Publishers Weekly: Books by Alejo Carpentier and Complete Book Reviews
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Alejo Carpentier y Valmont was a Cuban novelist, essayist, and musicologist who greatly influenced Latin American literature during its famous "boom" period. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, of French and Russian parentage, Carpentier grew up in Havana, Cuba, and despite his European birthplace, he strongly identified as Cuban throughout his life. He traveled extensively, particularly in France, and…
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culture · Cuban novelist (1904–1980) · writer · journalist · essayist · musicologist · literary critic · diplomat · university teacher · publisher · folklorist · ethnographer · also Alejo Carpanter, Alejo Carpentier, Alejo Carpentier y Valmont, Alejo F. Carpentier y Valmont, Alekho Karpentér, Alekho Karpenter
Born 26 December 1904 · Died 24 April 1980 · Q216466
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Publishers Weekly: Books by Alejo Carpentier and Complete Book Reviews
Wall Street Journal: Fiction: The ‘Marvelous Real’ of Alejo Carpentier
(Comparative Literature), University of California at Riverside
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After over three decades of suppression in the United States for Carpentier's affiliation with Fidel Castro's Cuba (Carpentier had been Cuba's ambassador to France during this time)
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Died 1980-04-24.
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And was buried in Havana's Colon Cemetery with other Cuban political and artistic luminaries
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Awarded Prix Médicis étranger (1979).
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Awarded Miguel de Cervantes Prize (1977).
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And was recipient of the French Laureates Prix Médicis étranger in 1979 for La harpe et l'ombre
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Awarded Prix mondial Cino Del Duca (1975).
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Awarded Alfonso Reyes International Prize (1975).
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Was the recipient of the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca
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Carpentier settled in Paris where he served as Cuban ambassador to France
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Career landmark: cultural attaché (1966).
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Finished his novel The Kingdom of this World
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Carpentier published the ethnomusicological study La Música en Cuba which explores how European music, transplanted African music and the indigenous music of the island all blended together to create Cuban music
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Accompanied by French theatrical director Louis Jouvet, Carpentier made a crucial trip to Haiti, during which he visited the fortress of the Citadelle Laferrière and the Palace of Sans-Souci, both built by the black king
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Without any other reason than the nostalgia of Cuba, I vacated my apartment and started the return to La Habana"
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Carpentier decided to make plans to return to his native land to visit, and in 1936 he made the trip back to Cuba
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With the help of Jorge Mañach, Juan Marinello, Francisco Ichaso, and Martí Casanovas, he became a founding member of Revista de Avance, a magazine devoted to nationalism, radicalism and new ideas in the arts
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For opposing Gerardo Machado y Morales dictatorship and had signed a democratic and anti-imperialist manifesto against Machado's regime and, as a result, spent forty days in jail
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And two Afro-Cuban ballets: La Rebambaramba, a colonial ballet in two parts (1928) and El milagro de Anaquille (1929)
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While studying in Havana, Carpentier became a cultural journalist, writing mostly about avant-garde developments in the arts, particularly music
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Carpentier attended the School of Architecture of the University of Havana
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Alejo and his family moved from Cuba to Paris
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In Lausanne, Switzerland, to Jorge Julián Carpentier, a French architect, and Lina Valmont, a Russian language teacher
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Born 1904-12-26.
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