Gonzalez Prada, Manuel

González Prada, Manuel 

Born Jan. 6, 1848. in Lima; died there July 22, 1918. Peruvian poet, publicist, and political figure.

In 1891, González Prada founded a revolutionary-democratic party called the National Union. After the party’s turn to liberalism in 1902, he began to develop in the direction of anarchism. Although on a philosophical level he had a positivist world outlook, he sought to draw revolutionary conclusions from it. In his poetic works he began by imitating the romantics but soon emerged as a reformer of Peruvian poetry. In the poetic cycles Peruvian Ballads (1871–79) and Free Verses (1904–09), as well as the poetry collection Presbyterians (1909), he introduced social themes into poetry and made use of new verse forms. In his literary and sociological essays, collected in the books Free Pages (1894) and Hours of Struggle (1908), González leveled criticism at the reactionary regime in Peru, championed the oppressed Indian population, and advanced a program for the country’s democratic and cultural regeneration. Many of González’ works are marked by anticlericalism and antimilitarism.

WORKS

Exóticas. Lima, 1911.
Minúsculas, 3rd ed. Lima, 1928.
Trozos de vida. Paris. 1933.
Baladas. Paris, 1939.
Antología poética. Mexico City. 1941.
In Russian translation:
In Progressivnye mysliteli Latinskoi Ameriki (XlX-nachalo XX v.). Moscow, 1965. Pages 261–97.

REFERENCES

Ospovat, L. S. “O formirovanii natsional’nykh osobennostei peruanskoi poesii.” In the collection Natsii Latinskoi Ameriki. Moscow, 1964.
Samarkina, I. K. “Gonsales Prada—revoliutsionnyi demokrat.” In the collection Problemy ideologii i natsional’noi kul’tury stran Latinskoi Ameriki. Moscow, 1967.

V. N. KUTEISHCHIKOVA and S. I. SEMENOV