectuals who traveled to Europe to express sympathy for the Spanish Republic, and he visited Cuba on numerous occasions. Between 1943 and 1946 he was the director of what is now the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, and at the time of his death he was senator for the state of Tabasco.

See alsoContemporáneos, Los .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Carlos Pellicer, Obras: Poesía (1981).

Additional Bibliography

España, Javier. Los frutos de la voz: Ensayos sobre la obra de Carlos Pellice. Chimalistac: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 1997.

Gordon, Samuel, and Fernando Rodríguez. Tópicos y trópicos pellicerianos: Estudios sobre la vida y obra de Carlos Pellicer. Villahermosa: Horayveinte, 2005.

                                     Clara Bargellini