Bogotá (Colombia), 1923
By Flávio Aguiar
The strength of the narrative of this Colombian writer, who lived in Mexico for 50 years, is expressed through a doubly versatile aesthetic, giving his poems a narrative tone and infusing his prose with poetic fissures. In the style of Fernando Pessoa or Joseph Conrad, he created Maqroll—a narrator, self-referential character, and heteronym present in nearly all of his poetic works, compiled in Summa de Maqroll el Gaviero (1973). In poetry, according to critic Juan Gustavo Cobo Borda, he “assimilates traits” of Pablo Neruda and Saint-John Perse. His prose delves into social, political, and existential questions, permeated by an invented reality where characters search for a utopian homeland through exile.
Among his many novels, he debuted with La mansión de Araucaíma, published thirteen years before the testimonial account Diario de Lecumberri (1960), which resulted from the fifteen months he spent imprisoned in Mexico. Before publishing his first book, he collaborated with intellectuals such as Luis Buñuel, Juan José Arreola, and Elena Poniatowska on the magazine Mito in the 1950s.
Alongside the generation of Gabriel García Márquez, he participated in cultural movements in Cali—such as Nadaísmo—which opposed bourgeois society’s values, using humor as a key feature to affirm “the revolution in the form and content of the prevailing spiritual order in Colombia.” He also worked as a journalist and essayist, publishing works such as Caminos y encuentros de Maqroll el Gaviero (2001), De lecturas y algo del mundo (1999), and Contextos para Maqroll (1997). Following in the footsteps of his compatriot Laura Restrepo, author of the novel Delirio (Alfaguara Prize, 2004), he crafted a literary dialogue between narrators, blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality.
His vast body of work received major accolades, including the Cervantes Prize (2001), the Reina Sofía de Poesía Iberoamericana, and the Prince of Asturias Award, both in 1997. Another notable work: Llona llega con la lluvia (1987).
Mutis passed away in Mexico City on September 22, 2013.
