{"remote_ids": {"viaf": "29555218", "wikidata": "Q462721", "isni": "0000000121258965"}, "death_date": "1959", "birth_date": "1889", "key": "/authors/OL119784A", "type": {"key": "/type/author"}, "personal_name": "Reyes, Alfonso", "bio": "(17 May 1889, Monterrey, Nuevo Le\u00f3n \u2013 27 December 1959, Mexico City) was a Mexican writer, philosopher, and diplomat. He was son of General Don Bernardo Reyes y Ogaz\u00f3n, and of Do\u00f1a Aurelia Ochoa y Sapi'sn de Reyes. He was educated primarily in Mexico City. In 1909, he and other like-minded young intellectuals such as Mart\u00edn Luis Guzm\u00e1n and Jos\u00e9 Vasconcelos, founded the \"Ateneo de la Juventud\" a cultural society to promote new cultural and aesthetic ideals and educational reform in Mexico. At the age of 21, he published his first book \"Cuestiones Est\u00e9ticas\". The following year, 1912, he wrote a short story \"La Cena\", considered a forerunner of surrealism and of Latin American magical realism. In that year he was also named Secretary of the \"Escuela Nacional de Altos Estudios\" at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.\r\nHe obtained his law degree in 1913 and joined Mexico's diplomatic service in France. From 1914 to 1924, he was posted in Madrid (Spain), and was Mexico's Charg\u00e9 d'affaires, 1920-24. He also pursued a literary career as journalist, investigator, translator, critic, and writer. By virtue of this extended stay in Madrid, he was spared the violence of the Mexican Revolution. In 1915, he wrote what is probably his best known essay, \"Visi\u00f3n de An\u00e1huac (1519),\" with its famous epigraph, \"Viajero: has llegado a la regi\u00f3n m\u00e1s transparente del aire\", the source of the title of Carlos Fuentes's novel \"La regi\u00f3n m\u00e1s transparente\".\r\n\r\nHe continued his diplomatic service in Paris (1925-27), then served as ambassador to Argentina (1927-30 and 1936-37) and Brazil (1930-35 and 1938-39). In 1939, he retired from the diplomatic corps and returned to Mexico, where he organized what is today \"El Colegio de M\u00e9xico\" and dedicated himself to writing and teaching.\r\n\r\nThe great Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges paid homage to the excellence of Reyes's style with the following words: \"Alfonso Reyes, the greatest prose writer in the Spanish language of any age, said to me: 'Groussac taught me how to write in Spanish.' \"\r\nSelected works by Alfonso Reyes\r\n\r\nPoetry:\r\n\r\n\"Huellas\" \r\n\"Ifigenia Cruel\" \r\n\"Yerbas del Tarahumara\" \r\n\"Minuta\" \r\n\"Homero en Cuernavaca\" \r\n\r\nNonfiction:\r\n\r\n\"Cuestiones Est\u00e9ticas\" \r\n\"El Suicida\" \r\n\"Visi\u00f3n de An\u00e1huac\" \r\n\"V\u00edsperas de Espa\u00f1a\" \r\n\"Cartones de Madrid\"\r\n\"Simpat\u00edas y Diferencias\" \r\n\"Calendario\" \r\n\"Hom\u00edlia por la Cultura\" \r\n\"Cap\u00edtulos de Literatura Espa\u00f1ola\" \r\n\"Pasado Inmediato\" \r\n\"Estudios Hel\u00e9nicos\" \r\n\"La Filosof\u00eda Helen\u00edstica\" \r\n\"La X en la Frente\" \r\n\"Memorias de Cocina y Bodega\" \r\n\"Las Burlas Veras\" \r\n\r\nFiction:\r\n\r\n\"Los Tres Tesoros\"\r\n\"El Plano Oblicuo\" \r\n\"\u00c1rbol de P\u00f3lvora\" \r\n\"Quince Presencias\"\r\n \r\nThe \"Fondo de Cultura Econ\u00f3mica\" published his complete works in 26 volumes, titled \"Obras Completas de Alfonso Reyes\".\r\n\r\nThe \"Premio Internacional Alfonso Reyes\" (Alfonso Reyes International Prize) is a Mexican award given for contributions to the world of literature, named in honour of Alfonso Reyes, the prize is awarded by the National Council for Culture and the Arts (CNCA), the National Fine Arts Institute (INBA), the Sociedad Alfonsina Internacional, the Nuevo Le\u00f3n state government, and the publishing houses Siglo XXI and Ediciones Castillo. It was created in 1972, with the first award made in 1973.\r\n\r\nRecipients\r\n\r\n1973: Jorge Luis Borges \r\n1974: Marcel Bataillon \r\n1975: Alejo Carpentier \r\n1976: Andr\u00e9 Malraux \r\n1977: Jorge Guill\u00e9n \r\n1978: James W. Robb \r\n1979: Carlos Fuentes \r\n1980: Ernesto Mej\u00eda S\u00e1nchez \r\n1981: Jacques Soustelle \r\n1982: Jos\u00e9 Luis Mart\u00ednez \r\n1983: Paulette Patout \r\n1984: Rub\u00e9n Bonifaz Nu\u00f1o \r\n1985: Octavio Paz \r\n1986: Al\u00ed Chumacero \r\n1987: Gutierre Tib\u00f3n \r\n1988: Ram\u00f3n Xirau \r\n1989: Laurette S\u00e9journ\u00e9 \r\n1990: Adolfo Bioy Casares \r\n1991: Andr\u00e9s Henestrosa \r\n1992: Arnaldo Orfila Reynal \r\n1993: Joaqu\u00edn D\u00edez-Canedo \r\n1994: Germ\u00e1n Arciniegas \r\n1995: Juan Jos\u00e9 Arreola \r\n2000: Arturo Uslar Pietri \r\n2001: Miguel Le\u00f3n-Portilla \r\n2002: Rafael Guti\u00e9rrez Girardot \r\n2003: Harold Bloom \r\n2005: Jos\u00e9 Emilio Pacheco", "name": "Reyes, Alfonso", "photos": [5539946], "alternate_names": ["Alfonso Reyes"], "latest_revision": 6, "revision": 6, "created": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2008-04-01T03:28:50.625462"}, "last_modified": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2026-04-02T22:50:37.110219"}}