Jaime Sáenz
Jaime Sáenz Guzmán (8 October 1921 – 16 August 1986) was a Bolivian writer, poet, novelist, journalist, essayist, illustrator, dramaturge, and professor, known best for his narrative and poetic works. His poetry, though individual to the point of being difficult to classify, bears some similarities with surrealist literature.
Jaime Sáenz | |
|---|---|
 Jaime Sáenz by Javier Molina, from Imágenes paceñas (1979) | |
| Born | 8 October 1921 La Paz, Bolivia |
| Died | 16 August 1986 (aged 64) La Paz, Bolivia |
| Occupation | Writer, poet, storyteller |
He was born, lived, and died in the city of La Paz, which would come to be the setting permanently in the background of each of his works. He is recognized as one of the most important authors in Bolivian literature, as both his life and his work prominently highlighted 20th century Bolivian culture. There are a number of academic studies on his work, as well as translations in English, Italian, and German.
Throughout his life, Sáenz struggled with alcoholism, a struggle which he frequently wrote about in his poems. Accordingly, he is often viewed as a poète maudit or "cursed poet". Sáenz was openly, "unashamedly" bisexual.[1]
Biography
Sáenz was born on 8 October 1921 in La Paz, Bolivia. His father was Genaro Sáenz Rivero, the lieutenant colonel of the Bolivian Army, and his mother Graciela Guzmán Lazarte. His humanistic and artistic formation began in La Paz, being sent to the Muñoz School in 1926 for primary school, and then to the American Institute of La Paz for secondary, which he finished in 1937.
In 1938, he traveled to Germany with some classmates and cadets from the Military School of Bolivia. This trip to Europe greatly affected the direction of his work, as he was strongly influenced by the works of philosophers Arthur Schopenhauer, Hegel, Martin Heidegger, and writers Thomas Mann, William Blake, and Franz Kafka; as for his music tastes, Sáenz enjoyed Richard Wagner and Anton Bruckner.
In 1939 he returned to Bolivia and in 1941 he started to work in the Bolivian Department of Defense, then in the Bolivian Treasury. In 1942, he joined the United States Information Service (USIS) at the U.S. Embassy in La Paz. Two years later, he married a German citizen, Erika Käseberg, and in 1947 they had a daughter named Jourlaine. In 1948, due to Sáenz's relapses into dipsomania, Erika left Sáenz and returned to Germany with their daughter. In 1944, he published the first volume of his magazine Cornamusa. In 1952 he left his job at the USIS. In 1955 he published El escalpelo (The Scalpel) and in 1957 Muerte por el tacto (Death by Touch). Around then he also published Aniversario de una visión (Anniversary of a Vision) (1960), Visitante profundo (Immanent Visitor) (1964), and the first volume of his magazine Vertical (1965). In 1967 he published El frío (The Cold), and the Arca Gallery exhibited his illustrations of skulls, of which there were various. In 2002, his selected poems, Immanent Visitor (trans. Forrest Gander and Kent Johnson), was brought out in a bilingual edition by University of California Press; and in 2007 Princeton University Press published a bilingual volume of "The Night" (trans. Forrest Gander and Kent Johnson).
In 1967 he befriended Carlos Alfredo Rivera, with whom he shared a very close friendship, so much so that it is said Sáenz was the only one who paid attention to Dr. Rivera. And for that same reason, Rivera forbade him to drink. Sáenz began following that order, but died after a few weeks due to two crises of delerium tremens.
Sáenz and his professorship
In 1970 he earned a professorship in Bolivian Literature with a dissertation on Alcides Arguedas at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA) in La Paz. In 1974, he presented a theatrical play called La noche del viernes (Friday Night) and a libretto for his opera Perdido viajero (Lost Traveler).
With the support of scholars, and invited by some students, Sáenz opened a Poetry Workshop in the Literature Program of the UMSA in 1978. That same year, he published Imágenes paceñas (Images from La Paz).
A notable exhibition was of his work Calaveras (Skulls), in which he presented about twenty pictures, including: Calavera que resistía a ser calavera (Skull that Resisted Being a Skull), Calavera con dolor de muelas (Skull with Toothache), Calavera en vitrina (Skull in Showcase), Calavera desnutrida (Malnourished Skull), Calavera en desgracia (Skull in Misfortune), Calavera de un muerto (Dead Man's Skull), among other skulls done in indigenous styles.
The Krupp Workshops
Nighttime reunions with Jaime Sáenz were hosted for years, and until the moment of his death they were a space for the marginalized and the rebellious to have rich intellectual exchange. The famous "Krupp Workshop", the venue where Sáenz received his visitors, was converted into an institution, where the publication of literary magazines, games of dice, music by Anton Bruckner or Simeón Roncal, chats about Milarepa, and lectures on poetry were the permanent foundation.
Influence
One can say that very few representatives of Bolivian literature, music, or contemporary art have stopped having a connection with or influence from Sáenz. Even the new generation of videographers and filmmakers have felt the importance of his work.
Perhaps the most appealing detail about him, especially to young people, was the romantic aspect of his lifestyle, reflected in his work schedule and social life: sleep during the day and live at night.
Sáenz, alcohol, and his death
Fascination with death was something experiential for Sáenz. Like he himself reports in his most autobiographical book, La piedra imán (The Lodestone) (1989), visiting the morgue to contemplate the dead was one of the extravagant activities he participated in as a youth. But one should not see this as a necrophilic act, but as an obsession to understand life and death as a unity, which he came to call "La Verdadera Vida (True Life)".
Sáenz claimed to have reached true life, which is also access to the transcendental conscience that he aspired to have.
"While alive, the man will not be able to understand the world; the man ignores that as long he does not stop living, he will not be wise". [...] "What does living have to do with life; living is one thing and life is another thing, life and death are one and the same".
The impact of alcohol is greatly explored in two works: the poem La noche (The Night) (1984) and the novel Felipe Delgado (1979). Sáenz denied many times that this novel was autobiographical in nature, but one cannot fail to see some aspects of his personal life within it, especially the references to his time as an alcoholic.
His voluntary renunciation of alcohol, which took place sometime in the 1960s, was one of his greatest achievements of his life. Save for sporadic relapses, Sáenz did not go back to drinking until just before his death in 1986. The years where he was distanced from alcohol were when he was most productive. In 1980, one of his relapses brought him to the brink of death, thus sparking inspiration for La noche (The Night), a collection of poems that can be classified as "frightening" due to its subject matter rooted in his near-death experience.
Sáenz died in La Paz on 16 August 1986, surrounded by his dearest friends and colleagues. He was buried the next day in the city's General Cemetery.
Homages
In La Paz, a street in the Cota Cota neighborhood is named after Jaime Sáenz. A plaza in the macrodistrict San Antonio is also named in his memory, and is near the Jaime Saenz Cultural District House.
Works
Poetry books
- (1955) El escalpelo[2]
- (1957) Cuatro poemas para mi madre[3]
- (1957) Muerte por el tacto[4]
- (1960) Aniversario de una visión[5]
- (1964) Visitante profundo;[6] English Translation: Immanent Visitor: Selected poems of Jaime Saenz (2002)[7]
- (1967) El frío[8] English Translation: The Cold (2015)[9]
- (1973) Recorrer esta distancia[10] (anthology)
- (1978) Bruckner[11]
- (1978) Las tinieblas[12]
- (1982) Al pasar un cometa[13]
- (1984) La noche;[14] English Translation: The Night (2007)[15]
Short stories
Theatre
Collections of Sáenz's work
It is worth noting that Sáenz never re-released his own works. These collections were compiled and published with no connection to Sáenz himself. The copyright status of many of these works is vague.
- (1975) Plural Editores, Obra poética[34]
- (2000) Café y mosquitero[35]
- (2004) Recorrer esta distancia: Antología poética[36]
- (2005) La bodega de Jaime Sáenz[37]
- (2007) El escalpelo; Aniversario de una visión; Visitante profundo; El frío[38]
- (2008) Prosa breve[39]
- (2011) La crítica y el poeta[40]
- (2015) Poesía reunida[41]
See also
References
- Johnson, Kent (2008). "Jaime Saenz". Almost Island. Archived from the original on 7 February 2009.
- Sáenz, Jaime (1955). El escalpelo [The Scalpel] (in Spanish). La Paz.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Sáenz, Jaime (1957). Cuatro poemas para mi madre [Four Poems for my Mother] (in Spanish). La Paz.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Sáenz, Jaime (1957). Muerte por el tacto [Death by Touch] (in Spanish). La Paz.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Sáenz, Jaime (1960). Aniversario de una visión [Anniversary of a Vision] (in Spanish). La Paz. LCCN 61036640.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Sáenz, Jaime (1964). Visitante profundo [Profound Visitor] (in Spanish). La Paz. LCCN 64048121.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Sáenz, Jaime (22 May 2002) [Original work 1964]. Immanent Visitor: Selected poems of Jaime Saenz. Translated by Gander, Forrest; Johnson, Kent. Berkley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-23048-5. LCCN 2021696408. OCLC 49977314.
- Sáenz, Jaime (1967). El frío [The Cold] (in Spanish). La Paz. LCCN 68090604.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Sáenz, Jaime (2015) [1967]. The Cold. Translated by Schulter, Kit. Poor Claudia. ISBN 978-0-9908324-3-0.
- Sáenz, Jaime (1973). Recorrer esta distancia [To Run this Distance] (in Spanish). La Paz. ISBN 9789681672041.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Sáenz, Jaime (1978). Bruckner (in Spanish). La Paz: Difusión. LCCN 80133350.
- Sáenz, Jaime (1978). Las tinieblas [The Darkness] (in Spanish). La Paz: Difusión. LCCN 80133350.
- Sáenz, Jaime (1970–1972). Al pasar un cometa [To Pass a Comet] (in Spanish). La Paz: Ediciones Altiplano (published 1980). LCCN 83202666.
- Sáenz, Jaime (1984). La noche [The Night] (in Spanish). La Paz. LCCN 85597801.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Sáenz, Jaime (2007) [Original work 1984]. The Night. Translated by Gander, Forrest; Johnson, Kent. Priceton University Press. ISBN 9780691124834. LCCN 2006043896. OCLC 608371351.
- Sáenz, Jaime (1972). El aparapita de La Paz [The Porter of La Paz] (in Spanish). La Paz.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Sáenz, Jaime (1979). Imágenes paceñas: lugares y personas de la ciudad [Images from La Paz: Places and People of the City] (in Spanish). La Paz: Difusión. LCCN 84141268.
- Sáenz, Jaime (1985). Los cuartos [The Quarters] (in Spanish). La Paz: Ediciones Altiplano. LCCN 85841626.
- Sáenz, Jaime (1986). Vidas y Muertes [Lives and Deaths] (in Spanish). La Paz: Ediciones Huayna Potosí. LCCN 93226723.
- Sáenz, Jaime (1989). La piedra imán: Obra postuma [The Lodestone: Posthumous Work] (in Spanish). La Paz: Editorial Huayna Potosí. LCCN 91888213.
- Sáenz, Jaime (1996). Written at La Paz. Obras inéditas [Unedited Works] (in Spanish). Patiño: Ediciones Centro Simón I. LCCN 97194270.
- Sáenz, Jaime (1996). Carta de amor [Love Letter] (in Spanish). La Paz.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Sáenz, Jaime (1996). Santiago de Machaca (in Spanish). La Paz.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Sáenz, Jaime (1996). El señor Balboa [Mr. Balboa] (in Spanish). La Paz.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Sáenz, Jaime (2009). Tocnolencias (in Spanish). La Paz.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Sáenz, Jaime (1979). Felipe Delgado (in Spanish). La Paz: Difusión. LCCN 80115168.
- Sáenz, Jaime (1991). Los papeles de Narciso Lima-Achá [The Papers of Narciso Lima-Achá] (in Spanish). La Paz: Instituto Boliviano de Cultura. LCCN 93218920.
- Sáenz, Jaime (2005). García Pabón, Leonardo (ed.). Obra dramática [Dramatic Work] (in Spanish). La Paz: Plural editores. ISBN 9990563616. LCCN 2006419742.
- Sáenz, Jaime (2005). La máscara [The Mask] (in Spanish). La Paz.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Sáenz, Jaime (2005). Perdido viajero [Lost Traveler] (in Spanish). La Paz.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Sáenz, Jaime (2005). La noche del viernes [Friday Night] (in Spanish). La Paz.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Sáenz, Jaime (2005). Obra plástica [Plastic Work] (in Spanish). La Paz.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - "Veneno lundico: Tocnolencias de Jaime Saenz".
- Sáenz, Jaime (1975). Obra poética [Poetic Work] (in Spanish). La Paz: Biblioteca del Sesquicentenario de la República. LCCN 77553083.
- Sáenz, Jaime (2000). Café y mosquitero [Coffee and Mosquito Net] (in Spanish). La Paz: Editorial La Mariposa Mundial. LCCN 2001405572.
- Sáenz, Jaime (2004). Recorrer esta distancia: Antología poética [To Run this Distance] (in Spanish). Fondo de Cultura Económica. ISBN 9789681672041.
- Luis H., Antezana J. y Marcelo Paz (2005). La bodega de Jaime Sáenz [The Abode of Jaime Sáenz] (in Spanish). Editorial Nuevo Milenio.
- Sáenz, Jaime (2007). El escalpelo; Aniversario de una visión; Visitante profundo; El frío [The Scalpel; Anniversary of a Vision; Profound Visitor; The Cold] (in Spanish). La Paz: Universidad Mayor de San Andrés. ISBN 9789990591804. LCCN 2008421035.
- Sáenz, Jaime (2008). García Pabón, Leonardo (ed.). Prosa breve [Short Prose] (in Spanish). La Paz. LCCN 2008469113.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Sáenz, Jaime (2011). La crítica y el poeta [The Critic and the Poet] (in Spanish). La Paz: Universidad Mayor de San Andrés. ISBN 9789995413439. LCCN 2012547794.
- Sáenz, Jaime (28 October 2015). Written at La Paz. Poesía reunida [Poetry Reunited] (in Spanish). El Murillo: Plural editores. ISBN 978-99954-1-683-6. LCCN 2017418112.