Antonio Castro Leal
Encyclopedia
Antonio Castro Leal was a Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....

 diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...

 and intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...

.

Biography

Antonio Castro Leal was born on March 2, 1896 in San Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí, commonly called SLP or simply San Luis, is the capital of, and most populous city in the Mexican state of the same name. The city lies at an elevation of 1,850 meters...

. He received his licenciate and doctor of law degrees from the National Autonomous University of Mexico
National Autonomous University of Mexico
The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México is a university in Mexico. UNAM was founded on 22 September 1910 by Justo Sierra as a liberal alternative to the Roman Catholic-sponsored Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) (National Autonomous...

 and his PhD from Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...

 in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 Castro Leal was rector of UNAM
National Autonomous University of Mexico
The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México is a university in Mexico. UNAM was founded on 22 September 1910 by Justo Sierra as a liberal alternative to the Roman Catholic-sponsored Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) (National Autonomous...

 in 1929 during the student strikes that ultimately lead to the university becoming autonomous, after which he resigned his post. In 1934 as Director of the Department of Fine Arts he inaugurated the Palacio de Bellas Artes
Palacio de Bellas Artes
The Palacio de Bellas Artes is the most important cultural center in Mexico City as well as the rest of the country of Mexico...

 in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

. He lived in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 from 1949 to 1954 as Mexico's ambassador and executive board member for UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

, after which he moved to Coyoacán
Coyoacán
Coyoacán refers to one of the sixteen boroughs of the Federal District of Mexico City as well as the former village which is now the borough’s “historic center.” The name comes from Nahuatl and most likely means “place of coyotes,” when the Aztecs named a pre-Hispanic village on the southern shore...

, in Mexico City, where he lived for the rest of his life. He died on January 7, 1981.

Main posts held

(This is an incomplete list.)
  • Rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico
    National Autonomous University of Mexico
    The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México is a university in Mexico. UNAM was founded on 22 September 1910 by Justo Sierra as a liberal alternative to the Roman Catholic-sponsored Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) (National Autonomous...

     (UNAM) - 1928-29
  • Director of the Department of Fine Arts - 1934
  • Mexican ambassador to UNESCO
    UNESCO
    The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

     - 1949-52
  • Member of UNESCO's executive board - 1950-54
  • Member of Congress - 1958-61

Works

(This is an incomplete list.)
  • Las cien mejores poesías liricas mexicanas (ed. with Manuel Toussaint and Alberto Vázquez del Mercado) (1914)
  • The Church Problem in Mexico (pamphlet) (1926)
  • Las cien mejores poesias mexicanas (ed.) (1935)
  • Juan Ruiz de Alarcón. Ingenio y sabiduría (1939)
  • Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art - (introd.) (1940)
  • Revista de literatura mexicana (1940–1941)
  • El libro de oro del cine mexicano (The Golden Book of Mexican Cinematography) (coord.) (1948) (Comisión Nacional de Cinematografía, México, D.F.)
  • Las dos partes del Quijote (1949)
  • La poesía mexicana moderna (1953)
  • Una historia del siglo XX (1955)
  • Las ideas de Salvador Díaz Mirón
    Salvador Díaz Mirón
    Salvador Díaz Mirón was a Mexican poet. He was born in the port city of Veracruz. His early verse, written in a passionate, romantic style, was influenced by Lord Byron and Victor Hugo. His later verse was more classical in mode. His poem, A Gloria, was influential...

    (1956)
  • La novela de la Revolución Mexicana (1958–1960)
  • El laurel de San Lorenzo (1959)
  • Un mensaje a la América Latina y una elegía por España (poem) (1960)
  • Alejandro de Humboldt y el arte prehispánico (1962)
  • El Primer Congreso Internacional de Americanistas (1963)
  • El pensamiento musical de Carlos Chávez (1963)
  • La novela del México colonial (1964)
  • Luis G. Urbina (1964)
  • Las tragedias de Shakespeare (1965)
  • Thoreau y su discípulo Cassius Clay (1967)
  • ¿A dónde va México? Reflexiones sobre nuestra historia contemporánea (1968)
  • Hombres e ideas de nuestro tiempo (1969)
  • Díaz Mirón, su vida y su obra (1970)
  • El español, instrumento de una cultura (1970)
  • La poesía de Manuel José Othón (1971)
  • El imperialismo andaluz y otras historias (1984)

As a translator

Castro Leal also translated Maurice Dobb
Maurice Dobb
Maurice Herbert Dobb , was a British Marxist economist, and a lecturer 1924-1959 and Reader 1959-1976 at Cambridge University and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge 1948-1976.-Life:...

's Introduction to Economics for Mexico's Fondo de Cultura Económica
Fondo de Cultura Económica
Fondo de Cultura Económica is the most important publishing house in Mexico and one of the most important ones in Latin America. It was originally established in 1934 by Daniel Cosío Villegas as a way to provide students of economics with books in Spanish on the subject...

.

See also

  • Los Siete Sabios de México
    Los Siete Sabios de México
    Los Siete Sabios de México is a 1950 work of biography by Mexican writer and politician Luis Calderón Vega.The "Seven Sages" were the founding members of Mexico City's "Society for Conferences and Concerts" , which was founded in 1916 to promote greater cultural awareness among university students...

     (The Seven Mexican Sages)
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