Andrés Caicedo
Encyclopedia
Luis Andrés Caicedo Estela (29 September 1951 - 4 March 1977) was a Colombia
n writer born in Cali
, the city where he would spend most of his life. Despite his premature death, his work is considered one of the most original in Colombian literature. Caicedo led different cultural movements in the city like the literary group "Los Dialogantes" (Those who speak), the Cinema
Club
of Cali and the "Ojo con el Cine" Magazine (Attention to the Cinema). In 1970 he won the First Literary Contents of Caracas
with his work "Los dientes de caperucita" (The Teeth of Little Red Riding Hood
) that opened the doors of national recognition for him. Some sources say that he used to say that to live more than 25 years was a shame and it is seen as the main reason of his suicide
on March 4, 1977 when he was that age.
Caicedo's work has as its context the urban world and its social conflicts, especially those of young people. Contrary to the school of magic realism
, the work of Caicedo is grounded completely in social reality. Therefore, some scholars give importance to his work as an alternative in Latin America
to prominent figures such as Gabriel García Márquez
, especially through the research of the Chile
an journalist, writer and movie critic Alberto Fuguet
who called Caicedo "The first enemy of Macondo
". Despite his fame in Colombia, Caicedo is little known in Latin America
, maybe for his early death. However his work is becoming known thanks to the influence of his works in new writer generations such as Rafael Chaparro, Efraim Medina Reyes, Manuel Giraldo, Octavio Escobar and Ricardo Abdahllah.
, he was transferred to the Colegio Calasanz in Medellín
in 1964 and this was the year of his first story: "El Silencio" (The Silence). However, his academic and discipline was rather the same, a reason to be transferred again to Cali, this time to Colegio Berchmans, an institution that would influence his works. From Berchmans he was expelled to go to Colegio San Luis in 1966, again expelled and finally he could finish his high school in Colegio Camacho Perea in 1968.
" by Eugène Ionesco
and he wrote "The End of the Vacations", "Welcoming the New Student", "The Sea", "The Imbeciles are also Witnesses" and "The Skin of the Other Hero". This last work would make him win the First Students' Theatre Festival of the Theatre Department of University of Valle
. He abandoned the university in 1971 to join the Cali Theatre Company (Teatro Experimental de Cali) as an actor, and there he met the famous Colombian director Enrique Buenaventura.
In 1969 he also started to write cinema reviews for newspapers, for example in the Cali
newspaper El País, in Occidente and El Pueblo. He got another award with his story "Berenice" in the Story Contest of the University of Valle, while his story "The Teeth of Little Red Riding Hood" won the second place of the Latin American Story Contest organized by the Caracas
Image Magazine. He adapted and directed the work of Eugène Ionesco
: "The Chairs". He wrote the story "For this reason I am back to my city", "Empty", "The Messengers", "Besacalles", "From Up to Down, From Left to Right", "The Spectator", "Happy Friendships" and "Lulita, that you do not want to open the door?".
His love for cinema was the motive to open in 1969 the Cinema Club of Cali with his friends Ramiro Arbeláez, Hernando Guerrero and Luis Ospina :es:Luis Ospina. It started its meetings in the headquarters of the Company of Theatre of Cali (Teatro Experimental de Cali), but later it moved to the Alameda Cinema and finally to the San Fernando Cinema. The Cinema Club attracted many persons among students, intellectuals and critics who used to watch the movies and meet afterwards to comment and analyze the films with Caicedo.
In 1970 he adapted and directed "The Night of the Killers" of José Triana and in that same year he wrote a new story, "Antígona". In 1971 he wrote stories like "Patricialinda", "Cannibalism", "Fatal Little Destinies", "Angelita and Miguel Ángel" and "El atravesado". He wrote also some essays: "The Heroes of the Beginning", an essay about the work of Mario Vargas Llosa
, "The City and the Dogs" and "The Sea", an essay on the work of Harold Pinter
.
His friend Carlos Mayolo tried unsuccessfully to bring to cinema his movie script "Angelita and Miguel Angel" in 1972. In that year he wrote the movie script "A Good Man is Very Difficult to Find" and the stories "The Suitor" and "The Time of the Swamp", this last one awarded by the National Contents of Story of the Universidad Externado de Colombia
.
and New York
. He knew enough English and had the dream to meet the legendary Roger Corman
in order to sell to him four of his play scripts that his sister had translated into English. He was very optimistic thinking that Hollywood would welcome him with open hands. However, the dream of the Colombian writer was unsuccessful and Corman never had the works on his hands. About Hollywood he said:
As nobody put attention in Hollywood to the writer with the face of a pop rock of the 1960s, Caicedo dedicated himself to see movies, study about blues and rock, especially the Rolling Stones and write a new story, ¡Que viva la música!
, a work that was to become the most international title of Caicedo so far. He began also "Memories of a Cinema Lover", a diary he intended to make into a novel. However, he could have an interview with Sergio Leone
and returned to Colombia.
. Analyzing his death, Alberto Fuguet
says:
in his work "Concerts of Bewilderment" ("Conciertos del Desconcierto"). In the 1990s the work of Rafael Chaparro Madiedo, "Opium", was seem as a Caicedian work. Other authors like Octavio Escobar Giraldo, Efraím Medina and Ricardo Abdahllah are related to this that is becoming a real literary school. The Company of Theatre of Medellín
, Matacandelas, has played for more than a decade "Angelitos empantanados".
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
n writer born in Cali
Calì
Calì, also written in English as Cali, is an Italian surname, widespread mainly in the Ionian side of Sicily.For the surname Calì is assumed the origin of the Greek word kalos , or from its Sanskrit root kali, "time."The surname refers to:...
, the city where he would spend most of his life. Despite his premature death, his work is considered one of the most original in Colombian literature. Caicedo led different cultural movements in the city like the literary group "Los Dialogantes" (Those who speak), the Cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
Club
Club
A club is an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal. A service club, for example, exists for voluntary or charitable activities; there are clubs devoted to hobbies and sports, social activities clubs, political and religious clubs, and so forth.- History...
of Cali and the "Ojo con el Cine" Magazine (Attention to the Cinema). In 1970 he won the First Literary Contents of Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
with his work "Los dientes de caperucita" (The Teeth of Little Red Riding Hood
Little Red Riding Hood
Little Red Riding Hood, also known as Little Red Cap, is a French fairy tale about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. The story has been changed considerably in its history and subject to numerous modern adaptations and readings....
) that opened the doors of national recognition for him. Some sources say that he used to say that to live more than 25 years was a shame and it is seen as the main reason of his suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
on March 4, 1977 when he was that age.
Caicedo's work has as its context the urban world and its social conflicts, especially those of young people. Contrary to the school of magic realism
Magic realism
Magic realism or magical realism is an aesthetic style or genre of fiction in which magical elements blend with the real world. The story explains these magical elements as real occurrences, presented in a straightforward manner that places the "real" and the "fantastic" in the same stream of...
, the work of Caicedo is grounded completely in social reality. Therefore, some scholars give importance to his work as an alternative in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
to prominent figures such as Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
, especially through the research of the Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an journalist, writer and movie critic Alberto Fuguet
Alberto Fuguet
Alberto Fuguet de Goyeneche is a popular Chilean writer, journalist, film critic and film director who rose to critical prominence in the 1990s as part of the movement known as the New Chilean Narrative. Although he was born in Santiago, he spent his first 13 years of life in Encino, California...
who called Caicedo "The first enemy of Macondo
Macondo
For the oil spill, see: Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosionMacondo is a fictional town described in Gabriel García Márquez's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude. It is the home town of the Buendía family.-Aracataca:...
". Despite his fame in Colombia, Caicedo is little known in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, maybe for his early death. However his work is becoming known thanks to the influence of his works in new writer generations such as Rafael Chaparro, Efraim Medina Reyes, Manuel Giraldo, Octavio Escobar and Ricardo Abdahllah.
First years
Andrés Caicedo was the youngest son and only male of Carlos Alberto Caicedo and Nellie Estella. His brother Francisco José was born in 1958, but died three years later. By that time Andrés was studying in Colegio del Pilar, after he was in Colegio Pio XII, a "very bad Franciscan establishment" as he said years after. Because of his bad behavior in the school in CaliCalì
Calì, also written in English as Cali, is an Italian surname, widespread mainly in the Ionian side of Sicily.For the surname Calì is assumed the origin of the Greek word kalos , or from its Sanskrit root kali, "time."The surname refers to:...
, he was transferred to the Colegio Calasanz in Medellín
Medellín
Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...
in 1964 and this was the year of his first story: "El Silencio" (The Silence). However, his academic and discipline was rather the same, a reason to be transferred again to Cali, this time to Colegio Berchmans, an institution that would influence his works. From Berchmans he was expelled to go to Colegio San Luis in 1966, again expelled and finally he could finish his high school in Colegio Camacho Perea in 1968.
Among pages, stages and cinema
As with his passion for literature, Caicedo liked cinema and stage. In 1966, he wrote his first play, "Las curiosas conciencias" (Curious Minds) and his first story, "Infection". A year later he directed the play "The Bald SopranoThe Bald Soprano
La Cantatrice Chauve — translated from French as The Bald Soprano or The Bald Prima Donna — is the first play written by Franco-Romanian playwright Eugène Ionesco. Nicolas Bataille directed the premiere on May 11, 1950 at the Théâtre des Noctambules, Paris...
" by Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, and one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd...
and he wrote "The End of the Vacations", "Welcoming the New Student", "The Sea", "The Imbeciles are also Witnesses" and "The Skin of the Other Hero". This last work would make him win the First Students' Theatre Festival of the Theatre Department of University of Valle
University of Valle
The University of Valle , also called Univalle, is a public, departmental, coeducational, research university based primarily in the city of Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. It is the largest higher education institution by student population in the southwest of the country, and the third in...
. He abandoned the university in 1971 to join the Cali Theatre Company (Teatro Experimental de Cali) as an actor, and there he met the famous Colombian director Enrique Buenaventura.
In 1969 he also started to write cinema reviews for newspapers, for example in the Cali
Calì
Calì, also written in English as Cali, is an Italian surname, widespread mainly in the Ionian side of Sicily.For the surname Calì is assumed the origin of the Greek word kalos , or from its Sanskrit root kali, "time."The surname refers to:...
newspaper El País, in Occidente and El Pueblo. He got another award with his story "Berenice" in the Story Contest of the University of Valle, while his story "The Teeth of Little Red Riding Hood" won the second place of the Latin American Story Contest organized by the Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
Image Magazine. He adapted and directed the work of Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, and one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd...
: "The Chairs". He wrote the story "For this reason I am back to my city", "Empty", "The Messengers", "Besacalles", "From Up to Down, From Left to Right", "The Spectator", "Happy Friendships" and "Lulita, that you do not want to open the door?".
The Cinema Club of Cali
In 1970 he adapted and directed "The Night of the Killers" of José Triana and in that same year he wrote a new story, "Antígona". In 1971 he wrote stories like "Patricialinda", "Cannibalism", "Fatal Little Destinies", "Angelita and Miguel Ángel" and "El atravesado". He wrote also some essays: "The Heroes of the Beginning", an essay about the work of Mario Vargas Llosa
Mario Vargas Llosa
Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis of Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian-Spanish writer, politician, journalist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation...
, "The City and the Dogs" and "The Sea", an essay on the work of Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
.
His friend Carlos Mayolo tried unsuccessfully to bring to cinema his movie script "Angelita and Miguel Angel" in 1972. In that year he wrote the movie script "A Good Man is Very Difficult to Find" and the stories "The Suitor" and "The Time of the Swamp", this last one awarded by the National Contents of Story of the Universidad Externado de Colombia
Universidad Externado de Colombia
The Universidad Externado de Colombia in Bogotá, Colombia, is a private university which grants 4 and 5 year primary and professional degrees as well as advanced 2-year Magister degrees. Instruction is primarily in Spanish. The dean is Dr...
.
Looking for Hollywood
In 1973 Caicedo went to Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. He knew enough English and had the dream to meet the legendary Roger Corman
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
in order to sell to him four of his play scripts that his sister had translated into English. He was very optimistic thinking that Hollywood would welcome him with open hands. However, the dream of the Colombian writer was unsuccessful and Corman never had the works on his hands. About Hollywood he said:
As nobody put attention in Hollywood to the writer with the face of a pop rock of the 1960s, Caicedo dedicated himself to see movies, study about blues and rock, especially the Rolling Stones and write a new story, ¡Que viva la música!
¡Que viva la música!
"¡Que viva la música!" is a novel of the Colombian writer Andrés Caicedo, one of his most important works and considered by many observers as a masterpiece of the Colombian literature in modern times...
, a work that was to become the most international title of Caicedo so far. He began also "Memories of a Cinema Lover", a diary he intended to make into a novel. However, he could have an interview with Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
and returned to Colombia.
Last years
Caicedo considered that his best work was "Maternity", a story written in 1974. It was also the year of "Ojo al cine" (Attention to the Cinema), a magazine specialized in cinema, made by himself and that became the most important publication in that subject in Colombia. He returned to the USA, but this time to participate in the International Exposition of Cinema and a year later the publishing house "Pirata de Calidad" published his story "El Atravesado" with the economical support of his own mother and getting national recognition.Suicide
It was in his novel "¡Qué viva la música" that Caicedo mentioned that to live more than 25 years of age was madness and he was loyal to what he said then on March 4, 1977. In the afternoon he died, he received a volume of his recently published book "Qué viva la música!" and wrote a letter to his friend Miguel Marías where he mentioned that his woman just left him for a reason he did not know. Then he took 60 pills of secobarbitalSecobarbital
Secobarbital sodium is a barbiturate derivative drug that was first synthesized in 1928 in Germany. It possesses anaesthetic, anticonvulsant, sedative and hypnotic properties...
. Analyzing his death, Alberto Fuguet
Alberto Fuguet
Alberto Fuguet de Goyeneche is a popular Chilean writer, journalist, film critic and film director who rose to critical prominence in the 1990s as part of the movement known as the New Chilean Narrative. Although he was born in Santiago, he spent his first 13 years of life in Encino, California...
says:
Influence
The first Colombian author to received the Caicedo influence was Manuel Giraldo Magil from IbaguéIbagué
Ibagué is the capital of the department of Tolima in Colombia. It is situated 1,285 m above sea level, on the eastern slopes of the Cordillera Central between the Chipalo and Combeima rivers, tributaries of the Coello River...
in his work "Concerts of Bewilderment" ("Conciertos del Desconcierto"). In the 1990s the work of Rafael Chaparro Madiedo, "Opium", was seem as a Caicedian work. Other authors like Octavio Escobar Giraldo, Efraím Medina and Ricardo Abdahllah are related to this that is becoming a real literary school. The Company of Theatre of Medellín
Medellín
Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...
, Matacandelas, has played for more than a decade "Angelitos empantanados".
Works
Most of Caicedo's works were published after his death, thanks to the commitment of some of his friends. The works include in stories, playwrights for stage and cinema, and essays. Some of his personal letters to his mother, sisters and friends, were also published. The importance of the letters is that they show the turbulence of his soul.External links
- http://andrescaicedo.bravehost.com "Sobre Andrés Caicedo" site. A complete virtual storage about Caicedo's works. (in SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
). - andres_caicedo.page Andrés Caicedo (Archived 2009-10-25): A detailed site about Caicedo's life and works (in SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
). - Andrés Caicedo (First part in YouTube: Segment of a documentary on Andrés Caicedo with interviews to some of his friends and relatives, uploaded in 2006, link retrieved on June 15, 2008.
- Andrés Caicedo A page about Caicedo's life and works (in SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
).