Enrique Lihn Carrasco (1929-1988) was a Chilean writer, literary critic, and cartoonist whose work was focused on an analytical and realistic perception of life and art in all its forms. This intellectual had the talent and ability to develop novels, theater, short stories, essays, and poetry..
In Lihn's literary production, aspects of his personality, such as good sense and skepticism, were notorious. His poetic work was far from sentimentality and extreme lyricism. The writer used clear and precise language, with certain shades of irony and sarcasm. One of his main influences was the Chilean poet Nicanor Parra.
Enrique Lihn's literary repertoire was wide and known throughout Latin America. Some of his most outstanding texts were: Nothing slips away, Poetry passing by, From Manhattan, Rice water Y The art of word. The literary career of this Chilean author was recognized with several awards in his country.
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Enrique Lihn Carrasco was born on September 3, 1929 in Santiago de Chile. The writer came from a cultured family with a good socioeconomic status. His parents were Enrique Lihn Doll and María Carrasco Délano. It is known that since childhood, the future writer was instilled with the love of literature.
The writer's primary education was spent at Saint George's College and he attended secondary school at the Liceo Alemán in Santiago. Lihn manifested a taste for reading and a talent for the arts at an early age. He entered the School of Fine Arts of the University of Chile when he was thirteen years old, to receive teachings in plastic arts.
Later, Lihn enrolled at the University of Chile to study painting. Some time later, young Enrique dropped out of university studies to devote himself fully to writing..
Enrique Lihn's talent for writing led him to produce his first work at the age of twenty. In 1949 the author published the collection of poems Nothing slips away, and three years later he ventured into the essay genre with the work Introduction to the poetry of Nicanor Parra.
During that time, he participated in the creation of the collage Osprey in the company of intellectuals of the stature of Alejandro Jodorowsky, Nicanor Parra, Luis Oyarzún and Jorge Berti. By then, Enrique Lihn's career was emerging brilliantly and strongly among the great authors of the time..
Lihn began a love affair with artist Ivette Mingram in the mid-1950s. The couple conceived a daughter in 1957 whom they named Andrea. However, two years later, Lihn and Mingram decided to end the bond..
Enrique Lihn remained focused on the development of his literary career, for which he later released his essay Pedro Luna, the painter in 1959. After that he published one of his most outstanding works called The dark piece in 1963.
On the other hand, the intellectual expressed his political thinking by supporting Salvador Allende on his way to the presidency of Chile in 1964. For this, Lihn joined the ranks of the Popular Action Front as an activist, which led to his winning so much followers of his work as opponents.
The writer won a grant from UNESCO in 1965 to expand his knowledge of museology at some universities in Europe. Most of the time he spent in Paris and was in charge of making a record of his experiences away from his native Chile..
The annotations collected by Lihn were incorporated into the work Passing poetry in 1966. Later, the poet traveled to Cuba to receive the Casa de las Américas Prize for the work mentioned above. There he stayed for about two years and dedicated himself to writing for the newspaper Granma. He also married a Cuban.
Enrique Lihn returned to Chile in the late 1960s. His experience in Cuba was not entirely pleasant and he reflected it in the works Written in Cuba Y The music of the poor spheres. Subsequently, the author created the publication Cormorant in 1969 and in the company of Germán Marín.
At that time, Lihn served as director of the poetry workshop taught by the Catholic University of Chile between 1970 and 1973. He also worked as a professor and researcher of literature at the University of Chile.
Enrique Lihn managed to be a prominent writer in the 1970s and that gave him international renown. This is how the government of France invited him to various cultural events.
The poet previously traveled to the United States, specifically New York, to meet some friends and give lectures and recitals at universities..
After spending a month in the Big Apple, he left for Paris. There he attended various literary and artistic meetings. At that time the author conceived the collection of poems Paris, irregular situation.
Lihn returned to his country in the late 1970s and quickly made known Paris, irregular situation in 1977. A year later he was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship and went to New York. There the poems that made up the work were born Starting in Manhattan.
Already in Chile he developed several theatrical pieces, among them The mekka Y Niu York marked letters. The poet published several works at that time, among which stood out Sorrow of estrangement in 1986 and Minstrel mester in 1987.
The last years of this Chilean writer's life were dedicated to the development and dissemination of his literary work. Some of his most current publications were: The appearance of the Virgin, Anthology of passage, The radio Y Eugenio Téllez, discoverer of inventions.
In subsequent years, the poet's existence was affected by a cancer that afflicted him for some time. Despite constant treatments, the writer failed to overcome the disease. Enrique Lihn died on July 10, 1988 in the city where he was born. His remains rest in the cemetery of the Parque del Recuerdo.
- First place in the Poetry Games of 1956 with the poems "Monologue of the father with his son of months" and "Monologue of the poet with his death".
- Magazine award Athena in 1957.
- Municipal Prize for Literature of Santiago in 1965 for Rice water.
- Unesco scholarship in 1965.
- Casa de las Américas Award in 1966 for Passing poetry.
- Municipal Prize for Literature of Santiago in 1970 for The music of the poor spheres.
- Guggenheim Scholarship in 1978.
Enrique Lihn's literary style was not framed within any movement. The work of this writer was characterized by referring to art itself and by analyzing artistic reality in all its forms of expression. The author used clear, precise, critical and sometimes ironic language.
The poetic work was far from the common precepts of the lyric, that is, it was devoid of sentimentality and defined metrics. The literary production of this Chilean intellectual was influenced mainly by his countryman Nicanor Parra and by Henri Michaux.
- Nothing slips away (1949).
- Poems of this time and of another (1955).
- The dark piece (1963).
- Passing poetry (1966).
- Written in Cuba (1969).
- The music of the poor spheres (1969).
- Some poems (1972).
- By force majeure (1975).
- Paris, irregular situation (1977).
- Lihn and Pompier (1978).
- The dark room and other poems (1978).
- Starting in Manhattan (1979).
- News from abroad (nineteen eighty one).
- Random anthology (nineteen eighty one).
- Homeless station (1982).
- To the beautiful appearance of this star (1983).
- The Smoked Walk (1983).
- Sorrow of estrangement (1986).
- Minstrel mester (1987).
- The apparition of the virgin (1987).
- Passage anthology (1988).
- Death diary (1989).
- The ephemeral vulgate (posthumous edition, 2012).
- Introduction to the poetry of Nicanor Parra (1952).
- Pedro Luna, the painter (1959).
- Definition of a poet (1966).
- Culture on the Chilean road to socialism (1971).
- On the structuralism of Ignacio Valente (1983).
- Road signs by Juan Luis Martínez (1987).
- Eugenio Téllez, discoverer of inventions (1988).
- The burning circus (posthumous edition, 1996).
- Texts about art (posthumous edition, 2008).
- Rice water (1964).
- Ten tales of bandits (1972). Anthology, contains the following stories:
- "Quilapan".
- "Plot".
- "Both".
- "The room of the claws".
- "The aspado".
- "Pat'e goat".
- "Up hill".
- "The last shot of Negro Chávez".
- "The wait".
- The independent Republic of Miranda (posthumous edition, 1989).
- Huacho and Pochocha (posthumous edition, 2005).
- Collected stories (posthumous edition, 2017).
- Coffee concert.
- The hens (written in the 1970s).
- The mekka (released in 1984).
- Niu York marked letters (released in 1985).
- Radio (1987).
- The Bandit Comedy (released in 1994).
- Copelius and Copelia.
- Dialogues of the disappeared (2018).
- Batman in Chile (1973).
- The crystal orchestra (1976).
- The art of word (1980).
- Album of all kinds of poems (1989).
- Because i wrote (nineteen ninety five).
- Figures of speech (1999).
- A strident note (2005).
- A voice similar to the opposite (2009).
- The Appearance of the Virgin and Other Political Poems (1963-1987) (2012).
- Rome the she-wolf (posthumous edition, 1992).
- Enrique Lihn: interviews (posthumous edition, 2006).
- The Eros Letters (posthumous edition, 2016).
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