Jose Emilio Pacheco

José Emilio Pacheco was a prominent Mexican writer who published poetry, chronicle, novel, short story, essay, literary criticism and translation. He was considered part of the generation of the 1950s or mid-century, along with other writers such as Juan Vicente Melo, Inés Arredondo, Juan García Ponce, Huberto Batis, Sergio Pitol, José de la Colina, Salvador Elizondo, Carlos Monsiváis, among others. He shared the cosmopolitan perspective that characterizes the writers of that generation, and the themes he addressed in his texts range from history and cyclical time, the universes of childhood and fantasy, to the city and death. Pacheco's writing is distinguished by a constant questioning of life in the modern world, of literature and his own artistic production, as well as by the use of a language without embellishments, accessible. He began his career at an early age, publishing in student magazines and newspapers. He studied law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, but dropped out at 19 to devote himself to writing. He collaborated in various magazines and cultural supplements, such as Mexico in Culture, Always!, Dialogues, Mexican Literature Review, Culture Diorama, New Branches, supplement of Seasons, where he worked with Monsiváis. He taught at several universities, such as the University of Essex, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the University of Maryland, and many others in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. He received numerous awards and distinctions, such as the Cervantes Prize, the Reina Sofía Award, the Federico García Lorca Award, the Octavio Paz Award, the Pablo Neruda Award, the Ramón López Velarde Award, the Alfonso Reyes International Prize, the José Fuentes Mares National Prize for Literature, the National José Asunción Silva Poetry Award and the Xavier Villaurrutia Prize. He was elected by unanimous acclaim to the Mexican Academy of Language in 2006. He was a member of The National College since 1986. He died at the age of 74 in 2014 after suffering a cardiac arrest.