Rafael Solana
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Veracruz
Mexico City
- writer
- poet
- journalist
- critic
- playwright
Rafael Solana | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 7, 1915 Veracruz |
| Died | September 6, 1992 (aged 77) Mexico City |
| Occupation |
|
| Alma mater | National Autonomous University of Mexico |
| Period | (1930-1992) |
| Notable works | There Should Be Female Bishops |
| Notable awards | |
Rafael Solana Salcedo (August 7, 1915 – September 6, 1992) was a Mexican writer, poet, journalist, critic and playwright.
He is considered a cornerstone of journalism and theatrical criticism, as well as an innovator of Mexican comedy theater in the 1950s, and a promoter of dramatic arts and national culture.
Solana was born in the port of Veracruz in 1915.[1] His father, Rafael Solana Cinta, was a journalist, one of the founders of El Universal newspaper who, as a reporter, traveled with Venustiano Carranza's troops across the state of Veracruz.
Solana's family moved to Mexico City when Rafael was young. At the age of 14, he published his first stories in the Pulgarcito section of El Universal Gráfico.[2][3]
As a teenager, Solana met and befriended Octavio Paz and José Revueltas, two other renowned writers.[3]
He studied at the National Preparatory School and at the faculties of Law and Philosophy and Letters (1930–1937) at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).[2]
Career
In 1934, at just nineteen years old, Solana released his first poetry collection, Ladera.
By 1936, he founded and published the magazine Taller poético, an individual project soon joined by Efraín Huerta, José Revueltas, and Alberto Quintero Álvarez. The magazine aimed to bring together Mexican poets, regardless of age or their affiliation with any particular group.
After four issues of Taller poético, Solana decided to expand the magazine's themes and content. He brought together a new group of young writers who had published their poems in Barandal, where his friend Octavio Paz stood out. Thanks to Solana's initiative and diplomatic approach, in 1938, the members of both publications came together to create Taller magazine.
This new magazine would gain popularity and become the most important of its time. Solana was responsible for publishing the first four issues, while the following ones were overseen by Octavio Paz. The magazine had wide circulation and published the most prominent Mexican writers of the era, as well as many intellectuals exiled due to the Spanish Civil War.
He died on September 6, 1992, in Mexico City.[2]
