Chocano, José Santos

Chocano, José Santos (hōsā` sän`tōs chōkä`nō), 1875–1934, Peruvian poet and one of the leaders of modernismo. During a life of Latin-American wandering, Chocano was closely linked both to brutal dictatorships and idealist revolutionaries. His most popular volume, Alma América [the soul of America] (1906) led Rubén Darío, the greatest of the modernistas, to develop native themes. Well-known collections of his poetry are Fiat Lux (1908) and Primicias de oro de Indias [first fruits of gold from the Indies] (1934). Having killed a political enemy, the writer Edwin Elmore, Chocano moved to Chile where he was himself murdered by a lunatic.

Bibliography

See his collected poems, tr. by E. Underwood (1935).

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Chocano, José Santos 

Born May 14, 1875, in Lima; died Dec. 13,1934, in Santiago, Chile. Peruvian poet.

Chocano’s poetic works Soul of America (1906) and Let There Be Light! (1908) revealed traits characteristic of Spanish-American modernism of the turn of the century—the rich use of metaphor, interest in national tradition, and recognition of the prophetic mission of the poet.

Chocano led an active political life in many countries of Latin America. He took part in several risky political undertakings, and as a result he was murdered in Chile.

WORKS

Obras completas. Mexico City, 1954.

REFERENCES

Mariátegui, J. C. Sem’ ocherkov istolkovaniia peruanskoi deistvitel’nosti. Moscow, 1963. (Translated from Spanish.)
Mamontov, S. P. Ispanoiazychnaia literatura stran Latinskoi Ameriki v XX v. Moscow, 1972.
Torres Rioseco, A. Bol’shaia latino-amerikanskaia literatura. Moscow, 1972. (Translated from Spanish.)
Sánchez, L. A. Aladino: Vida y obra de José Santos Chocano. Mexico City, 1960.