María Mercedes Loynaz Muñoz

Her father, Enrique Loynaz del Castillo, a general in the Liberating Army, from whose pen came the lyrics of the Invasor Hymn; her mother, who was fond of singing, painting and piano, a combination that awakened in Dulce María Loynaz an excessive love for poetry.

She never attended school, as a young woman she studied under select tutors without having to leave her home until she entered the University of Havana where she obtained in 1927, the title of Doctor of Laws.

In 1919 her two first poems appeared published in the Cuban newspaper La Nación: "Invierno de almas" and "Vesperal". At 24 years of age, in 1927, she obtained her doctorate in Civil Law at the University of Havana and although this profession was not completely to her liking, she practiced it until 1961, always in matters of a family nature.

From this point on there is an increase in her literary production, she writes Versos (1920 -1928), begins her novel Jardín whose writing takes her seven years and a year later (1929), on the occasion of her trip to Egypt, she writes Carta de Amor al Rey Tut-Ank-Amen.

The 1930s are rich in new relationships, her house becomes a center of cultural life. She welcomes at the so-called "juevinas" a large part of the intellectuals of the moment, both those who resided permanently as well as those in transit through the island, among them Juan Ramón Jiménez, Federico García Lorca, Alejo Carpentier, Emilio Ballagas, Rafael Marquina, Carmen Conde, among other intellectuals and artists. In 1937 she publishes Canto a la mujer estéril, a poem that sums up the feeling of frustration of a woman unable to bear children, and the following year, in Havana, her first edition of Versos comes to light.

She travels through South America in 1946 and meets poet Juana de Ibarbourou in Montevideo. She writes travel chronicles that are published in El País with the titles "Impresiones de un cronista" and "Crónicas de América del Sur". In 1947 the first edition of Juegos de agua is published in Madrid.

The poetic personality of Dulce María Loynaz, always present in Spain and widely known in the world of our language rests on her lyrical creation, her poetry is strong, although delicate, intense and nothing rhetorical, stripped of words and soul, written with sensitivity laid bare.

Three years later she publishes in Havana a plea titled "Las corridas de toros en Cuba" and in Madrid the third edition of Versos. The following year (1951) her novel Jardín is published in Madrid and in Cuba the articles "Al César lo que es del César", "Poetisas de América", "Mujer entre dos islas" and "El último rosario de la reina".

Two years later Poemas sin nombre is published in Madrid and the second edition of Carta de Amor al Rey Tut-Ank-Amen. During 1954 she publishes in the newspapers El País and Excélsior the series of articles Crónicas de ayer and Entre dos primaveras.

Back in Spain, in 1958 Últimos días de una casa and Un verano en Tenerife are published, which constitutes an account of her stay in the Islands, and was described by the author as "the best thing I have written".

The fifties decade is the period in which all her books are published or reprinted in Spain. It is also the one of greatest participation in lectures and recitals, and she also receives tributes and awards from Hispanic institutions. During this time her work draws the attention of the most well-known Spanish critics and illustrious Cuban personalities.

At the end of the fifties she stops writing poetry and at the beginning of the sixties she breaks her editorial commitments, she suffers the absence of he who was the greatest promoter of her work, in Cuba and abroad, her husband Pablo Álvarez de Cañas. She returns to the voluntary seclusion in which she had lived, she no longer travels abroad, she barely carries out public activities, except those linked to the Cuban Academy of the Language.

The Royal Spanish Academy nominates her, in 1984, as a Candidate for the Miguel de Cervantes Prize. In 1985 Poesías Escogidas is published in Havana and for the first time her book of poems Bestiarium comes to light, which demonstrates great imagination and excellent sense of humor. During these years she gives lectures, speeches, receives prizes and decorations and is honored by different Cuban cultural institutions.

Her literary work reveals mastery in the handling of Spanish, refinement of language, power of synthesis, clarity, simplicity and sobriety in lyrical expression. These and other facets were valued in awarding her on November 5, 1992, the Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Prize for Literature. Her work prevailed over that of other illustrious and equally deserving candidates.

In 1993 she travels to Spain for the last time, on this occasion, to receive from the hands of King Juan Carlos the Cervantes Prize.

Lucid and mentally agile but frail and weak of sight, the first Latin American woman to receive such an honorable prize, she was unable to read her speech, and it was read on her behalf by Cuban novelist Lisandro Otero; in it she expressed "To unite the name of Cervantes with mine, in whatever way, is something so great for me that I would not know what to do to deserve it, nor what to say to express it".

Fe de vida, her last work, entrusted to her friend Aldo Martínez Malo, with the condition that it be known only when he had turned 90 or after her death, came to light in 1993, published by Ediciones Hnos. Loynaz, on the occasion of celebrating in Pinar del Río, the I Ibero-American Meeting on her life and work.

The last public appearance of Dulce María Loynaz, which lasted barely a few minutes due to her delicate state of health, was in the month of April 1997, exactly on the 15th, on the occasion of the tribute paid to her by the Spanish Embassy, at the portal of her house. A few days later, in the early morning of April 27 she dies "this great lady of America" who was deeply united to the destinies and culture of her country as well as to all things Hispanic.

Her work has been translated into French, Italian, English, Serbian, Norwegian… and is part of South American feminine intimist poetry.

Poetry
Versos (1950)
Juegos de agua (1951)
Poemas sin nombre (1953)
Últimos días de una casa (1958)
Poemas escogidos (1985)
Poemas náufragos (1991)
Bestiarium (1991)
Finas redes (1993)
La novia de Lázaro (1993)
Poesía completa (1993)
Melancolía de otoño (1997)
La voz del silencio (2000)
El áspero sendero (2001)

Other Genres
Jardín (1951) -novel-
Un verano en Tenerife (1958) -travel book-
Yo fui (feliz) en Cuba (1993) -chronicles-
Canto a la mujer. Volume I and II (1993) -essay-
Confesiones de Dulce María Loynaz (1993) -interviews-
Fe de vida (1994) -essay-
Cartas a Julio Orlando (1994) -epistolary-
Un encuentro con Dulce María Loynaz (1994) -interviews-
Alas en la sombra (1995) -autobiographical text-
Cartas que no se extraviarion (1997) -epistolary-
Cartas de Egipto (2000) -epistolary-
La palabra en el aire (2000) -essay-