Centurión, Carlos R. (1902–1969)
Centurión, Carlos R. (1902–1969)
Carlos R. Centurión (b. 1902; d. 1969), Paraguayan historian. Born into an old and established family, Centurión chose to enter the legal profession but also spent many years in academic pursuits. His first literary undertaking, a two-volume account of the Gran Chaco dispute, El conflicto del Chaco: Gestiones diplomáticas, published in 1937, was well received, and a year later, he produced a detailed examination of Paraguay's first constitutional convention, Los hombres de la convención del 70 (1938).
These two early works gave Centurión excellent preparation for his magnum opus, Historia de las letras paraguayas. This study, which appeared in three volumes between 1947 and 1951, has long been regarded as the most complete and best-researched intellectual history of Paraguay. Perhaps its only rival is Efraím Cardozo's Historiografía paraguaya, which addresses only the colonial period. Centurión's work received considerable acclaim when it first appeared. Subsequent critics have nonetheless charged that it avoids in-depth analysis of Paraguayan writers in favor of a superficial thoroughness. Even these critics, however, have failed to duplicate Centurión's efforts.
See alsoLiterature: Spanish America .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carlos Centurión, Historia de la cultura paraguaya, 2 vols. (1961).
Charles J. Kolinski, Historical Dictionary of Paraguay (1975).
Thomas L. Whigham