Julio Torri
Encyclopedia
Julio Torri Maynes was a Mexican writer and teacher who formed part of the Ateneo de la Juventud
(1909–1914). He wrote principally in the essay
form, although his limited production included short stories
and scholarly works as well. Considered one of the best prose
stylists of his generation, he was admitted to the Academia Mexicana de la Lengua
in 1952.
His parents were Julio S. Torri and Sofía Maynes de Torri.
in letters from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).
, Pedro Henríquez Ureña
, Salvador Novo
, Alfonso Reyes
, Diego Rivera
, José Vasconcelos
, and Luis G. Urbina. He engaged from 1914-22 in voluminous correspondence with Alfonso Reyes, who during that time was residing in Europe. From 1916-23 he co-edited with Agustín Loera the editorial Cultura. He was founder and director of the SEP's Departamento de Bibliotecas (Department of Libraries) and served as its literary classics editor. In 1921 he founded, along with Xavier Guerrero, José Clemente Orozco
, and Vicente Lombardo Toledano
, the syndicalist
Grupo Solidario del Movimiento Obrero. He taught literature for nearly half a century at several institutions, including the National Preparatory School, the UNAM, and for various summers at the University of Texas, holding from 1953 onward the title of UNAM Emeritus
Professor. He undertook poetic and pedagogical ambassadorships to countries like Argentina
, Brazil
, and the United States, while a trip to Europe in 1952 inspired some of his writing. In 2001 CONACULTA and the Coahuilan Institute of Culture (Icocult) established the Premio Nacional de Cuento Joven Julio Torri, a prize for young writers that honors Julio Torri.
who lived for a time in Tulancingo
.
, Jules Renard
, Jules Laforgue
, Stéphane Mallarmé
, and above all Oscar Wilde
. He produced notable essays on Aeschylus
, Maeterlinck
, Proust
, Tolstoy
, Aldous Huxley
, José Juan Tablada
, Reyes, and Luis Gonzaga Urbina. He was a translator of works by Pascal
and Heinrich Heine
. As an author his preferred forms were the essay (which put on display his impressive learning and culture) and the short story. He is credited with being one of the earliest practitioners of prose poetry and writers of estampas (literary sketches
) in Mexico; he is also noted for his mastery of the epigraph
. He was a fastidious writer who endlessly polished and refined his words, clarity and purity were the hallmarks of his style. His most important works are Ensayos y Poemas (Essays and Poems) (1917), De fusilamientos (On Executions [Fusillations]) (1940), Tres libros (Three Books) (1964), Diálogo de los libros (Dialogue
of the Books) (1980, posthumous).
Ateneo de la Juventud
Ateneo de la Juventud was an association of intellectuals, primarily writers and philosophers, in the years surrounding the Mexican centennial of 1910...
(1909–1914). He wrote principally in the essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
form, although his limited production included short stories
Short Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
and scholarly works as well. Considered one of the best prose
Prose
Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...
stylists of his generation, he was admitted to the Academia Mexicana de la Lengua
Academia Mexicana de la Lengua
The Academia Mexicana de la Lengua is the correspondent academy in Mexico of the Royal Spanish Academy...
in 1952.
His parents were Julio S. Torri and Sofía Maynes de Torri.
Education
He began his schooling in Colegio Torreón and later in the Escuela Juan Antonio de la Fuente, both in Saltillo. In 1908 he travelled to Mexico City and in 1913 obtained a law degree from the National Law School; in 1933 he was awarded a doctorateDoctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in letters from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).
Career
He formed part of the Ateneo de la Juventud, a literary generation that also included Jesus T. Acevedo, Alfonso Cravioto, Antonio Caso, Ricardo Gómez Robledo, Enrique González MartínezEnrique González Martínez
Enrique González Martínez was a Mexican poet, diplomat, surgeon and obstetrician. His poetry is considered to be primarily Modernist in nature, with elements of French symbolism....
, Pedro Henríquez Ureña
Pedro Henríquez Ureña
Pedro Henríquez Ureña was a Dominican intellectual, essayist, philosopher, humanist, philologist and literary critic.-Early works:Pedro Henríquez Ureña was born in Santo Domingo, the third of four siblings...
, Salvador Novo
Salvador Novo
Salvador Novo López was a Mexican writer, poet, playwright, translator, television presenter, entrepreneur, and the official chronicler of Mexico City, his birthplace and home. As a noted intellectual, he influenced popular perceptions of politics, media, the arts, and Mexican society in general...
, Alfonso Reyes
Alfonso Reyes
Alfonso Reyes Ochoa was a Mexican writer, philosopher and diplomat.-Early life:Alfonso Reyes parents were Bernardo Reyes and Aurelia Ochoa...
, Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera
Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez was a prominent Mexican painter born in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, an active communist, and husband of Frida Kahlo . His large wall works in fresco helped establish the Mexican Mural Movement in...
, José Vasconcelos
José Vasconcelos
José Vasconcelos Calderón was a Mexican writer, philosopher and politician. He is one of the most influential and controversial personalities in the development of modern Mexico. His philosophy of "indigenismo" affected all aspects of Mexican sociocultural, political, and economic...
, and Luis G. Urbina. He engaged from 1914-22 in voluminous correspondence with Alfonso Reyes, who during that time was residing in Europe. From 1916-23 he co-edited with Agustín Loera the editorial Cultura. He was founder and director of the SEP's Departamento de Bibliotecas (Department of Libraries) and served as its literary classics editor. In 1921 he founded, along with Xavier Guerrero, José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco was a Mexican social realist painter, who specialized in bold murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and others...
, and Vicente Lombardo Toledano
Vicente Lombardo Toledano
Vicente Lombardo Toledano was one of the foremost Mexican labor leaders of the 20th century. He founded the Confederation of Mexican Workers , the national labor federation most closely associated with the ruling party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party , for most of the last sixty-five years...
, the syndicalist
Syndicalism
Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and an alternative to state socialism, which uses federations of collectivised trade unions or industrial unions...
Grupo Solidario del Movimiento Obrero. He taught literature for nearly half a century at several institutions, including the National Preparatory School, the UNAM, and for various summers at the University of Texas, holding from 1953 onward the title of UNAM Emeritus
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
Professor. He undertook poetic and pedagogical ambassadorships to countries like 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...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, and the United States, while a trip to Europe in 1952 inspired some of his writing. In 2001 CONACULTA and the Coahuilan Institute of Culture (Icocult) established the Premio Nacional de Cuento Joven Julio Torri, a prize for young writers that honors Julio Torri.
Family
His nephew, Julio Torri Cervi, (1932–2003) was a famous eccentricEccentricity (behavior)
In popular usage, eccentricity refers to unusual or odd behavior on the part of an individual. This behavior would typically be perceived as unusual or unnecessary, without being demonstrably maladaptive...
who lived for a time in Tulancingo
Tulancingo
Tulancingo is the second-largest city in the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the southeastern part of the state and also forms one of the 84 municipalities of Hidalgo, as well as the Archdiocese of Tulancingo...
.
Literary oeuvre
Torri's oeuvre was distinctly influenced by his readings of Charles Lamb, Marcel SchwobMarcel Schwob
Marcel Schwob was a Jewish French writer.-Biography:He was born in Chaville, Hauts-de-Seine on 23 August 1867...
, Jules Renard
Jules Renard
Pierre-Jules Renard or Jules Renard was a French author and member of the Académie Goncourt, most famous for the works Poil de carotte and Les Histoires Naturelles...
, Jules Laforgue
Jules Laforgue
Jules Laforgue was an innovative Franco-Uruguayan poet, often referred to as a Symbolist poet. Critics and commentators have also pointed to Impressionism as a direct influence and his poetry has been called "part-symbolist, part-impressionist".-Life:...
, Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé , whose real name was Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of the early 20th century, such as Dadaism, Surrealism, and Futurism.-Biography:Stéphane...
, and above all Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
. He produced notable essays on Aeschylus
Aeschylus
Aeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
, Maeterlinck
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, also called Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. The main themes in his work are death and the meaning of life...
, Proust
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...
, Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
, Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...
, José Juan Tablada
José Juan Tablada
José Juan Tablada was a Mexican poet, art critic, and diplomat. Traveled briefly in Japan and later translated and wrote haiku, introducing the poetic form to Spanish language readers.-External links:*-Sources:...
, Reyes, and Luis Gonzaga Urbina. He was a translator of works by Pascal
Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal , was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen...
and Heinrich Heine
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
. As an author his preferred forms were the essay (which put on display his impressive learning and culture) and the short story. He is credited with being one of the earliest practitioners of prose poetry and writers of estampas (literary sketches
Sketch story
A sketch story, or sketch, is a piece of writing that is generally shorter than a short story, and contains very little, if any, plot. The term was most popularly-used in the late nineteenth century. As a literary work, it is also often referred to simply as the sketch.-Style:A sketch is mainly...
) in Mexico; he is also noted for his mastery of the epigraph
Epigraph (literature)
In literature, an epigraph is a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the beginning of a document or component. The epigraph may serve as a preface, as a summary, as a counter-example, or to link the work to a wider literary canon, either to invite comparison or to enlist a conventional...
. He was a fastidious writer who endlessly polished and refined his words, clarity and purity were the hallmarks of his style. His most important works are Ensayos y Poemas (Essays and Poems) (1917), De fusilamientos (On Executions [Fusillations]) (1940), Tres libros (Three Books) (1964), Diálogo de los libros (Dialogue
Dialogue
Dialogue is a literary and theatrical form consisting of a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people....
of the Books) (1980, posthumous).
Published works
(list not comprehensive)- Ensayos y poemas (1917)
- Ensayos y fantasias (1918)
- Romances viejos (1918)
- Las noches florentinas (Heinrich Heine; Julio Torri [translator])
- De fusilamientos (1940)
- Discurso sobre las pasiones del amor (Blaise Pascal; Julio Torri [translator])
- Sentencias y lugares comunes (1945)
- La literaura española (1952)
- La Revista moderna de Mexico; discurso de ingreso en la Academia Mexicana de la Lengua, correspondiente de la Española (1954)
- Tres libros: Ensayos y poemas, De fusilamientos, Prosas dispersas (1964)
- Diálogo de los libros (edited by Serge I. Zaïtzeff) (1980)
- El ladrón de ataúdes (edition Serge Zaïtzeff) (1987)
- Epistolarios (edition Serge Zaïtzeff) (1995)
External links
- (English) Dictionary of Mexican Literature: Julio Torri
- (Spanish) http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:e_sVuWZwHuQJ:cvc.cervantes.es/obref/aih/pdf/07/aih_07_2_059.pdf+%22Julio+Torri%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=50&gl=usJuan José ArreolaJuan José ArreolaJuan José Arreola Zúñiga was a Mexican writer and academic. He is considered Mexico's premier experimental short story writer of the twentieth century. Arreola is recognized as one of the first Latin American writers to abandon realism; he uses elements of fantasy to underscore existentialist and...
y Julio Torri] - (Spanish) Julio Torri: entre la brevedad y la ironía
- (Spanish) Premio Nacional de Cuento Joven Julio Torri Programa Cultural Tierra Adentro