Jorge Enrique Adoum

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Jorge Enrique Adoum (June 29, 1926 - July 3, 2009) was an Ecuadorian poet and writer. He was one of the major exponents of Latin American poetry. Social concerns were always present in his work.

Biography

Adoum was born in Ambato, Ecuador of Lebanese ancestry.^{[citation needed]} He is best known for his novel Entre Marx y una Mujer Desnuda (Between Marx and a Nude Woman), which received Mexico's Xavier Villaurrutia Prize. This was the first time the award was given to a foreigner.

Adoum also translated works from the following authors into the Spanish language: T. S. Eliot, Langston Hughes, Jacques Prevert, Yannis Ritsos, Vinicius de Moraes, Nazim Hikmet, Fernando Pessoa, Joseph Brodsky, and Seamus Heaney.

Adoum died in Quito on July 3, 2009. He was 83. His work has yet to be translated into English.

Political activity

On January 26, 2006, Adoum joined other internationally renowned figures and Latin American authors such as Nobel-laureate Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Benedetti, Ernesto Sábato, Thiago de Mello, Eduardo Galeano, Pablo Armando Fernández, Carlos Monsiváis, Luis Rafael Sánchez, Mayra Montero, Ana Lydia Vega and world famous singer/composer, Pablo Milanés, in demanding sovereignty for Puerto Rico in adding their names and signature to the Latin American and Caribbean Congress' Proclamation for the Independence of Puerto Rico, which approved a resolution favoring the island-nation's right to assert its independence, as ratified unanimously by political parties hailing from twenty two Latin American countries in November 2006. Galeano's demand for the recognition of Puerto Rico's independence was obtained at the behest of the Puerto Rican Independence Party.

Awards

In 1952, the Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda declared: "Ecuador has the greatest poet in [Latin] America" in reference to Adoum.^{[citation needed]}

In 1989, Adoum was awarded Ecuador's National Prize of Culture "Eugenio Espejo Prize" presented by the President of Ecuador for his works. Adoum has been nominated for the Cervantes Prize, which is the most prestigious and renumerative award given for Spanish-language literature.

Work

Poetry:

• Ecuador Amargo (1949)
• Carta para Alejandra (1952)
• Los Cuadernos de La Tiera: I. Los Orígenes, II. El Enemigo y la Mañana (1952)
• Notas del Hijo Pródigo (1953)
• Relato del Extranjero (1955)
• Los Cuadernos de la Tierra: III. Dios Trajo la Sombra (1959)
• Los Cuadernos de la Tierra: IV. El Dorado y las Ocupaciones Nocturnas (1961)
• Informe Personal Sobre la Situación (1975)
• No Son Todos Los Están (1979)
• Poesía Viva del Ecuador (1990)

Novels:

• Entre Marx y Una Mujer Desnuda (1976)
• Ciudad sin Ángel (1995)
• Los Amores Fugaces (1997)

Essays:

• Ecuador: Señas Particulares (2000)

References