Pedro Juan Gutiérrez

Pedro Juan Gutiérrez (b. 1950 in Matanzas) is a Cuban journalist, writer and artist.

Life and Works

Gutiérrez began to work selling ice cream and newspapers when he was eleven years old. He was a soldier, swimming and kayak instructor, agricultural worker, technician in construction, technical designer, radio speaker and journalist for 26 years. He is a painter, sculptor and author of several poetry books. He lives in Havana. He is the author of "Dirty Havana Trilogy", "King of Havana", "Tropical animal" (winner of the Spanish Prize Alfonso Garcia-Ramos 2000), "The insatiable spiderman", "Dog meat" (Italian prize Narrativa Sur del Mundo), "Our GG in Havana" and the short stories of "Melancholy of lions". "Dirty Havana Trilogy", "Tropical animal" and "The insatiable spiderman" have been translated into English.

Characterization of Literary Style

Named master of "dirty realism", Gutiérrez depicts life in the shady alleys of Havana in a direct, visceral style. His books describe contemporary Cuba from his semi-autobiographical perspective as a disillusioned journalist. Gutiérrez' narrative voice is skeptical, intellectual, humorous, crass, sardonic, and bluntly frank. His literary persona is chiefly concerned with escaping poverty and the pursuit of sex, rum, and writing.

Gutiérrez' stories are typically gritty, tragicomic accounts of himself and his countrymen hustling for money, searching for pleasure and happiness, and struggling in desperate situations. Most chapters incorporate heavy use of a form of irony. His stories illustrate the difficulty of achieving self-sufficiency and contentment in a dysfunctional and poverty-stricken society living under paternalistic government.

Despite his grim depiction of many aspects of Cuban life, Gutiérrez' writing stresses his overriding love for Cuban culture. He frequently praises Cuban music, resourcefulness, and "joie de vivre". Gutiérrez writes scornfully of people who avoid risk and self-expression in exchange for smothering safety and boredom-inducing banality.

External links

* Official Website: [http://www.pedrojuangutierrez.com/]