Guest of the ilb 2007
Juan Manuel Roca was born in
Medellín, Colombia in 1946. The celebrated writer, journalist and art
critic headed the Sunday supplement of the daily newspaper »El
Espectador« for ten years and is currently editor of the cultural
journal »La sangrada escritura«.
Roca belongs to the so-called
»generación del desarraigo« (uprooted generation). His poetry takes
concrete reality and experience as a point of departure. Malleable,
sensory elements and vivid, concrete colours are contrasted with
gloomy, shadowy descriptions of memory, and lost illusions. The poems
offer finely drawn images of semantic and structural clarity, and were
repeatedly published by Roca in collaboration with visual artists. His
first volumes of poetry came out in the early seventies, among them
»Memoria del agua« (1973; t: Memory of water), and »Luna de ciegos«
(1975; t: Moon of the blind). Collections followed such as »Antología
poética« (1983; Poetic anthology), »País secreto« (1987; t: Secret
country), »Pavana con el diablo« (1990; Pavane with the devil) and
»Prosa reunida« (1993; t: Gathered prose). His most recent volume of
poems, »Las hipótesis de Nadie« (t: Nobody’s hypothesis), appeared in
2004.
The title of his only novel to
date, »Esa maldita costumbre de morir« (2003; t: That damned habit of
dying), plays on the frequent unnatural deaths of many people in a
country marked by violence. The story tells of two brothers who are
members of the secret »Mirror Brigade« and undertake an underground
struggle against a group of conspirators, who want to abolish all
mirrors in order to destroy people’s identities. Stylistically, the
novel attests to Roca as a poet: many things are merely implied and
what remains unuttered is of greater significance than what is voiced
explicitly. The author observed: »I didn’t want to abandon my
preference for the creation of images any more than lyrical cadence.
What is more, I’ve retained linguistic precision.«
In 2007 Roca published his
first collection of short stories, »Las plagas secretas« (t: The secret
plagues) and his novel was nominated for the coveted Premio Rómulo
Gallegos. Roca has received many awards for his poetry, including the
Premio Nacional de Poesía Universidad de Antioquia, the Premio Nacional
de Poesía Ministerio de Cultura, the Premio de Poesía del Mundo Latino
»Victor Sandoval« and most recently the international Premio de Poesía
»José Lezama Lima« awarded by the Cuban Casa de las Américas. He has
also received the Premio de Periodismo »Simón Bolívar« for his
journalistic work. He has an honorary doctorate from the Universidad
del Valle and lives in Medellín.
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