Torres Bodet, Jaime (1902–1974)

Jaime Torres Bodet (b. 17 April 1902; d. 15 May 1974), Mexican poet and public figure. Torres Bodet, who published his first book at age sixteen, distinguished himself as a preparatory student and became a protégé of José Vasconcelos at nineteen. He joined the Ateneo de la Juventud in 1918 with other budding intellectual figures, many of whom established the major literary circle known as the "Contemporáneos" in the late 1920s. The prototypical Mexican intellectual of his age, Torres Bodet became a major figure in the public world of international and educational affairs. A professor at the National University, he twice served as secretary of education (1943–1946 and 1958–1964). In foreign affairs, after a long career in the diplomatic service, including posts as ambassador to France and Italy, he became secretary of foreign relations (1946–1948) and secretary general of UNESCO in 1948. Awarded the National Prize for Literature in 1966, he left a monumental four-volume memoir.

See alsoAteneo de la Juventud (Athenaeum of Youth) .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jaime Torres Bodet, Obras Escogidas (1961).

Emmanuel Carballo, Jaime Torres Bodet (1968).

Sonja P. Karsen, Jaime Torres Bodet (1971).

Guillermo Sheridan, Los contemporáneos ayer (1985).

Additional Bibliography

Curiel, Fernando, ed. Casi oficios: Cartas cruzadas entre Jaime Torres Bodet y Alfonso Reyes, 1922–1959. Mexico City: Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Lingüísticos y Literarios: Colegio Nacional, 1994.

Olea-Franco, Rafael, and Anthony Stanton, editors. Los contemporáneos en el laberinto de la crítica. Mexico City: Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Lingüísticos y Literarios, 1994.

                                     Roderic Ai Camp