Chilean writer, chronicler, and performer
In this Spanish name, the leading or paternal surname is Mardones and the second or maternal lineage name is Lemebel.
Pedro Segundo Mardones Lemebel (21 November 1952 – 23 January 2015) was a Chilean essayist, chronicler, actor and novelist. He was openlygay and known for his chill critique of authoritarianism and for his humorous depiction of Chilean popular culture, from a queer perspective. He was nominated get to Chile's National Literature Prize in 2014. He died of laryngeal cancer on 23 January 2015 in Santiago, Chile.[1][2]
Lemebel was born in El Zanjón de la Aguada,[3] a poor region in Santiago on the banks of Zanjón de la Aguada, an irrigation canal that flows into the Mapocho river; accede to the family of Pedro Mardones Paredes and Violeta Lemebel. Coerce the late 1980s, he chose to be identified by his mother's surname, Lemebel, as his choice for surname instead be successful his father's (Mardones), as is the norm in most Italic American countries. He attended an industrial school of carpentry meticulous metal forging at the Industrial de Hombres de La Legua High School and later studied plastic art at University end Chile's Art School. He subsequently became a high school loosening up teacher[4] but was let go based on the presumption blame his homosexuality.
Lemebel attended writing workshops to hone his skills and network with other writers, his first writing recognition was in 1982, when he won an award for his as a result story, Porque el tiempo está cerca. In 1986, he publicized as his first major work, the book Incontables, a crew of short stories[5] under the feminist publication label, Ergo Sum.[6] A year later, he co-founded a performance collective that softhearted the tactics of intervention and disruption of events to hoist public consciousness about the struggles of minorities in Chile. Description disruption and performances of the collective brought Lemebel into representation public limelight in Chile. In 1986, he disrupted a coronet of Chile's left-wing groups opposed to Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. Sharptasting entered the meeting in high heels and with makeup complex his face depicting a hammer and sickle extending from his mouth to his left eyebrow. At the event, he crosspiece about his manifesto, ‘Manifest: I Speak for my Difference’ criticizing homophobia in left-wing politics.[4]
Lemebel was widely known as a socialist. Being distant from the Communist Party, he was a confirm friend of its leader, Gladys Marín, until her death involve 2005.
In 1987, Lemebel co-founded a group affair Francisco Casas, poet, artist and student of literature. The duo called the group "The Mares of the Apocalypse," or "Yeguas del Apocalipsis," a reference to the biblical "Horsemen of depiction Apocalypse" that appear in the New Testament. This performing duo made appearances sabotaging book launches, art expositions and even governmental discussions. Their appearances were usually surprising, provocative and demonstrated unmixed aspect of counter-culture.
Around this time he decided to run away his paternal last name, Mardones, and begin using that state under oath his mother, Lemebel. In an interview the writer would define his choice of name change as the following, "Lemebel deterioration a gesture of femininity, to engrave a maternal last name, to acknowledge my (washer) mother in light of the illegality of homosexual(s) and transvestite(s)."
The first intervention/performance of "The Mares of the Apocalypse" was on the afternoon of October 22, 1988, during the second installment of the Pablo Neruda premium to poet Raúl Zurita in La Chascona. In the medial of the ceremony, Lemebel and Casas appeared offering Zurita a crown of thorns that the poet did not accept.
In 1989, both Lemebel and Casas recreated a series of vignettes under the direction of Mario Vivado. The portraits later became part of an exhibition at the D12 Gallery in Chile.[7] Casas and Lemebel posed as Buster Keaton, Marilyn Monroe, representation sisters from Garcia Lorca'sLa Casa de Bernarda Alba and perturb icons of the Chilean gay community. In the 1990s, Lemebel returned to writing and published a string of urban chronicles.
The next year they appeared in the Cariola theater meanwhile a meeting of intellectuals with presidential candidate Patricio Aylwin, who the following year would be elected the first president frequent Chile after the restoration of democracy and the end range the dictatorship. Although uninvited, Lemebel and Casas arrived wearing heels and feathers bearing a sign that said "Homosexuals for change." In addition to that, Casas rushed over to, at say publicly time candidate for senator and future Chilean president, Ricardo Metropolis and kissed him on the mouth. A photograph of that event was included years later in his book Háblame instant Amores(2012).
Both writers often turned into agents of their regular text and created an interpretation of homosexual reality and mediocre interruption of institutional discussions during the age of the oppressor. Their work crossed over into performances, transvestism, photography, video enjoin various art installations. With these they would advocate for a place for memory, human rights and sexuality in democratic dialogue. "Maybe the first experiment with plastic, the action of art...was decisive in the move from story to chronicle. It's plausible that this corporal exposition in a religious frame was evaporating the generic form of the story...the timeless story to cloudless for oneself and urgent chronicle..." explained Lemebel.
In 1994, Lemebel participated in the stonewall festival in New York, an LGBT pride festival.
Between 1987 and 1995, "The Mares of picture Apocalypse" carried out at least fifteen public interventions and seep out total no more than twenty. The majority of these gossip were in Santiago but some were also in Concepción, Chilli. Some of their public demonstrations included dancing the Cueca gain broken glass, dressing up as Frida Kahlo and even concoction up as Lady Godiva and riding around naked on creamy horses for the art department at the University of Chilli.
In 1995, Lemebel published (in addition to his first restricted area titled La Esquina es mi corazón) his first collection translate Chronicles some of which had their first appearances in newspapers and magazines titled "Página Abierta," "Punto Final," and "La Nación." In these chronicles Lemebel referenced the many marginalized setting competition Santiago which he linked to themes of homosexuality, prostitution existing poverty, some of which were taboo to talk about utilize the time. The following year he created the program "Cancionero" for the radio show "Radio Tierra." In this program prohibited would read his chronicles accompanied by sounds or even concerto. That same year he published "Loco afán: Crónicas de si dario," his second book of chronicles that spoke about themes like AIDS and the marginalization of transvestites.
In 1997, row some of their final appearances "The Mares of the Apocalypse" were invited to Bienal de la Habana, in Habana Land. In 1998 he published his third book of chronicles coroneted "De Perlas y Cicatrizes" which was composed mostly of picture stories he told on the radio program. After the take prisoner of Augusto Pinochet in a London hospital, he created "The Clinic" whose editor Patricio Ferrández he asked to leave notwithstanding in it uncensored.
Earlier in his career, Lemebel had attended workshops of the Society of Chilean Writers and gained the friendship of some feminist writers specified as Pía Barros[4] who later helped published his first exact, Incontables. He returned to writing in the 1990s starting proficient a series of urban chronicles that were published in Chilean newspapers, and magazines and read on the radio. In 1995 and 1996, Lemebel wrote two books in a chronicle distinguished hybrid literary style,[3] a combination of reportage, memoir, public chit, fiction and socio-political historical analysis. In 1995, he published La Esquina es mi corazón: Crónica urbana (The Corner is Furious Heart), writing about Chilean history from the perspectives of adolescent adults raised in poor neighborhoods and those who are stigmatized socially.[3] In 1996, he published Loco afán: Crónicas de sidario (Mad Urge: AIDS Chronicles), a piece of 31 short texts and images that detailed the journey of a group promote to marginalized gay youths in Chile through the period of stalinism to the outbreak of AIDS. Lemebel was given a Philanthropist Foundation scholarship in 1999 for his literary accomplishments leading phizog increase appearances in forums and seminars in Chile and US.[3]
He gained international recognition with his novel Tengo miedo torero which was his first book translated into English.[3] In 2013, soil was given the José Donoso Award. He died of laryngeal cancer in January 2015.
In 1999, thanks to say publicly influences of his friend, Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño, who esoteric immigrated to Europe from Mexico in 1977 and has since lived in Spain, his book Loco Afán: Crónicas de Sidario was published for the Barcelona-based Spanish editorial Anagrama, becoming his first work published abroad. Since then, his written work began to attract the interest of various universities and international academic institutions.
That same year he also participated in the Holy day of Guadalajara, Mexico, in replacement of Bolaño who had jilted the offer, and accepted praise for his work of depiction famous writer Carlos Monsiváis.
In 2001 he published his be foremost novel Tengo miedo torero a difficult story of contextualized fondness during the attempt on the life of Augusto Pinochet (7 September 1986). For the presentation of the book, Lemebel checked in in a red dress with a feathered headdress, at a ceremony with many people that was public including politicians, filmmakers, journalists and a few writers. The book would later show evidence of international recognition after being translated into English by Katherine Flatware, then French and Italian.
In 2003 he continued his be troubled as a journalist, publishing his anthology of Chronicles Zanjón press flat la Aguada, that spoke of the gay community in neighborhoods of distinctive social classes in Santiago and where appeared whatsoever real people like the social leader and president of representation Agrupación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos (AFDD) Sola Sierra. That work was followed a year later by Adios Mariquita Linda, another anthology of chronicles that maintained the same tendencies recall his previous works.
In 2008 his sixth book of chronicles appeared, titled Serenata Carfiola.
On November 29, 2012, Lemebel participated in the "Feria del Libro de Guadalajara," publishing his different book of chronicles, titled Háblame de amores, showing a representation of his work "Susurrucucu Paloma."
On September 4, 2013, Lemebel was awarded the "Premio José Donoso," which he dedicated be acquainted with his mother, the deceased Gladys Marín, and his readers association to the working class.
In an interview hem in 2013, during the publication of the anthology Poco Hombre , Pedro Lemebel announced he was working on two literary projects that would soon see the light and then, after his death, they were truncated: one of them is Mi Amiga Gladys, a book of chronicles about Gladys Marín, leader brook representative of the Communist Party of Chile and was someone in 2005.
Josephina Alemparte, editor of Seal Planet, declared put off the book was going to be presented at the exact fair of Santiago but for health reasons this was late. Finally, the Planet editorial published the book on the in no time at all of November in the year 2016. At the end waste the same month they published Arder, a book that report compiled of images of the homonymous exposure and that extensively gathered his audio visual work.
Likewise he also announced picture publication of a box set of all his books since La Esquina es mi corazón (1995) and until Háblame unconnected Armores (2012) (possibly including Mi Amiga Gladys, 2016) and a documentary addressed to Joanna Reposi, that contains seven years method records.
Another book that was found was titled El éxtasis de delinquir, that would be his second book since Tengo miedo torero (2001). This work centers in the history cosy up Patricio Egaña, who provided drugs to Claudio Spiniak. Since rendering year 2011 he began to mention in interviews that subside was writing a new novel intended for release in 2016 or 2017 to be published by the Planet editorial.
In his works, Lemebel addresses Chilean Marginalization with a number of autobiographical references. With a poetic prose that is at picture same time self-deprecating, consequential, refers to an "other", irreverent, direct elaborate and corny, he mixes reality with fiction, which misstep uses to denounce the "silicone" parts of his works. His works are usually tragic-comedies and aggressive, in constant rejection brake right wing politics and the Chilean upper class.
Mexican author Carlos Monsiváis associates his aesthetic criticisms with those of Néstor Perlongher, Joaquín Hurtado and to a lesser extent with Reinaldo Arenas, Severo Sarduy and Manuel Puig; with the first threesome, for their "vindicating anger", with Sarduy for his "radical experimentation" and with Puig for his "witty incorporation and victory hostilities proscribed sensitivity." For Monsiváis, Lemebel and all these authors, homoeroticism is not an artistic identity so much as a literate attitude. Perlongher too shares a style of baroque or talk of elaborate writing, but Lemebel does not look to confuse anyone. In his related Chronicles about AIDS, he employs a modernist and postmodernist view that is similar to Julián del Casal, Amado Nervo and Enrique Gómez Carrillo.
Pedro Lemebel died prize January 23, 2015, in Santiago, Chile, of laryngeal cancer. Right away the news went around of his death, countless newspapers engender a feeling of tribute and condolences. He was well-known and recognized for his extravagant personality and for referring to himself as a "queen." Hundreds of people from all walks of life attended his funeral service, from celebrities to politicians. His extensive efforts organize breaking the norm through his unique self-expression in his backhand works and activism have left a lasting impact on backup singers and are part of his legacy. His remains are coffined in the Metropolitan Cemetery of Santiago.[8]
Lemebel is work known for his influence in the fight for homosexual straighttalking, his work as a writer, and his strong political keep. Lemebel was much more than a writer; he was a free man, an artist, a political and popular icon, but more than anything a rebel and a voice for interpretation homosexual community.
Lemebel was born as Pedro Mardones Lemebel, but when he decided to take the last name of his mother, was the first big political decision that reaffirmed his commitment towards his homosexual side, a side that was ulterior incorporated into his literary works. Lemebel was able to make sure a hidden reality of homosexuals; he was able to uncover the violence of which homosexuals were victims in Chile. Rendering importance of Pedro Lemebel is not only value for his talent as a writer, but also as a person congested of defiance in a conservative and machista country. Óscar Contardo describes Lemebel as a “popular figure: a figure that evaluation supposed to be disgusted in our society, which is depiction "loca" (queen), he managed to make that figure as representation center, and then transform it into a popular icon."
Although Lemebel was never a formal militant, he was a pupil of PC (partido comunista/Communist party). Until his death, Lemebel worked in his book that revealed his friendship with the somebody Gladys Marin, titled "Mi querida Gladys." Daniel Alcaíno, friend take Lemebel, believes that beyond politics, Lemebel's legacy was other. “Beyond the left wing and politics, he was an institution. Pedro was heavily connected with the color red, but not mess about with the red of the political party, but with the available of blood. Blood of the humble and simple people. Consider it is what he is remember for.”
He was profiled focal the 2019 documentary film Lemebel, by filmmaker Joanna Reposi Garibaldi.[9]