Rodolfo Usigli biography, style and works

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Egbert Haynes
Rodolfo Usigli biography, style and works

Rodolfo Usigli (1905-1979) was a Mexican writer, playwright, poet, and diplomat. His work was focused on the development of modern and avant-garde theater. He is considered one of the pioneers in the innovation of the performing arts in his country.

Usigli's theatrical production was characterized by showing the social reality of his native land. The writer, from the different public positions he held, was in charge of spreading culture, as well as promoting the different plays that were presented in his time.

Rodolfo Usigli (left), receiving recognition for his 50 years of work. li Source: CDMX Government [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

Some of the best known plays by Rodolfo Usigli were: The gesticulator, The family dines at home Y Crown of fire. On the other hand, although his narrative production was not broad at all, with The criminal life of Archibaldo de la Cruz, managed to revolutionize Hispanic literature.

Article index

  • 1 Biography
    • 1.1 Birth and family
    • 1.2 Usigli studies
    • 1.3 Back to Mexico
    • 1.4 The work of recognition
    • 1.5 Theater of social reality
    • 1.6 Dramaturgy
    • 1.7 Affinity with Contemporaries
    • 1.8 Diplomatic Usigli
    • 1.9 Last years and death
    • 1.10 Awards and recognitions
  • 2 Style
  • 3 Works
    • 3.1 Theater
    • 3.2 Novel
    • 3.3 Other publications
    • 3.4 Poetry
  • 4 References

Biography

Birth and family

Rodolfo was born on November 17, 1905 in Mexico City. The poet came from a family of middle-class European immigrants. His parents were Pablo Usigli, Italian, and Carlota Wainer, Austro-Hungarian. Usigli had three siblings: Ana, Aida and Alberto; their father passed away when they were just children.

Usigli Studies

Rodolfo Usigli was educated in institutions in Mexico City. He always expressed his attraction to the arts and literature, so, for a time, he studied at the National Conservatory of Music. There he stayed until, finally, he decided on the theater and went to study it at Yale University.

National Conservatory of Music of Mexico, one of Usigli's study sites. Source: AB [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Back to mexico

After completing higher education at Yale, United States, Usigli returned to Mexico, loaded with new and refreshing ideas. As soon as he set foot on Aztec soil, he dedicated himself to the creation of the Midnight Theater. He was also associated with the intellectuals of The Contemporaries, but he was not part of the group.

The work of recognition

In the 1930s, Usigli developed several theatrical works, such as The apostle, the boy and the fog Y The gesticulator. SHowever, it was with the premiere of the third piece, in 1937, that it achieved recognition. This was due to the theme that he addressed in relation to politics and the despotism of those who had power.

Social reality theater

Rodolfo Usigli based his theatrical production on social interest content. His works were a kind of criticism, with satirical and ironic elements of the political and social circumstances of his native Mexico. Thanks to the art he created, it was possible to awaken awareness and identity among the citizens who followed his work..

Coat of arms of Yale University, Usigli's place of study. Source: Yale University [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Dramaturgy

Usigli's persistent interest in the theater led him to develop a treatise on dramaturgy. In 1940 he published his piece Itinerary of the playwright; in it he laid the foundations to follow to write about the performing arts.

With the publication of Itinerary of the playwright, Usigli became the first Latin American author to indicate a path towards the creation of theatrical works, and all that they entail.

Affinity with The Contemporaries

The Mexican writer was not an active member of the group of young intellectuals The Contemporaries. However, he had an affinity both with his activities, as with many of his members. And although his poetry was not abundant, it was similar to that of the poets who made it up..

In Usigli's little poetic work there was a lot of quality, skill and creativity. His poetry had a personal character; It was in search of what generated interest, such as old age. But it was in the theater where he consolidated his professionalism, and his international recognition was thanks to his staging.

Diplomatic usigli

Rodolfo Usigli was a man linked to politics and the foreign service of Mexico, getting to carry out some diplomatic tasks. At the beginning of the forties he served in Paris as delegate of Cultural Affairs of the Embassy of Mexico..

Later, in the mid-1950s, he left his country for more than six years, between 1956 and 1963, to serve as ambassador to Lebanon. Then, from 1963 to 1970, he was the representative of Mexico in Norway. He did all this without abandoning his literary and theatrical work..

Last years and death

After having carried out his various diplomatic missions, Rodolfo Usigli returned to Mexico in the early 1970s. At that time he developed what would be his last theatrical piece, which he baptized The meeting. The writer died on June 18, 1979, in Mexico City, when he was 73 years old..

Awards and honours

- America Award in 1970.

- National Prize of Sciences and Arts in 1972.

Style

Usigli's literary style, in terms of theater, was characterized by the exposition of themes related to the Mexican historical context. At the same time, he brought social and political issues to the table. His theater was about reality, with criticism, irony and precision of language being key elements..

As for his poetry, he reflected his ability to be lyrical through a precise, creative and sometimes sensitive expression, aligned with certain personal desires. His prose, as brief as his poetry, was real, raw, sinister and twisted, as can be seen in The criminal life of Archibaldo de la Cruz.

Plays

Theater

- The Apostle (1931).

- The boy and the fog (1936).

- The gesticulator (1937).

- Day dream (1942).

- The family dines at home (1942).

- Shadow crown (1943).

- Jano is a girl (1952).

- Crown of fire (1960).

- Light crown (1963).

- The Flores case (1968).

- The meeting (1971).

Brief description of some of his theatrical works

The gesticulator (1937)

It was one of the most important and recognized works of Rodolfo Usigli, although it was also controversial and controversial, due to its argument. Although the author wrote it in 1937, it was first presented to the public in 1947, and was later censored..

The theater piece in three acts was a criticism and at the same time a mockery of the politics of Mexico. Usigli used an alleged fighter of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 to expose bureaucratic crimes, abuse of power and the ineffective way, in his opinion, of leading the country.

Fragment

"César: -Are you tired Miguel?

Miguel: -The heat is unbearable.

César: -It's the heat of the north, which, actually, I needed Mexico. You will see how well you live here.

Julia: (going down) -I doubt it.

César: -Yes, you didn't like coming to town.

Julia: -Nobody likes to go to a desert when they are twenty years old.

Cesar: - Twenty-five years ago it was worse, and I was born here and lived here. Now we have the road one step away.

Julia: -Yes, I will be able to see the cars as the cows watch the railroad trains go by. It will be fun.

... Elena comes closer.

Julia: -But why was it necessary? I can tell you dad. Because you couldn't make money in Mexico.

Miguel: -You think too much about money.

Julia: -In exchange for how little money thinks of me. It's like love when only one of us wants.

César: -What do you know about love?

Julia: -Too much. I know they don't want me. But in this desert I can even look pretty ".

Shadow crown (1943)

This work is the first of Usigli's trilogy, it is also made up of Crown of fire Y Light crown. In them the writer exposed the historical situation of Mexico, through the establishment of the empire of Maximiliano and Carlota. In addition, it brought out the conflicts that arose nationally and internationally.

The drama of the play focused on the madness of the empress after the loss of her husband. Although there are historical elements, not all actions are subject to them. Creativity and imagination prevail, and from there the anti-historical starts, as the author affirmed at the time..

Intentionality

Rodolfo Usigli's primary intention with the staging of this type of works was to awaken social conscience. That is, make the public be able to take an interest in history, and debate it to understand the present. The play was premiered at the Arbeu Theater in Mexico City, in 1947.

Light crown (1963)

With this work, Rodolfo Usigli culminated the trilogy of the “crowns”. The piece was also of an "anti-historical" type. This is said because, through the imagination of the playwright, a historical event was exposed that did not necessarily coincide with the real.

The play was developed within the genre of comedy, and dealt with the faith of the people towards the Virgin of Guadalupe. The author established the play in the times of the Spanish colonization, and reflected with it the influence that the Marian appearance had had on the Mexican people..

Novel

- The criminal life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955).

Brief description of The criminal life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955)

This work was perhaps Usigli's only outstanding narrative piece. However, it was enough to make clear his ability to create a fantastic plot, well planned, where the improbable and unusual transports the reader to a world full of perversity and fatality..

The novel told the story of a criminal that gave the work its title, whose atrocities are in constant contact with the end of life. Like history, the language used by the author can be crude and dense. It was adapted to the cinema by the Spaniard Luís Buñuel, with the name of Essay of a crime.

Other publications

- Mexico in the theater (1932).

- Theater anatomy.

- Itinerary of a playwright (1940).

 Complete theater

- Volume I (1963).

- Volume II (1966).

- Volume III (1979).

Poetry

- Desperate conversation.

References

  1. Rodolfo Usigli. (2018). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
  2. Tamaro, E. (2004-2019). Rodolfo Usigli. (N / a): Biographies and Lives. Recovered from: biografiasyvidas.com.
  3. Crown of light. (S. f.). Mexico: Encyclopedia of Literature in Mexico. Recovered from: elem.mx.
  4. Shadow crown. (S. f.). Mexico: Encyclopedia of Literature in Mexico. Recovered from: elem.mx.
  5. Álvarez, D. and Martínez, D. (2018). Rodolfo Usigli. Mexico: Encyclopedia of Literature in Mexico. Recovered from: elem.mx.

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