19 May 2009

By Eduardo Avila


Uruguayan writer and poet Mario Benedetti passed away on May 17 at the age of 88. He had written more than 80 novels, as well as many more poems, essays and short stories as part of his body of work, which has been translated into approximately 20 languages.


Murio benedetti, asi, con solo dos palabras se fue su inspiracion y dejo mil poesias. Mil poesias y una historia que se repetia una y otra vez, como marcada en fuego, en la vida de muchos uruguayos, en mi vida. Benedetti formo parte de mi memoria. Con Benedetti pase noches y dias y encuentros leyendo sus vivencias, su audacia, su historia de hombre comun. Su literatura ha sido parte de mi sangre, de mis entrañas, ha sido como el aire que he respirado para crecer. Y desde siempre mi brujula.

Beneditti died, and like that, with only those two words his inspiration has left and left behind a thousand poems. A thousand poems and a story that repeated over and over, as if marked by fire in the lives of so many Uruguayans and in my own life. Benedetti formed part of my memory. With Benedetti, I passed days and nights reading his experiences, his audacity, his story of a common man. His literature has been a part of my blood, of my insides, and has been like the air that I breathed in order to grow. And it has always been my compass.

His literary works transcended borders, and other Latin American bloggers shared their experiences such as Modestamente Humano [es] from Guatemala who wrote:

por dedicar un poema de él que a fin de cuentas decía las cosas tal y como uno hubiera querido pero tal vez no tenía el talento para decirlas de una forma tan clara, tan franca, tan sencilla y tan bella.

by dedicating one of his poems, in the end, said the things that one would have wanted to say, but maybe did not have the enough talent to say it in such a clear, frank, simple and beautiful way.

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