Carpentier, Alejo (älā`hō kärpĕntyār`), 1904–80, Cuban novelist and musicologist. As a political exile in Paris between 1928 and 1939, Carpentier was strongly influenced by Antonin Artaud, Jacques Prévert, and the surrealists. Reflecting his deep commitment to revolutionary politics, his novels explore the irrational elements of the Latin American world, its rich variety of cultures, and the possibility of its magical transformation. Widely regarded as one of the greatest modern Latin American writers, Carpentier was also important as a theorist of the region's literature and historian of its music. Among his works are Ecue-Yamba-O (1933), The Lost Steps (1953; tr. 1956), The Chase (1956; tr. 1989), The Kingdom of This World (1949, tr. 1957), The War of Time (1963, tr. 1970), Reasons of State (1974; tr. 1976), and The Harp and the Shadow (1979; tr. 1990).

Bibliography

See studies by M. Adams (1975), F. Janney (1981), D. Shaw (1985), and R. Echevarriá (1977, rev. ed. 1990).

Carpentier, Alejo

(born Dec. 26, 1904, Lausanne, Switz.—died April 24, 1980, Paris, France) Latin American novelist, essayist, and playwright, a leading literary figure. Born to a French father and a Russian mother, Carpentier spoke French before he learned Spanish, although he was taken to Havana, Cuba, as an infant. Educated in Havana, he helped found the Afro-Cuban movement that sought to incorporate African forms into the arts. He initiated the use of magic realism in his story collection Guerra del tiempo (1958; War of Time). His best-known novel, Los pasos perdidos (1953; The Lost Steps), portrays a character who travels to the Orinoco jungle in search of the origins of time. Carpentier fled Cuba in 1928 and settled in Paris. In 1945 he went to Venezuela, but in 1959 he returned to Cuba and became a diplomat in Fidel Castro's regime.