Jules supervielle poems

Jules Supervielle was a Uruguayan poet, short story writer and playwright whose efforts earned him a nomination for the Nobel Prize in Literature on no less than three occasions. He was born on the 16 th January in Montevideo to a French father and a Basque mother. Tragedy struck in the first year of his life though when both parents died while the family were on a family visit to France, leaving the boy orphaned and in the care of a grandmother.

Jules supervielle poems: Jules Supervielle was born in

The following year an uncle took the infant back to Uruguay and raised him, with his wife, as their own son and it took until his ninth year before he found out that he had been adopted. In the family moved to Paris and Jules settled into his new school, soon realising that he had an interest in, and a talent, for writing verse.

He immersed himself in French literature with the likes of Sully Prudhomme and Victor Hugo amongst his favourite authors. He was, most certainly, inspired by the wide open, pampas landscapes of South America and the loss of his parents quite naturally injected an air of melancholy into some of his writing. In keeping with his origins he wrote in French but usually in a Spanish style, often displaying a sensitive touch and occasionally using humour.

Like other young men of the time he was forced to do a short period of military service but this did not sit well with his poor health and he suffered much discomfort throughout although he was spared the dangers of fighting on the battlefields of the First World War. The life of a writer suited him much better and he found himself opposing the Surrealist movement that was popular during the early decades of the 20 th century.

He married a woman named Pilar Saavedra in , in Montevideo, and she bore him six children.