Cunha Dotti, Juan (1910–1985)

Juan Cunha Dotti (b. 1910; d. 1985), Uruguayan poet. Born in Sauce de Illescas, Cunha left for Montevideo when he reached eighteen; his first book of poetry was published a year later. That volume, El pájaro que vino de la noche (1929), established his enduring fame through hermetic yet colloquial images that communicated well the nostalgia of the time for a less complicated and anguished existence. Other collections of poems—Cunha published twenty-six during his lifetime—demonstrated his agile versification skills in sonnets as well as free verse, in popular songs as well as difficult, esoteric verses. His poetry always registered subtle mutations of taste and concern with urgent social issues. During the 1940s he published little. Cunha's mature expression after 1951, in works such as A eso de la tarde (1961) and Pastor perdido (1966), communicates the poet's resentful solitude amid the silent streets and locked front doors of Uruguay's capital city. Additional works by Cunha include Sueño y retorno de un campesino (1951); Hombre entre luz y sombra (1955); and Carpeta de mi gestión terrestre (1960).

See alsoLiterature: Spanish America .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Franscico Aguilera and Georgette Magassy Dorn, The Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape: A Descriptive Guide (1974).

Additional Bibliography

Bianchi, Matilde. "Juan Cunha." Foro Literario 8 (July-December 1985): 66-67.

                                    William H. Katra