Enrique Congrains Martin

 

Enrique Congrains Martin

Picture 1957

 

 

 

 

 

1932 - Cochabamba, July 6, 2009)1 was a Peruvian writer and publisher belonging to the so-called generation of the 50, of which Mario Vargas Llosa, Julio Ramon Ribeyro, Manuel Scorza, Gustavo Valcárcel, among others, are also part.

Personal information

 

 

 

 

Birth name Henry Congrains Martin

 

Born July 4,

 

Lima, Peru

 

Passed away July 6,

 

(77 years old)

 

Cochabamba, Bolivia

 

Cause of death cardiorespiratory arrest

 

Peruvian nationality

 

Mother tongue Spanish

 

Family

 

Spouse Mary Emma Lion Cabada

 

Sons Alfred Congrains

 

Professional information

 

Occupation Writer, editor

 

Movement Generation of the 50th

 

Literary language Spanish

Novelist

 

 Storyteller

 

Signature

1932 - Cochabamba, July 6, 2009)1 was a Peruvian writer and editor belonging to the so-called generation of 50, of which Mario Vargas Llosa, Julio Ramón Ribeyro, Manuel Scorza, Gustavo Valcárcel, among others, are also part.

Biography

 

He was born in Lima, into a middle-class family that took care to give him a careful education. His parents, of French descent, were Víctor Elías Congrains Agüero and Henrietta Martín.

 

 

 

He completed his primary studies at Antonio Raimondi, La Inmaculada and Maristas de San Isidro and continued his secondary studies at Maristas.

 

 

 

His wife was María Emma León Cabada.

 

 

 

In the literary field he is one of the first narrators to express in his work his interest in human, social and ethical problems that afflict the population of marginal urban neighborhoods.

 

 

 

He died on July 6, 2009 in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where he had resided for several years.2

 

 

 

Storyteller

 

In 1954 he published the book of short stories Lima, Hora Zero, inaugurating urban realism in Peru, which his generation colleagues would later explore, as would later authors, such as Oswaldo Reynoso. This book describes the marginality of the Lima neighborhoods, on which society's gaze fell in that decade, given the importance of the Andean migratory wave towards the capital of Peru at that time.

 

 

 

The following year he published his second book, the collection of Kikuyo stories, which was circulated in a minority.

 

 

 

Both books were edited by the same author, who was also in charge of their distribution, which he did personally, selling the copies, even in installments, to his readers.3

 

 

 

Novelist

 

Not one, but many deaths

 

In 1957, living in Buenos Aires, he self-published his novel !No una sino muchas !muertes- Not one, but many deaths.

In 1957, living in Buenos Aires, he self-published his novel Not one but many deaths (Buenos Aires: Embajada Cultural Peruana),4 in which he recounts, having a teenager from the outskirts of Lima as the protagonist, the problems of extreme marginalization. with singular acuity and precision in the descriptions.

 

 

 

This work, central to 20th-century Peruvian literature, presents one of the most striking female characters in its history.5

 

 

 

The novel was published several times, in different countries. The first edition in Buenos Aires was followed by a Uruguayan one (Montevideo: Alfa, 1967), as well as editions in Lima, both by Peisa (1974, 1988) and by Populibros. Vargas Llosa prefaced the 1975 edition of Planeta de España, describing the work as a "wild novel."6​3​

 

 

 

It was made into a film in 1983 by Francisco Lombardi, under the title Maruja in Hell.

 

 

 

Final works

 

Towards the end of his life and after fifty years of Not one, but many deaths, he published the novels The narrator of stories (dedicated to Vargas Llosa)3 and 999 words for planet Earth, works that denote, after so many decades of literary silence, a freer style in technique and with themes under the interest in the fantastic and the futuristic.

 

 

 

Author of manuals and editorial work

 

He was the author of texts such as This is how intelligence is developed or This is how it is studied.

 

 

 

In Colombia, where he lived for many years, he organized the Latin American Center for Intellectual Training. There he carried out editing and marketing tasks with his own company Forja in which he published, for example: Así se Desarrollo la salud (3 volumes) 1975; This is how you study (1978); The wonders of Colombia: surprising and little known (4 volumes), 1979; Black file (4 volumes), 1984; The lightning of history (3 volumes), 1986; Classic and modern French narrative (1986); Famous and resounding phrases (1989); Wise and lucid letters (1989). He also published the series of literary anthologies: Anthology of the Classic and Modern American Short Story (1980); Anthology of the classic Russian story (1980); and the series The Colossi of Humanity composed of: Life and work of scientists and inventors (1983); Life and work of writers and poets (1983); Life and work of politicians and rulers (1983); Life and work of famous Colombians (1985); Life and work of philosophers and thinkers (1985); Life and work of sailors and explorers (1985); Life and work of warriors and soldiers (1987); Life and work of musicians and composers (1987); Life and work of famous women (1989); Life and work of painters and sculptors (1990); Life and work of kings and emperors (1990).

 

 

 

At the Ateneo de Caracas he taught "The course on mental calculation and concentration", a system of intellectual exercise that, through a novel method of performing mathematical operations, helped develop concentration, memory, agility and inventiveness.

 

 

 

Book about Not One, But Many Deaths (1957)

 

In 1974, the German critic Wolfgang A. Luchting published the study Woman or the Revolution. Analysis of "Not one, but many deaths" by Enrique Congrains. The book can be consulted at the following link: https://es.scribd.com/document/567630226/La-Mujer-o-La-Revolucion-Analisis-de-No-Una-Sino-Muchas-Muertes-Wolfgang-Luchting -PDF

More importantwoorks

 

 

 

"Black Night" (1948). Story published on June 27, 1948 in the newspaper La Crónica. Access: https://www.academia.edu/50550260/Enrique_Congrains_Noche_negra_2021_

 

Lima, zero hour (stories, 1954, which includes the story "The boy next to the sky")

 

The Boy Next to Heaven (Story, 1954)

 

Kikuyu (stories, 1995)

 

Sunday in a mat cage (story included in Peruvian Stories. Complete and updated anthology of the story in Peru. Buenos Aires: Peruvian Cultural Embassy, 1957). Consult: https://es.scribd.com/document/573284186/Domingo-en-La-Jaula-de-Estera-Enrique-Congrains-PDF

 

Not one, but many deaths (novel, 1957)

 

The Storyteller (novel, 2008)

 

words for planet Earth (novel, 2009)

 

Bibliography on Enrique Congrains

 

In 2021, the Peruvian Literary Network carried out a bibliographical investigation that compiled all the criticism surrounding the narrative of Enrique Congrains.

 

With affection,

 

 

Ruben

 

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