Agustín Acosta (writer)

Agustín Acosta y Bello (born November 12, 1886 in Matanzas , Matanzas Province , † March 12, 1978 in Miami , Florida ) was a Cuban politician and writer.

Life

After finishing school in his hometown, Acosta studied law at the University of Havana . In 1918 he successfully completed this course with a dissertation in civil law. In 1921 he settled in Jagüey Grande (Matanzas province) as a lawyer and notary. Politically active, he was imprisoned during the dictatorship of President Gerardo Machado .

When President Carlos Mendieta y Montefur came to power after the overthrow of Machado , Acosta became head of the provisional government of Matanzas Province in 1933 and remained so until 1934. Between 1936 and 1944 he served as elected senator in the upper house of the Cuban parliament; from 1936 to 1937 he served as president of the Partido Unión Nacionalista (Nationalist Union Party). In 1938 Acosta was accepted into the Academia Nacional des Artes y Letras de Cuba ; a short time later he became a member of the Academia Cubana de la Lengua .

In parallel to his political offices, he produced a considerable literary (mostly lyrical) oeuvre. Together with Regino Boti and José Manuel Povera , Acosta stood at the end of Cuban modernism . Acosta himself is considered to be one of the first representatives of the Cuban Poesía social (workers' poetry). He published in almost all important newspapers and magazines, such as "Las Antillas", "Carteles", "El Cubano Libre", "Diario de la Marina" and "El Fígaro".

In 1972 Acosta left his homeland together with his wife Consuelo Díaz Carrasco (1910-2006) forever and settled in Miami, where his daughter and grandchildren had lived for several years. He also found his final resting place there after he died on March 12, 1978 at the age of 91.

Honors

• In 1955, the Cuban Congress (both houses of parliament) awarded him the honorary title Poeta Nacional (national poet). Before Acosta, only José María Heredia (1803–1839) and Julián del Casal (1863–1893) received this highest honor, after Acosta, under the communist government of Fidel Castro, only Nicolás Guillén (1902–1989). In 1961, the revolutionary government recognized Acosta from the honorary title originally awarded for life.

Works (selection)

Single issues

• Ala . 1915.
• Hermanita. Poemas . Imprenta "Siglo XX", Havana 1923.
• La zafra. Poema de combate . Editorial Minerva, Havana 1926.
• Los camellos distantes . Editorial Molina, Havana 1936.
• Martí, su obra y su apoteosis . 1941
• Últimos instantes . 1941
• Las islas desoladas . Editorial Verdugos, Havana 1943.
• Poema del centenario . 1953
• ¿Fué Martí precursor del modernismo? 1955
• Jesus . 1957
• En torno a la poesía de Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera . 1959
• Caminos de hierro . 1963
• El apóstol y su isla . 1974 ISBN 978-8439924425
• Trigo de Luna . 1979

Work editions

• Sus mejores poesías . Ediciones Brugueras, Barcelona 1955.
• Alero. Poemas . New edition SCP, Havana 1957.
• Ultíma poesía . Editorial Matanzas, Matanzas 2005, ISBN 959-268067-1 .

literature

• Aldo R. Forés: La poesía de Agustín Acosta, poeta nacional de Cuba . University Press, Miami Fla., 1987.
• María Romero Capote: Agustín Acosta. El modernista y su isla . Universal Editions, Miami, Fla., 1990, ISBN 0-89729-550-1 .

Web links

• Feliberto Pérez del Sol: Agustín Acosta, Aproximación al Ex-Poeta Nacional , in: Foro Cubanacán Press of December 19, 2012 (Spanish)