Bonifaz Nuño, Rubén (1923–)

Rubén Bonifaz Nuño (b. 12 November 1923), Mexican writer. Born in Córdoba, Veracruz, Bonifaz Nuño received a law degree from the National University but has devoted himself primarily to literature, mostly poetry, since the publication of La muerte del ángel (The Death of the Angel) in 1945. He won a scholarship from the Centro Mexicano de Escritores for the 1951–1952 academic year. In 1953 he published Imágenes (Images), a collection of poems that combined classical Greek and Latin influences with Nahuatl. He turned even more fully to the indigenous world in Siete de espadas (Seven of Spades), published in 1966, followed by El ala del tigre (The Wing of the Tiger) in 1969. In 1974 he was awarded the National Literature Prize. He is also known for his translations of the Georgics by Virgil (1963) and the Eclogues by Dante (1965), as well as for his essays.

Critics have placed Bonifaz Nuño in the "generation of the 1950s" with Jaime Sabines, Rosario Castellanos, and Jaime García Terres. Whether he is addressing the themes of solitude, disillusionment, misery, immortality, or hopelessness, Bonifaz's poetry is defined by a preference for urban spaces, experimental innovations with traditional poetic forms, a unique mixture of high and popular cultures, and a profound belief in the power of language and poetry to unmask enigmas and reinvent the world. A member of El Colegio Nacional and the Mexican Language Academy, he also directed the Instituto de Investigaciones Filológicas at the National University.

See alsoLiterature: Spanish America .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Marco Antonio Campos, "La poesía de Rubén Bonifaz Nuño," in Klahn and Jesse Fernández, eds., Lugar de encuentro: Ensayos críticos sobre poesía mexicana actual (1987), pp. 59-65.

Frank Dauster, "Rubén Bonifaz Nuño: The Shadow of the Goddess," in his The Double Strand: Five Contemporary Mexican Poets (1987), pp. 103-133.

Additional Bibliography

Eudave, Cecilia. "La tradición clásica y la poesía de lo cotidiano en Rubén Bonifaz Nuno." Texto Crítico 1 (July-Dec 1995): 109-119.

Fick, Marlon L. The River Is Wide: Twenty Mexican Poets: A Bilingual Anthology = El río es ancho. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2005.

Paz, Octavio. Poesía en movimiento: México 1915–1966. México: Siglo Ventiuno, 2000.

Reyes Coria, Bulmaro. Del poeta humanisto Rubén Bonfiaz Nuno. México, D.F.: El Colegio Nacional, 2005.

                                               Norma Klahn