Timeline

Jorge Carrera Andrade

Biographical Sketch And Chronology

Jorge Carrera Andrade was born in Quito, Ecuador, on September 14, 1903. He was the son of Abelardo Carrera Andrade and Carmen Vaca Andrade. He died November 7, 1978. Carrera Andrade was educated at Juan Montalvo Normal Institute, Mejía National Institute, and Faculty of Law of the University of Quito, Ecuador; Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, University of Barcelona, Spain; Faculty of Philosophy, Aix-en-Provence, France. 

 

Memberships

Asociación General Universitaria Ibero-Americana of Barcelona, Spain (Secretary, 1932)

Verband Latein Amerikanischer Studenten von Berlin, Germany

Grupo “América,” Quito, Ecuador

Sociedad Jurídico-Literaria, Quito, Ecuador

Sociedad de Estudios Hispanoamericanistas, Quito, Ecuador

Sociedad “Amigos de Montalvo”, Quito, Ecuador

Club de Trabajadores Intelectuales, Barcelona, Spain

Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, Quito, Ecuador

California Writers Club, San Francisco, United States

Associazione Internazionale di Poesia, Rome, Italy

Pen Club, New York City, United States

Chronology

1903 Born September 14 in Quito.

1921 Graduates from el Instituto Nacional Mejia.

1922 Publishes first book of poetry, Estanque inefable.

1923 Participates in founding of Ecuadorian Socialist Party.

1927-1928  Secretary-general of the Ecuadorian Socialist Party

1928 Statistician of the Bureau of Studies (Dirección de Estudios); travels to Europe and meets Gabriela Mistral and Cesar Vallejo in Paris and Barcelona.

1929 Named Chancellor of Ecuadorian consulate in Marseilles, France.

1930 Publishes Boletines de mar y tierra in Barcelona.

1933 Secretary of Ecuadorian Senate; Professor, Mejía National Institute, Quito.

1934 Consul in Paita, Peru.

1934 Consul in Le Havre, France.

1935 Marries Paulette Colin Lebas; publishes Rol de la manzana and El tiempo manual in Spain.

1937 Birth of son, Juan Cristobal.

1938-1940 Consul General in Yokohama, Japan; publishes Pais secreto and Microgramas in Tokyo; publishes Antologia poetica, 1922-1939 in Quito.

1940-1944 Consul General to the United States in San Francisco, California; begins friendship with Pedro Salinas, poet-in-exile from Franco’s Spanish Civil War.

1944 Chargé d’affaires in Caracas, Venezuela.

1945 Publishes Poemas de Paul Valéry in Spanish translation in Caracas, Venezuela.

1946 Resigns from diplomatic post to protest President Velasco Ibarra’s breach of the Ecuadorian constitution; wife begins divorce proceedings.

1947 Senator of the Republic of Ecuador; named by President Carlos Julio Arosemena Envoy Extraordinaire and Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain.

1948 Delegate to the Third General Assembly of the United Nations in Paris

1949 Delegate to the Fourth Conference of UNESCO.

1950 Returns to Quito and is named Head of the Section for Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Relations; six months later resigns and is named Vice President of Casa de la Cultura, Quito.

1951 Publishes in Quito, Poesia Francesa Contemporanea, an anthology of 55 French poets in Spanish translation and is awarded Isle Saint-Louis Prize from French government; Lugar de origen appears in Quito. Ministry of Education names Carrera Andrade as Permanent delegate to UNESCO and he returns to Paris. Marries Janina Ruffier des Aimes.

1952 With electoral triumph of Velasco Ibarra Carrera Andrade resigns position. Begins employment with UNESCO as director of Spanish publications. Birth of daughter Patricia.

1953 Second edition of Familia de noche is published in Paris.

1955 La tierra siempre verde, published in Paris.

1958 Moneda del forastero in a bilingual edition (Spanish-French) is published in Paris. Leaves job at UNESCO and transfers to New York as member of Ecuadorian delgation to the United Nations.

1959 Hombre planetario appears in Bogota; El camino del sol appears in Quito.

1960 President Velasco Ibarra names Carrera Andrade as Ambassador for Special Mission to governments of Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. Participates in successful negotiation of Treaty of Rio de Janeiro.

1961 Named Ambassador to Venezuela.

1962 Mi vida en poemas published in Caracas.

1963 President Arosemena Monroy is deposed and a military junta is established. Venezuela suspends relations with Ecuador and Carrera Andrade is forced to resign.

1964 Named Ambassador to France; publishes in Nicaragua a poem and two books:”Floresta de los guacamayos”; Radiografia de la cultura ecuatoriana; Interpretations de Ruben Dario.

1965 Publishes in Paris Cronicas de las Indias.

1966 The new president of Ecuador, Otto Arosemena, names Carrera Andrade Minister of Foreign Relations.

1967 President Arosemena accepts a denunciation of Carrera Andrade by the right.

1968 Participates in International Poetry Festival at the Poetry Center in New York and Festival of Poetry at State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook.

1969 Named Distinguished Professor at SUNY Stony Brook.

1970 Participates in Festival of International Poetry organized by the Library of Congress in Washington, DC; an autobiography, El volcan y colibri, appears in Mexico; bilingual Spanish-French edition of El libro del Destierro appears in Dakar, South Africa.

1971 Lectures at Harvard and Vassar College; terminates teaching position at SUNY Stony Brook and returns to Paris.

1972 Jorge Carrera Andrade: Introduccion al estudio de su vida y de su obra by J. Enrique Qjeda appears in Madrid; Selected Poems, translated by H. R. Hays published by SUNY Press.

1973 Lectures from Harvard, SUNY Stony Brook, and Vassar College collected as Reflections on Spanish American Poetry (SUNY Press).

1975 Directror of Biblioteca Nacional, Quito; divorced from second wife. Obra poetica completa published in Quito. Academia de la Lengua del Ecuador nominates Carrera Andrade for Nobel Prize in literature. Government of Ecuador awards him “Eugenio Espejo” prize in recognition of his extraordinary literary accomplishments and contributions.

1978 November 7 Jorge Carrera Andrade dies and is buried in the Cemetery of San Diego, Quito.

Chronology by J. Enrique Qjeda from the Spanish edition of El volcan y el colibri, an autobiography by Jorge Carrera Andrade, Corporacion Editora Nacional, Quito, 1989. Copyright © 1989, 2020 by J. Enrique Qjeda. Reprinted by permission.

Posthumous Literary Activities

Book Publications

2002 Century of the Death of the Rose: Selected Poems of Jorge Carrera Andrade,  1926-1976, edited and English translation by Steven Ford Brown, published by NewSouth Books, 2002.

2007 Microgramas by Jorge Carrera Andrade, English translation by Steven Ford Brown, Preface by J Enrique Ojeda. Originally published in Tokyo, Japan in 1940, the new deluxe edition in Spanish and English published by Orogenia Corporacion Cultural (Quito, Ecuador) is for distribution limited to South America.

2020 Ecuadorian Man Under The Effie Tower: Ten Poems of Europe, English translation by Steven Ford Brown, to be published by The Lion Publishing Group: Boston, Fall 2020.

Lectures and Literary Readings

2000 Steven Ford Brown and Dr. J. Enrique Ojeda of Boston College meet in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and begin collaboration to promote the life and literary work of Jorge Carrera Andrade.

2003 Library of Congress, Washington, DC: Sponsored by The Ecuadorian Embassy and Library of Congress, Hispanic Division: A Discussion and Reading of the Life and Literary Work of Jorge Carrera Andrade, introduced by His Excellency Ambassador Raúl Gangotena of Ecuador; participants J Enrique Ojeda, Boston College; Klaus Müller-Bergh, University of Illinois; Steven Ford Brown, Independent Scholar.

2004 The America’s Society, New York City: A Discussion and Reading of the Life and Literary Work of Jorge Carrera Andrade, introduced by Ambassador and Consul General of Ecuador Hernán Holguín; Dr. J. Enrique Ojeda of Boston College; Julio Ortega, Brown University; Steven Ford Brown, Independent Scholar.

2005 State University of New York at Stony Brook, Long Island, NY: The Treasure of Jorge Carrera Andrade at Stony Brook: A Poetry Reading with Critical Commentary in Celebration of the Jorge Carrera Andrade Collection of the SUNY Stony Brook Library: Steven Ford Brown, Independent Scholar; Jonathan Cohen, SUNY Stony Brook; Dr. J Enrique Ojeda, Boston College; Gabriela Polit-Dueñas, University of Texas.

2007 Celebration of publication of Microgramas by Orogenia Corporacion Cultural (Quito, Ecuador) sponsored by Liberia Rayuela in Quito, Ecuador.

2020 Assumption College of Worcester, MA: The Rediscovery of Jorge Carrera Andrade: Lecture and Readings: Dr. Juan Carlos Grijalva, Assumption College, Dr. J Enrique Ojeda, Boston College, Maryanne Leone, Assumption College, Steven Ford Brown, Independent Scholar.

Jorge Carrera Andrade Website

2020 The Official Website of Jorge Carrera Andrade is launched January 1 in Boston, Massachusetts by The Lion Publishing Group: jorgecarreranadrade.net