José Santos Chocano Gastañodi (1875 – 1934), the poet was born on May 14, 1875 . His father was José Félix Chocano de Zela and his mother María Aurora Gastañodi de la Vega. The poet boasted of descending from the Spanish captain Gonzalo Fernández de Córdova. Controversial and arrogant, his life was romantic and turbulent, and his trajectory was associated with that of the South American dictators of the time. On the other hand, his literary production obtained in Peru a recognition never seen before, he became the most popular writer after Palma and widely overflowed the strictly literary circles. The poet does his secondary studies at the Instituto de Lima and concludes them at the Colegio Alemán, directed by Pedro A. Labarthe. He entered the National University of San Marcos in 1891 to study Literature, but he did not finish his degree.
Early works by José Santos Chocano
He collaborates with the secretariat of the presidency of the Republic during the government of the “caliph” Nicolás de Piérola and works as a journalist in La Neblina, El Perú Ilustrado, La Gran Revista and El Siglo XX . In 1895 he assumes the direction of the official newspaper El Peruano , publishing that same year his first book of poems Iras santas , and the following year In the village . In these early works the imprint of late American and European romanticism is evident; he was basically influenced by Víctor Hugo and the Mexican Salvador Díaz Mirón, whom he would later meet personally. But this romanticism, which also owes much to the rhetoric of Spanish poets such as Quintana and Núñez de Arce, is combined with Parnassian contributions that are decisive in his poetics and that he would never abandon. Although he was a friend of almost all the important modernists, Rubén Darío, Lugones, Nervo, Herrera and Reissig, Jaimes Freyre, his inclusion in this movement is problematic for some. He felt distant from the “Frenchification” of Darío -although at times he imitated him- and postulated, in accordance with Rodó's call, a poetry that reflected the nature and history of America. His pretentiousness once led him to compare himself to Whitman.
José Santos Chocano and his early diplomatic career
In 1901 he began his diplomatic career and repeatedly traveled to Central America; he held various positions such as charge d'affaires and consul of Peru. When he traveled to Argentina in 1905, Chocano was already an internationally recognized poet. He had published The virgin forest (1896), The End of Satan (1901) and Complete Poems (1902). This last book had a consecrating prologue by Manuel González Prada. Chocano meets in Buenos Aires Bartolomé Mitre, the great statesman and director of La Nación. His stay in Spain as secretary of the Peruvian legation (1905) allowed him to establish personal friendships with the best writers of the time:Pérez Galdós, Emilia Pardo Bazán, Unamuno -who appreciated his poetry-, Benavente and Manuel Machado, among others. His prestige increased with Alma América (1906), a book that condenses some of his best-known compositions and alludes to the mestizo vocation of the continent. It contains the poems “Blasón” and “The horses of the conquerors”, classic pieces of the recitation. Chocano travels to the United States, Guatemala and Mexico (1913). When Madero is deposed he is banished to Cuba. Back in the United States, he served as secretary to Venustiano Carranza and Pancho Villa. In Guatemala (1919) he became the dictator Manuel Estrada Cabrera's amanuensis, the model for El Señor Presidente , the Asturian novel. When the caudillo is deposed, Chocano is taken prisoner and would have been shot if the Pope, Alfonso XIII and various writers from America and Europe had not intervened to save him. Chocano returns to Peru in 1922, after long years of absence. González Prada and Piérola, idols of his youth, as well as his protector, Javier Prado, had died. In Lima he receives the enthusiastic applause of the crowds and the highest level of the intelligentsia:José Gálvez, Luis A. Sánchez, José M. Eguren and César Vallejo go to the port of Callao to receive him. He will receive the homage of the Lima municipality and the capital's newspapers. Addicted to the Leguía regime, he will receive from his hands, in November 1922, the crown of golden laurels in the Palace of the Exhibition and the title of “Poet of America” . Despite his manifest vanity, Chocano was always cordial with poets who admired him, such as Eguren and Vallejo.
José Santos Chocano assassinates Edwin Elmore
In 1924, the centenary of the battle of Ayacucho was celebrated lavishly in Lima and, for that occasion, Chocano wrote his “Ayacucho y los Andes”; For that date, an important delegation of intellectuals and poets such as Lugones, Jaimes Freyre and Guillermo Valencia arrived in Lima. A friend of the Venezuelan tyrant Juan Vicente Gómez, the Peruvian poet publicly praises the “organizing dictatorships” of Latin America and Lugones affirms that “the hour of the sword” had arrived for the subcontinent. These statements would have a wide repercussion in the American newspapers. The writer José Vasconcelos attacks Chocano from Mexico, calling him a “buffoon” . Edwin Elmore, a young journalist from Lima, defends Vasconcelos and writes an article that, incidentally, reaches the hands of Chocano; article in which he treats him as “vulgar impostor” . After an exchange of words and, at the entry of the newspaper El Comercio , in full view of his director, Chocano will assassinate Elmore with a shot at close range (October 31, 1925). Unscrupulous and egotistical, he never regretted his crime. Justice -aligned with Leguía- was benevolent with Chocano and allowed him to expatriate, after a two-year trial, to Santiago de Chile. In Santiago the poet tries to subsist with journalistic collaborations and recitals; but he is harassed by poverty and sentimental conflicts. He contracted various marriages and other relationships in the various countries that he ran.
Death of José Santos Chocano
In 1934 Chocano was stabbed by a madman with whom he supposedly had business dealings, on a Santiago streetcar. Transferring his remains to Lima (1965), he was buried standing -as he had requested in a poem- in the Presbítero Maestro cemetery.
Works and contribution of José Santos Chocano
In his time Chocano was considered an “epic” poet as opposed to “lyrical” Darius; however, within his work we find brief intimate and delicate compositions -the most valued in the present-, such as the "Nocturne N ° 18 (The song of the road)" , “Orchids” , “The magnolia” , etc., poems that contradict the referred judgment. While he lived, his glory was surely excessive and, over the years, this trend has been at the opposite pole, but it is undeniable that Chocano incorporates within American modernism, with laudable ambition and unique in his generation, the tumultuous landscape of America and an interpretation of its history that highlights miscegenation . He is criticized for his bombast and a superficial view of things, perhaps a consequence of writing so many commissioned verses. Apart from those mentioned, other Chocano books are:Azahares (1896), La epopeya del Morro. American Poem (1899), The Landslide (1899), The Song of the Century. End of the century poem (1901), The songs of the Pacific. Selected Poems (1904), Fiat Lux (1908), El Dorado, Wild Epic (1908), Puerto Rico Lyrical and Other Poems (1914), Golden Firsts of the Indies (1934). Posthumously published:Poems of sorrowful love (1937), The soul of Voltaire and other prose (1940), Memoirs. the thousand and one adventures (1940); Complete works (Mexico, Aguilar, 1955). Luis Alberto Sánchez was in charge of publishing a voluminous and neat text:Selected Works (Lima, Occidental Petroleum Company, 1988). Already in 1975, Sánchez had published the best biography on Chocano:Aladdin or the life and work of José Santos Chocano.