"A dose of this Guatemalan elixir every now and then is excellent for so many things..." (Paul Valéry)
Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Miguel Ángel Asturias (Ciudad de Guatemala, October 19, 1899 - Madrid, June 9, 1974) is the most universal Guatemalan writer. He studied law in his native city before moving to Paris to dedícate his time to anthropological research. His work, a precursor of the so-called boom in Latin American literature, combines elements of the continent’s native culture and the baroque style imported from Europe to create a complex universe that anticipates what would later be termed "magical realism". His knowledge of the deep roots of the peoples of Central and South America is reflected in all of his works, particularly Legends of Guatemala (1930), the first book published by the author, a collection of stories that recreates Mayan myths passed down by autochthonous oral tradition. The following year, it was published in France and lavishly praised by Paul Valéry.
Asturias’ most celebrated novel is The President (1943), the greatest example of a key Spanish American literary genre, the dictator novel. Banned for years in his country, The President was inspired by Manuel Estrada Cabrera, president of Guatemala in the early 20th century. It employs a wealth of literary devices to explore the devastating effects of the exercise of power on society when imposed through fear and torture. Another of Asturias’ best-known novels, often considered his masterpiece, is Men of Maize (1949), an implacable portrait of the colonial exploitation that devastated the Guatemalan countryside and its ancestral customs and beliefs. His preoccupation with the way indigenous peoples were treated like slaves during the inexorable progress of colonialism persists in the Banana Trilogy (Strong Wind (1950), The Green Pope (1954), and The Eyes of the Interred (1960)), in which Miguel Ángel Asturias denounces the abuses committed by the multinational United Fruit Company. Allied with corrupt local officials, the company appropriated large extensions of land in Guatemala.
After the 1954 coup, Asturias’ political convictions led to the loss of his Guatemalan citizenship and forced him into exile. His citizenship would not be restored until 1966, a year before he was awarded the Nobel Prize.
Miguel Ángel Asturias wrote other important novels, such as Maladrón (1969), a book set during the 16th century Spanish conquest, which addresses the subject of racial mixing. He also published short story collections, children’s books (such as El hombre que lo tenía todo, todo, todo (The Man Who Had Everything, Everything, Everything), poetry, theatre, essays, and travel books.