Hérib Campos Cervera
Encyclopedia
Paraguayan poet Hérib Campos Cervera was born in Asunción
, Paraguay
, on March 30, 1905, son of Spanish parents, Herib Campos Cervera, also a poet, and of Alicia Diaz Perez, sister of the great intellectual Viriato Díaz Pérez
.
In the prologue of the second edition of “Ceniza Redimida” the scholar Miguel Angel Fernandez writes: “An unhappy childhood, far away from his parents, apparently marked his life, and in his poetry we may find the traces of this first stage of his life. His adolescence and youth were not more fortunate...”
His value as a poet is undeniable. All of the scholars on Paraguayan literature say that his work is the starting point of a new poetic conception joining the not always easy new path of vanguardism.
In his book “La poesia paraguaya - Historia de una incognita” the critical and intellectual Brazilian Walter Wey says: “Campos Cervera put the Paraguayan literature in the American rhythm and at the same level of the actual poetry of the continent. For that, he didn't need to get into the heart of the Hispanic-American. He only did what was expected from his country: a deep study of the modern natives which stayed in the objective aspects of life and nature. He then moved to the social and human subjects deepening, taking advantage of the immense and unexplored folk stories. In this sense, he also opened the way to the new generations.
If he didn’t show completely the revelation of Paraguay as it was expected from his intuition, he did show how the future could be revealed. He also showed that in almost 100 years of poetry, the Paraguayan poets despite describing the county they didn’t identify with it and the life style.”
In 1931, his participation in the acts of October 23 marked his first exile, first to Buenos Aires
, Argentina
and then to Montevideo
, Uruguay
. By then, he was clear in his ideas towards the left, maybe influenced by the anarchy and the Marxist socialists he contacted in Argentina and Uruguay.
In 1938, three years after his return to Paraguay
, together with Josefina Pla
- who was also back from Europe
after the death of her husband, Julian de la Herreriam - he is located in the centre of a movement which has, among others, Augusto Roa Bastos
, Oscar Ferreiro, Ezequiel Gonzalez Alsina and Hugo Rodriguez Alcala as members, who were later to be known as “Generacion del 40” in Paraguayan literature. The meeting place of those young people was the “Vy’a raity” - soon Elvio Romero joined - and his productions are to be read in magazines such as the Ateneo Paraguayo, Noticias and the literary supplement of the newspaper “El Pais“.
In 1940, when the president of the republic, General Jose Felix Estigarribia, died in a mysterious aviation accident, General Higinio Morinigo took over. He was in the same political line of the nationalist authoritarians of fascist Europe; his government will last until 1948. A year before, in 1947, one of the worst phases of a bloody civil war was to take place, which among many things deprived the country of the talent and creativity of its best artists and intellectuals. Among them, Herib went into exile to Buenos Aires
, until he died.
Cesar Alonso de las Heras and [uan Manuel Marcos, wrote in a text for students of the Paraguayan contemporary literature that ”Campos Cervera is the father of the Paraguayan literature. Even when in the narrative, the essays and the teathre he could fight for the first place with Casaccia
, Barret and Correa
, respectitevely, we cannot doubt his influence on the poetry. His poems…show for the first time in the country, the dominium of the surrealist methapors, the technics of Neruda
, the rhythm of Nicolas Guillen
, the nostalgic image of Alberti-to whom he dedicated his work” and they shall return one day”
The nostalgic and the hope, the verbal elegant and the spiritual transparency distinguish his very personal style, deeply rooted in the national circumstances of the poet…”.
“Hombre secreto” was his second poem book, which was to appear after his death. Other works were the story “El buscador de fe”, the short novel El ojo enterrado, and the theatre play Juan Hachero, which was not produced on stage and still inedited, as well as his novel Hombres en la selva and the poem book Romancero del destierro, which originals were taken during his exile in Montevideo
.
He died in Buenos Aires
, on August 28, 1953.
The journalist Humberto Perez Caceres, workmate of Herib in the newspaper “ Democracia” in Buenos Aires
, transmitted his last words to his country: ”The art, the politics, the cultural works, must drink the best of the nationality. The process has an itinerary from the national to the universal, not the opposite. Let it not be a useless art, not beauty divorced from the country. The country, his service, his redemption, its happiness, its justice must constitute the motivation of all work. The national... our country, our men, our countrymen, and workmen, our women. It is to them, to their elevation, that he artist must dedicate all of their efforts.”
Asunción
Asunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay.The "Ciudad de Asunción" is an autonomous capital district not part of any department. The metropolitan area, called Gran Asunción, includes the cities of San Lorenzo, Fernando de la Mora, Lambaré, Luque, Mariano Roque Alonso, Ñemby, San...
, Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
, on March 30, 1905, son of Spanish parents, Herib Campos Cervera, also a poet, and of Alicia Diaz Perez, sister of the great intellectual Viriato Díaz Pérez
Viriato Díaz Pérez
Viriato Díaz Pérez was of the most important teachers that Paraguay had in almost half a century.-Childhood and Youth:Viriato was born in Madrid in 1875. He came from a lineage of intellectual people...
.
Childhood and youth
He was an intern at the Colegio San Jose de Asuncion, an institution he was to call “a jail” more than once, which shows his vital and free spirit as a youth. Besides philosophy and math, he also dedicated himself to literary criticism and especially to poetry.In the prologue of the second edition of “Ceniza Redimida” the scholar Miguel Angel Fernandez writes: “An unhappy childhood, far away from his parents, apparently marked his life, and in his poetry we may find the traces of this first stage of his life. His adolescence and youth were not more fortunate...”
His value as a poet is undeniable. All of the scholars on Paraguayan literature say that his work is the starting point of a new poetic conception joining the not always easy new path of vanguardism.
In his book “La poesia paraguaya - Historia de una incognita” the critical and intellectual Brazilian Walter Wey says: “Campos Cervera put the Paraguayan literature in the American rhythm and at the same level of the actual poetry of the continent. For that, he didn't need to get into the heart of the Hispanic-American. He only did what was expected from his country: a deep study of the modern natives which stayed in the objective aspects of life and nature. He then moved to the social and human subjects deepening, taking advantage of the immense and unexplored folk stories. In this sense, he also opened the way to the new generations.
If he didn’t show completely the revelation of Paraguay as it was expected from his intuition, he did show how the future could be revealed. He also showed that in almost 100 years of poetry, the Paraguayan poets despite describing the county they didn’t identify with it and the life style.”
History
He was a collaborator of magazines such as Juventud, Ideal and Alas in the 20's, his production of the time is similar to the current of the postmodernism. He used to sign with the pseudonym "Alfonso Monteverde”.In 1931, his participation in the acts of October 23 marked his first exile, first to Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
and then to Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
. By then, he was clear in his ideas towards the left, maybe influenced by the anarchy and the Marxist socialists he contacted in Argentina and Uruguay.
In 1938, three years after his return to Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
, together with Josefina Pla
Josefina Pla
Josefina Pla was a Spanish poet, playwright, art critic, painter and journalist....
- who was also back from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
after the death of her husband, Julian de la Herreriam - he is located in the centre of a movement which has, among others, Augusto Roa Bastos
Augusto Roa Bastos
Augusto Roa Bastos, was a noted Paraguayan novelist and short story writer, and one of the most important Latin American writers of the 20th century. As a teenager he fought in the Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia, and he later worked as a journalist, screenwriter and professor...
, Oscar Ferreiro, Ezequiel Gonzalez Alsina and Hugo Rodriguez Alcala as members, who were later to be known as “Generacion del 40” in Paraguayan literature. The meeting place of those young people was the “Vy’a raity” - soon Elvio Romero joined - and his productions are to be read in magazines such as the Ateneo Paraguayo, Noticias and the literary supplement of the newspaper “El Pais“.
In 1940, when the president of the republic, General Jose Felix Estigarribia, died in a mysterious aviation accident, General Higinio Morinigo took over. He was in the same political line of the nationalist authoritarians of fascist Europe; his government will last until 1948. A year before, in 1947, one of the worst phases of a bloody civil war was to take place, which among many things deprived the country of the talent and creativity of its best artists and intellectuals. Among them, Herib went into exile to Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, until he died.
Cesar Alonso de las Heras and [uan Manuel Marcos, wrote in a text for students of the Paraguayan contemporary literature that ”Campos Cervera is the father of the Paraguayan literature. Even when in the narrative, the essays and the teathre he could fight for the first place with Casaccia
Gabriel Casaccia
Gabriel Casaccia Bibolini was a Paraguayan novelist. He is widely considered by critics to be the founder of modern literature in Paraguay...
, Barret and Correa
Julio Correa
Julio Correa was a Paraguayan poet in Guarani language.He was born in Asunción, August 30, 1890. His maternal grandfather was of Polish origins, and was named Myzkowsky. His father was Portuguese...
, respectitevely, we cannot doubt his influence on the poetry. His poems…show for the first time in the country, the dominium of the surrealist methapors, the technics of Neruda
Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
, the rhythm of Nicolas Guillen
Nicolás Guillén
Nicolás Cristóbal Guillén Batista was a Cuban poet, journalist, political activist, and writer. He is best remembered as the national poet of Cuba.Guillén was born in Camagüey, Cuba...
, the nostalgic image of Alberti-to whom he dedicated his work” and they shall return one day”
The nostalgic and the hope, the verbal elegant and the spiritual transparency distinguish his very personal style, deeply rooted in the national circumstances of the poet…”.
Works
In 1950 he published his only poem book available during his lifetime, Ceniza redimida, which gathered 28 of his best poems.“Hombre secreto” was his second poem book, which was to appear after his death. Other works were the story “El buscador de fe”, the short novel El ojo enterrado, and the theatre play Juan Hachero, which was not produced on stage and still inedited, as well as his novel Hombres en la selva and the poem book Romancero del destierro, which originals were taken during his exile in Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
.
Last years
He was married to Tita de los Rios, and later divorced. He had children with Maria Carmen Palermo.He died in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, on August 28, 1953.
The journalist Humberto Perez Caceres, workmate of Herib in the newspaper “ Democracia” in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, transmitted his last words to his country: ”The art, the politics, the cultural works, must drink the best of the nationality. The process has an itinerary from the national to the universal, not the opposite. Let it not be a useless art, not beauty divorced from the country. The country, his service, his redemption, its happiness, its justice must constitute the motivation of all work. The national... our country, our men, our countrymen, and workmen, our women. It is to them, to their elevation, that he artist must dedicate all of their efforts.”