Guest of the ilb 2002
Tomás Segovia was born in 1927 in Valencia. Very
early in his life, during the Spanish Civil War, he emigrated to France
and Morocco. Segovia has kept up the contacts he established
here, especially with French culture and language. In 1940 he
chose exile in Mexico. In Mexico-City he studied until 1954
philosophy and Spanish-written literature.
Tomás Segovia’s first publications of lyric poetry in 1945 fell within
one of the most important periods of Mexican literature, a period in
which, particulary under the influence of the authors Octavio Paz and
Efrain Huerta, lyric poetry became the most important form of
expression. Testimony to this are the numerous lyric poetry
periodicals which appeared at this time and in which Segovia played an
important part. He worked, for example, as chief editor of the
periodical 'Plural', published by Octavia Paz, and was co-founder of
the periodical 'Presencia' and editor of 'Hoja poética'.
After his studies Segovia taught not only at UNAM (Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de México) but also at the 'Institut Français d’Amérique
Latine' and 'Alliance Française'. There followed a four-year stay
in Uruguay and subsequently in France. In 1966, the year he
retuned to Mexico, he was awarded a grant by the
'Guggenheim-Foundation' and took up a research position at the 'Colegio
de México' where he remained as a literary scholar, with just a period
as guest professor at the University of Princeton, until he retired in
1984. He translated works by Breton, Lacan, Derrida and Foucault
and so had a decisive influence on contemporary theoretical debates in
Mexico.
Also, Tomás Segovia has made a name for himself through his
translations of French poetry. His most important work as a
translator is the Spanish edition of the works of Gerard de Nerval.
He has been honoured several times for his achievements regarding
French-Mexican cultural relations: on two occasions he has received the
'Alfonso-X-Prize' for literary translations and in 1982 was accepted
into the 'Ordre de Culture Française'.
Tomás Segovia has published more than twenty volumes of poems, as well
as several prose texts, a drama, essays and a number of articles.
The central theme in his writing is the experience of exile: "Exile has
for me both ontological and historical significance. It is like
an entrance examination, it bans us from our own country so that we
will set up home elsewhere. We get thrown out of our security so
that we may find a home elsewhere."
Since 1988 Tomás Segovia has been living with his wife once again in
Spain. The positive reaction of Spanish critics to the appearance
of the self-edited, self-published edition of his works, 'Poesía
1943-1997' as well as the award of the highly regarded 'Octavia-Paz-
Prize' (2000) indicates that his work has after all found high esteem
in his homeland. He was awarded the Premio Juan Ruolfo in 2005. Segovia
lives in Madrid.
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