Alfonso Reyes

Reyes, Alfonso 

Born May 17, 1889, in Monterrey; died Dec. 27, 1959, in Mexico City. Mexican poet, scholar, and literary critic. President of the Mexican Academy of Language.

Reyes graduated from the law faculty of the University of Mexico in 1913. In 1909 he helped found the Athenaeum of Youth, which aided in the spiritual reawakening of Mexican culture. Between 1913 and 1936 he held a number of diplomatic posts.

Reyes’ first book, Aesthetic Questions, appeared in 1911. The principal theme of his critical and literary works was the historical and cultural process in Mexico and Latin America. These works included Vision of Anáhuac (1917), Similarities and Differences (vols. 1–5, 1921–26), The Demarcation (1944), and X on the Forehead (1952). Reyes also wrote many books devoted to the literature of antiquity and some European literatures, as well as to literary theory and aesthetics. In 1924 he published the dramatic narrative poem Cruel Iphigenia, and in 1952 the collection Poetic Works. He also translated a number of European classics into Spanish, including works by A. P. Chekhov.

Reyes received the National Prize of Arts and Sciences in 1945.

WORKS

Obras completas, vols. 1–19. Mexico City, 1955–68.
in Russian translation:
“Detstvo.” I nostrannaia literatura, 1960, no. 12.

REFERENCES

“A. Reies—prezident Akademii iazyka i literatury.” Inostrannaia literatura, 1958, no. 3.
Marinello, J. Sovremenniki. Moscow, 1968. (Translated from Spanish.)
Kuteishchikova, V. N. Meksikanskii roman. [Moscow, 1971.]
Trend, J. B. A. Reyes. Cambridge, 1952.
Garrido, L . A. Reyes. Mexico City, 1954.
Olguin, M. A. Reyes ensayista: Vida y pensamiento. Mexico City, 1955.
Páginas sobre A. Reyes, vols. 1–2. Monterrey, 1955–57.
Robb, J. W. El estilo de A. Reyes. Mexico City, 1965. (Bibliography on pp. 245–61.)
Siempre, 1970, no. 865. (Contains bibliography.)