Valle Jo, César

Valle Jo, César

 

Born Mar. 16, 1892, in Santiago de Chuco, Peru; died Apr. 15, 1938, in Paris. Peruvian writer and member of the Communist Party.

Vallejo emigrated from Peru in 1923, and from 1928 to 1931 he visited the USSR, where he wrote the book Russia in 1931 (1931). He took part in the First and Second International Congresses in Defense of Culture (1935, 1937). In his first collection of verse, Black Heralds (1918), Vallejo engages in polemics with the poetry of the decadents; the verse collection Trilce (1923) relates the experiences of the poet. In 1937 he produced a cycle of antifascist poems Spain, May This Cup Pass From Me (published posthumously, 1939). His verses from 1923 to 1938 (published in the book Human Verses, 1939) are filled with faith in the people’s strength. His novel Wolfram (1931; Russian translation, 1932) deals with the awakening of the revolutionary consciousness of Peruvian workers.

WORKS

Poesías completas, 2nd ed. Buenos Aires, 1953.
In Russian translation:
Chernye gerol’dy. (Foreword by V. Stolbov.) Moscow, 1966.

REFERENCES

Kel’in, F. “Sesar Val’ekho.” Literaturnyi kritik, 1938, no. 7.
Mariategui, J. Sem’ ocherkov istolkovaniia peruanskoi deiatvitel’ nosti. Moscow, 1963. (Translated from Spanish.)
Dalton, R. César Vallejo. Havana, 1963.
Monguió, L. César Vallejo: 1892-1938. New York, 1952.
Norte, March-April, 1966, no. 2. (Issue dedicated to Vallejo.)

Z. I. PLAVSKIN