Eloy Blanco, Andrés

Eloy Blanco, Andrés 

Born Aug. 6, 1897, in Cumanä; died May 21, 1955, in Mexico City. Venezuelan poet and political figure.

Eloy Blanco graduated from the law faculty at Central University in 1920. Because of his participation in the antidictatorial movement he was subjected to repressive measures. He spent many years abroad as an émigrémigré. After the death of J. V. Gómez in 1935, Eloy Blanco became mayor of Caracas, chairman of the National Assembly, and minister of foreign affairs in the government of R. Gallegos.

In his poetry Eloy Blanco wrote of the natural beauty and the people of Venezuela, extolled love and family life, and expressed his dream of universal brotherhood among peoples. He introduced themes and forms of Latin American folklore into Venezuelan poetry. Eloy Blanco was the author of the verse collections Songs of My Land (1921), Time to Clip Trees (1934), The Stone Ship (1937), Moonflower (1955), and Juanbimbada (published 1960); the short-story collections The Brood-Hen Airplane (1935) and The Return of Malvin (1937); the drama Abigail (1937); and the essay “Vargas, Executor of Grief” (1947).

WORKS

Obras, vols. 1–10. [Caracas, I960.]
In Russian translation:
Zerkalo v chernoi rame. Moscow, 1974.
[“Stikhi.”] In the collection Poeziia Latinskoi Ameriki. Moscow, 1975.

REFERENCES

Khudozhestvennoe svoeobrazie literatur Latinskoi Ameriki. Moscow, 1976. (See Index.)
Homenaje e Andrés Eloy Blanco. Caracas, 1958.