Xavier Villaurrutia y González (27 August 1903 – 31 December 1950) 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....

 poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 and playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

, whose most famous works are the short theatrical dramas, called Autos profanos, compiled in the work Poesía y teatro completos published in 1953.

Early life

Xavier Villaurrutia was born in Mexico City in 1903. He studied in the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria( National Preparatory School) and in the Escuela de Jurisprudencia (Jurisprudence School). During that time, he felt a certain affinity to writing so he decided to dedicate his life to writing literature.

In 1928 he joined the grupo de los Contemporáneos ( Contemporaries)

Los Contemporáneos

Los Contemporáneos can refer to a Mexican modernist group, active in the late twenties and early thirties, as well as to the literary magazine which served as the group's mouthpiece and artistic vehicle from 1928 to 1931...

. In 1935, he received a scholarship to study in the Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 where he studied Theatre. Returning to Mexico in 1937, he started working for the local newspaper "Letras de Mexico".

Alongside with 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...

, they founded the magazine Ulises in 1927.

Professional achievements

Professionally, Villaurrutia worked for the Mexican literary review Contemporáneos

Los Contemporáneos

Los Contemporáneos can refer to a Mexican modernist group, active in the late twenties and early thirties, as well as to the literary magazine which served as the group's mouthpiece and artistic vehicle from 1928 to 1931...

(literally "Contemporaries") from 1928 to 1931. Villaurrutia would later found the first experimental theater in Mexico.

Notable works

Villaurrutia's notable works include his poetic writings beginning with Reflejos in 1926 and Nocturnos in 1933. Villaurrutia's writing becomes darker in his later poetic works: Nostalgia de la muerte (literally meaning "Nostalgia of the dead") in 1938, and Décima muerte (literally "tenth death") in 1941. It is unclear if this change was due to the increase turmoil in Europe that would lead to World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 or simply due to Villaurrutia's increasing age. The preoccupation with death in Villaurrutia's work would climax with his 1941 with his play Invitación à la muerte, the title of which can be literally translated to "Invitation to the death" (see "References" below regarding Dr. Raymond Marion Watkins's book which chronicles a history and analysis of this play, which Watkins demonstrates was heavily influenced by Villaurrutia's integration of dramatic elements traceable to William Shakespeare's "Hamlet.") The final published work of Villaurrutia would come posthumously in 1953 with the publication of Poesía y teatro completos a collection of his works which included the short theatrical dramas, Autos profanos. In 1993, Copper Canyon Press

Copper Canyon Press

Copper Canyon Press is an independent, non-profit small press, specializing in the publication of poetry and located in the picturesque town of Port Townsend, Washington. Since 1972, the Press has published poetry exclusively and has established an international reputation for its commitment to...

 published Eliot Weinberger

Eliot Weinberger

Eliot Weinberger is a contemporary American writer, essayist, editor, and translator. His work regularly appears in translation and has been published in some thirty languages...

's translation of Nostalgia for Death along with Esther Allen's translation of Octavio Paz

Octavio Paz

Octavio Paz Lozano was a Mexican writer, poet, and diplomat, and the winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature.-Early life and writings:...

's Hieroglyphs of Desire, a book-length study of Villaurrutia's work.

Inspiration

Xavier Villaurrutia was greatly influenced by the work of Ramón López Velarde

Ramón López Velarde

Ramón López Velarde was aMexican poet. His work is generally considered to be postmodern, but is unique for its subject matter. He achieved great fame in his native land, to the point of being considered Mexico's national poet....

 as well as by several other Mexican poets, in particular Alí Chumacero

Ali Chumacero

Alí Chumacero Lora was a Mexican poet.-Career:Chumacero was born in Acaponeta, Nayarit. He was the joint editor of Tierra Nueva magazine from 1940-42. He edited Letras de México and El Hijo Pródigo....

.

Commemoration

Since 1955 there has been a Xavier Villaurrutia Award

Xavier Villaurrutia Award

The Xavier Villaurrutia Award is a prestigious literary prize given in Mexico, to a Latin American writer published in Mexico. Founded in 1955, it was named in memory of Xavier Villaurrutia....

 for literary works published in Mexico, selected by a jury of writers. This award has been sponsored by the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes since 1991.