José Álvarez Baragaño

Cuban writer, belonging to the so-called Generation of the 50s, the first group of poets that emerged after the Revolution.

This author was born in Pinar del Río in 1932. He learned his first letters in his native city. He completed his secondary studies at the School of Commerce and at the Institute of Secondary Education.

In 1950 he enrolled at the University of Havana as a student of Social Sciences. A year later he abandoned his studies and departed for Europe.

Opposed to the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, he resided in Paris for a time (1951-1954), a city where he met André Breton and Benjamin Péret, surrealist poets who influenced his work. During his stay abroad he lived in Paris and traveled through Spain and Italy. In Europe he collaborated with Le Premier Bilan del Art Actuel (Cahiers Le Soleil Noir) and in the magazines Le Soleil Noir, Positions, Espacio and Panderma.

Upon his definitive return to the country he worked as a columnist in the newspaper Revolución and later in the literary magazine Lunes de Revolución. Polemical art critic, he wrote regularly in the literary supplement Lunes de Revolución, directed by Guillermo Cabrera Infante, one of the pillars of the Generation of the 50s.

He collaborated in Casa de las Américas, Unión, La Gaceta de Cuba and Bohemia.

He was a professor of French, art history and literature at the Professional School of Journalism in Havana.

He participates in the First National Congress of Writers and Artists of Cuba and at that same time was elected secretary of Public Relations of the nascent UNEAC.

During his professional life he gave lectures on painting and philosophy, still unpublished.

Active Bibliography
Cambiar la vida, (poems), 1952.
El amor original, (poems), 1955.
Wifredo Lam, (essay), 1958.
Poesía, revolución del ser, 1960.
Himno a las milicias y sus poemas, 1961.
Poemas escogidos, 1963; 1964.

Passive Bibliography
Piñera, Virgilio: «El amor original [de] José A. Baragaño», en Ciclón, La Habana, 1 (6): 75-76, nov., 1955.
Alcides Pérez, Rafael: «Ante una tumba sin razón», en Unión, La Habana, 1 (3-4): 59-60, sep.-dic., 1962.
Branly, Roberto: «Baragaño: Himno a las milicias », en La Gaceta de Cuba, La Habana, 1 (6-7): 21-22, jul., 1962.
«Baragaño contra su muerte», en Hoy Domingo. Suplemento del periódico Noticias de Hoy, La Habana, 3ª época, 24 (222): 2, sep. 9, 1962.
Díaz Martínez, Manuel: «Baragaño, un poeta de la revolución», Hoy Domingo. Suplemento del periódico Noticias de Hoy, La Habana, 3ª época, 24 (222): 2, sep. 9, 1962.
«Baragaño», en El escriba, seud. de Virgilio Piñera. «El caso Baragaño», en La Gaceta de Cuba, La Habana, 1 (3-4): 47-50, sep.-dic., 1962.
López, César: «José A. Baragaño: Poesía, revolución del ser», en Casa de las Américas, La Habana, 1 (4): 76-78, ene.-feb., 1961.
Oraá, Pedro de: «Dualidad de la poesía», en Nueva Revista Cubana, La Habana: 255-258, 1961-1962.

He died at age 29 as a victim of a cerebral aneurysm.