José Soler Puig: A Great Novelist Born in Santiago
The Excelencias Group proposes you to learn more about the life and works of one of the most outstanding Cuban narrators from the 20th century, who has been labeled representative per excellence of the novelist movement that came up with the Revolution: José Soler Puig.
Click on Santiago de Cuba: A City of 500 Years
Soler was born in Santiago de Cuba on November 10, 1916 and passed away on August 30, 1996 when he was 78 years old.
This remarkable novelist became famous in the world of literature by means of his Bertillón 166, which sheds light on the anxiety lived by the people of Santiago during the Batista tyranny. He was given the Casa de las Américas Award in 1960 for this book, it has been translated into over ten languages and four editions have been launched in Cuba.
The jury was made up of five first-line writers. Alejo Carpentier was among them and said: “I voted for Bertillón 166 because that book reveals the authentic temperament of a novelist”.
El pan dormido(1975), another brilliant work of Soler Puig, portrays the atmosphere in Santiago de Cuba during the Machado term. When speaking about this book Mario Benedetti said: "It’s one of the most stimulating examples of how avant-garde techniques are compatibles with a sort of communicability and fluency that allow readers to get into the novelist world and feel like they are home".
José Soler Puig is the author of a brief but intense narrative production that includes such titles as En el año de enero (1963), El derrumbe (1964), El caserón (1976) –he always said this was one of his finest books - El nudo (1983), Un mundo de cosas (1983, Critic Award), Ánima sola (1986)and his last novelUna mujer – dedicated to Chila, his lifetime soul mate.
His eventful career first took him to Guantánamo and later to Isla de Pinos, where he worked at a coconut oil factory. He subsequently moved to Gibara (the eastern province of Holguín), until 1959, when he began writing radio and movie scripts in Havana.
Soler assiduously collaborated with publications like Cúspide, Carteles, Lunes de Revolución, El Caimán Barbudo, Galería, Taller Literario and Cultura'64, where he became intellectually acclaimed.
Likewise, Soler gained prestige as a dramatist due to his scripts and some plays that were successfully premiered at his hometown, such as El macho y el guanajo, which was put on the stage by the Eastern Dramatic Group.
This Cuban narrator, dramatist, radio and movie scriptwriter worked in different sectors to make a living: day laborer, street seller, sugarcane cutter, painter, coffee collector and lottery ticket vendor.
He was controversial, sometimes prickly, affectionate, critic, ironic, hard-working and wanted to be recalled "as an authentic writer, a sincere and intimate man, and a fine revolutionary that fought for social equity and the total independence of his country ".
Among other recognitions, José Soler Puigwas given the National Culture Distinction (1981), First Grade Félix Varela Order (1982), Raúl Gómez García Distinction, Santiago de Cuba’s Coat of Arms and the National Literature Award(1986).
