Arts & Architecture - Guatemala - page 578

Literature
Guatemala's first great literary figure was poet and Jesuit priest Rafael Landivar, whose
collection of poetry Rusticatio Mexicana , containing 5348 verses in Latin, was published
in 1781.
A great source of national pride is the Nobel Prize for Literature that was bestowed on
Guatemalan Miguel Ángel Asturias (1899-1974) in 1967. Best known for Men of Maize,
his magical-realist epic on the theme of European conquest and the Maya, and for his thinly
veiled vilification of Latin American dictators in The President, Asturias also wrote poetry.
He served in various diplomatic capacities for the Guatemalan government.
For an extensive, searchable database of photographs of pre-Columbian ceramics, have a look at
www.mayavase.com .
Other celebrated Guatemalan authors include short-story master Augusto Monterroso
(1921-2003), who is credited as having written the shortest story in published literature, El
Dinosaurio . Look also for his published work The Black Sheep and Other Fables . Luis
Cardoza y Aragón (1901-92) is principally known for his poetry and for fighting in the re-
volutionary movement that deposed dictator Jorge Ubico in 1944. Gaspar Pedro Gonzáles'
A Mayan Life is claimed to be the first novel written by a Maya author.
Guatemalan-born Arturo Arias is an author and professor of Spanish-American Literat-
ure at the University of Texas. His most famous works include Itzam Na (1981), Jaguar en
llamas (1990) and The Rigoberta Menchú Controversy (2001), in which he examines the
heated debate that ensued after Menchú won the Nobel Prize (see the boxed text, Click
here ) .
Born in the US to a Guatemalan mother, Francisco Goldman is probably the most fam-
ous author writing about Guatemala in modern times. Primarily a novelist, Goldman's non-
fiction account of the assassination of Bishop Gerardi, The Art of Political Murder , won
him international and critical acclaim and a good selection of enemies from within
Guatemala's power structure.
One of Central America's largest literary competitions, the Juegos Florales His-
panoamericanos, is held in Quetzaltenango in September to coincide with Independence
Day celebrations.