Omar Saavedra Santis

Omar Saavedra Santis (Berlin, 2007)

Omar Saavedra Santis (born July 15, 1944 in Valparaíso ; † on or before December 23, 2021 there ) was a Chilean writer .

biography

Saavedra Santis studied medicine, acting and journalism in Chile without a degree. From 1968 to 1970 he toured Eastern Europe, with a longer stay in Zagreb . Then he was editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper "El Popular" until September 1973. After the coup d'état of September 11, 1973 , he was persecuted politically and in 1974 emigrated to the GDR via the Belgian embassy . Here he worked at the Rostock Volkstheater and studied theater studies in Leipzig . He later moved to Berlin . Saavedra Santis has written novels, short prose and plays. These appeared in Germany , Chile ,Costa Rica , Poland , Austria , Japan and the USA . In 2009 Saavedra Santis returned to Chile. He taught theater direction at the theater studies faculty of the Universidad de Chile . He was also a visiting professor at DW Akademie .

Saavedra Santis has received several awards for his literary work. In 1986 he received the Anna Seghers Prize . In 1987 his screenplay for the film " Blonder Tango " was awarded the Critics' Prize. In 1990 he was awarded the Critics' Prize of the Universidad Católica de Chile and in 1994 the Literature Prize of the Fondo Nacional del Libro . In 1995 he was awarded the WDR's Civis Media Prize , and in 2002 the MDR Literature Prize . On September 6, 2012 Saavedra Santis received the Premio de la Sociedad de Escritores de Chile .

His daughter is the Chilean actress Catalina Saavedra .

Saavedra Santis died in Valparaíso in December 2021.

Works (selection)

Novels

• Blonde tango. Roman ("Y qué hago en este país donde todas las gatos son rubios"). New Life Publishing House, Berlin. 1982.
• The big city. Roman ("La gran ciudad"). Edition Schwarzdruck, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-935194-09-9 .
• Felipe is coming back. Roman ("El hombre que regresaba"). Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-351-00531-8 .
• Spring from the music box. Roman ("Primavera en cajamúsica"). Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-351-01697-2 .
• Magna Diva. The opera of the murderers ("Magna diva"). Rhino-Verlag, Weimar 2003, ISBN 3-932081-60-9 .
• Erotica de la resistencia (y otras historias de resentidos) . Editorial Escaparate, Concepción, Chile 2003, ISBN 956-7827-22-2 .
• Prontuarios y claveles . Simplemente Ed., Santiago de Chile, 2011, ISBN 978-956-8865-08-5 .

Plays

• Scenes against the night. Drama ("Historias posibles o escenas contre la noche"). Henschelverlag, Berlin 1977.
• Welcome to Amapola. Comedy in eight pictures (“Amapola”). Henschelverlag, Berlin 1980.
• The consul and the terrorist. Acting . 1988.
• Pachamama. Acting . 1989.
• Delirium tremens americanum. Acting . 1992.
• Borges kills disciples apparently without motive - second encounter. Acting . 2001.
• Don Quixote beyond the mirror. Acting . 2006.
• Fausto Sudaca . 2016

stories

• Torero. Stories ("torero"). Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1983 (Contents: "Discrete Symmetries", "The Art of Cooking", "Encounter in Plovdiv", "Introduction to Aesthetics", "Minetti" and "Torero").
• Friday with Bach . In: Jürgen Grambow (Ed.): Only the ocean is real. A maritime sonata . 2nd edition. Hinstorff Verlag, Rostock 1987.
• Germany - three exercises to awaken . In: Argonautenschiff, 1994, No. 3, pp. 7-10
• Late reunion . In: Argonautenschiff, 1994, No. 3, pp. 43-47
• Bruno's Legacy ( El legado de Bruno ), 2002
• The functionary ( El funcionario ), 2012
• Stella Artois . In: ila: Journal of the Latin America Observatory ; No. 368, 2013, pp. 32-36
• Stella Artois . Santiago, 2013. (Contents: "Ars Culinaria", "Simetrías discretas", "Stella Artois"). ISBN 978-956-9257-03-2

Radio plays

• A clock in the rain. Radio play . 1981.
• A tulip, a stone, a sword. Radio play . 1982.
• Amapola. Radio play . 1984.
• Fall at dawn. Radio play . 1989.
• The consul and the terrorist. Radio play . 1997.

TV Shows

• Helga y Flora , Chilean TV series 2020.

Essays

• A lack of humor has ruined German socialism . In: ila. Latin America Observatory Journal , 1993, pp. 54–58.
• Germany - three exercises to awaken you . In: Argonautenschiff , 1994, No. 33, p. 7 ff.
• Late reunion . In: Argonautenschiff , No. 33. 1994, p. 34 ff.
• Meeting place Buch . In: Argonautenschiff , No. 44. 1995, p. 57 ff.
• Laudation for Miguel Vitagliano . In: Argonautenschiff , No. 66. 1997, pp. 85 ff.
• My time as a “Latino” among Germans . In: Artists between power and reason , vol. 3, no. 1, 2000, pp. 38–60.
• 33 degrees 0 33 south, 71 degrees 38 33 west: position of a half-lost paradise . In: ila. Latin America Observatory Journal , 2003, pp. 4–25.
• The milk in the revolution . In: Berliner Zeitung of September 11, 2003
• The magician of Aracataca: Gabriel García Márquez turns 80 . In: ila. Latin America Observatory Journal , 2007, March, p. 56
• The beauty of an ugly: Violeta Parra , 40 years after her death; a bow. In: ila. Latin America Observatory Journal , 2007, October, pp. 49–53
• The year with many springs. Memories of the 1968 from a Latin American perspective . In: ila. Latin America Observatory Journal , No. 319, 2008, pp. 37–41.

Movies

• Lothar Warneke (Director): Blonder Tango . 1986 (film adaptation of the novel of the same name).
• Edgar Kaufmann (director): Melanio's last love . 1988 (film adaptation of the story "The Art of Cooking")
• A life in exile. The writer Omar Saavedra Santis . 2007.

literature

• Martin Franzbach: Fascism in Germany as reflected in Chilean exile literature: Omar Saavedra Santis “Spring in the music box” . In: Bernd Marschang, Gerhard Stuby (Ed.): No habrá olvido. A life in diplomacy and science; Commemorative publication for Luis Quinteros-Yañez on his 70th birthday . Edition by Bockel, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-928770-80-2 , pp. 177-183.
• Monika Küppers: Double bookkeeping - The novels by Omar Saavedra Santis . In: Ila: Journal of the Latin America Observatory. - (1993), 170.
• Martina Polster: Chilean exile literature in the GDR . Tectum-Verlag, Marburg 2001, ISBN 3-8288-8236-6 (plus master's thesis, University of Berlin 1996).
• Monika Walter: Interview with Omar Saavedra Santis . In: Weimarer Contributions , Vol. 34 (1988), Issue 9, pp. 1446-1457.
• Monika Walter: Omar Saavedra Santis “infinite possibility of amazement”. A Chilean writer in exile in the GDR . In: Weimarer Contributions , Vol. 34 (1988), Issue 9, pp. 1458-1473.

Web links

• Website by Omar Saavedra Santis (span.) ( Memento from January 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
• Literature by and about Omar Saavedra Santis in the catalog of the Ibero-American Institute of Prussian Cultural Heritage, Berlin
• Literature by and about Omar Saavedra Santis in the catalog of the German National Library
• Building blocks of liberation: Reread: Omar Saavedra Santis' novel about the reign of the Unidad Popular in Chile . In: ila. Latin America Observatory Journal No. 368, September 2013
• Goethe goes Cumbia: Omar Saavedra Santis' new play "Fausto Sudaca" causes houses to be sold out in Chile . ila. Latin America Observatory Journal , April 2016, No. 394

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Fallció escritor Omar Saavedra Santis a los 77 años. The writer Omar Saavedra Santis died at the age of 77. In: El Mostrador. RUT, Providencia, Santiago, December 23, 2021, accessed December 24, 2021 (Spanish).