Samuel Feijoó Rodríguez

He was born in San Juan de las Yeras. He was, without a doubt, the most versatile figure in Cuban culture of the twentieth century. Self-taught, Samuel Feijóo began to write and publish his first narratives and poems at just 14 years of age, and his inclination for the collection and study of popular narratives was already apparent.

In 1924 his family moved to Havana, a city where he completed his primary education at the Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda boarding school, in Jesús del Monte, and later at the Presbyterian school of Havana, where he learned English. He reached his third year of high school at the Instituto de La Habana. Around 1930 he began to write his first books of poetry and narrative, which he would not publish until several years later. However, he collaborated regularly with various journals.

In 1943 he met his great friend, Robert Altman and together with Salomón Lerner formed a group centered on painting. Two years later he traveled to the United States and stayed there for six months. He worked first in a necktie factory, in design work and then in the same capacity in a furniture factory, where he participated in a strike for labor demands. He was expelled from the factory and fell ill with pneumonia. During this trip he managed to perfect his English and translated works by Poe, Whitman, Elliot, Lawrence, Santillana.

Upon returning to Cuba he settled in his parents' home, who since 1934 had moved to Cienfuegos. During this stage he met many of the members of the Orígenes group, and published some of his poetry collections such as Camarada celeste (1944), Aventuras con los aguinaldos (1947) and Beth-el (1949), among others.

In 1950 he obtained the second Honorable Mention in the Hernández Catá Contest, with his story "Alzamiento". That year he founded the magazine Ateje, whose existence was short-lived due to lack of economic resources to sustain it. He met Cleva Solís, with whom he developed a long and beautiful friendship, and the painter Jean Dubuffet. During this stage he began his collaboration with some of the most important Cuban journals, where part of his critical and poetic work appeared. Toward the end of this decade he published new poetry collections and began his important editorial work at the Central University of Las Villas "Martha Abreu", which included a publishing operation of books and magazines that marked a milestone in that direction in our cultural history.

The nineteen sixties marked an almost feverish activity of Feijóo, which consolidated him as one of the indispensable voices of Cuban intellectuality. While he published ceaselessly poetry collections, anthologies of stories and popular traditions, or held exhibitions of his artistic creations, he maintained his work at the head of the university press, the journals he directed and traveled through various countries in Europe and Asia. In the decades that followed he received numerous decorations and literary prizes. La Gaceta de Cuba dedicated a special issue to him in 1974 for his sixtieth birthday.

His extensive poetic work has, among its fundamental themes, the beauty and charm of the rural landscape, as well as a permanent reflection on the human being and his relations with the world. His poetic texts achieve great intensity, recognized by some of the most prestigious voices of Cuban culture; among them those of Cintio Vitier and Virgilio Piñera. He was linked to the Orígenes group and was an assiduous collaborator of its magazine.

His narrative work is equally marked by the rural setting, traditions and peasant folklore, as well as by Afro-Cuban mythology. His novel Juan Quinquín en Pueblo Mocho (1964) stands out significantly, which was made into a film a few years later, as well as the collection of stories Cuentacuentos, which earned him the Luis Felipe Rodríguez Story Prize, from UNEAC, in 1975.

He possessed appreciable essay work, in which his studies on Cuban poetry stand out, fundamentally those dedicated to the study and evolution of poetic forms such as the décima and the sonnet.

He was a passionate student of Cuban folklore, a subject that led him to travel through fields, towns and sugar estates in search of myths, legends and popular traditions. Notable is his compilation of witticisms, tongue twisters, proverbs, riddles, quatrains, old décimas and stories from our countryside, the fruit of his ethnological labor. To this dedication, we owe extremely valuable and essential texts for the study of popular culture in Cuba, among them El negro en la literatura folklórica cubana (1980), Mitología cubana (1980) and Mitología americana (1983).

From the 1940s on, he began painting, which has rural landscape as its fundamental theme. He frequently used watercolor because he considered it the exact medium for achieving the "delicious transparencies of the Cuban landscape", although his work encompasses oils, temperas, drawings, etchings, calligrams, monotypes, among other techniques. He participated in numerous group exhibitions, including 50 Years of the Revista de Avance, at the National Museum of Fine Arts (Cuba) in 1977; the I Havana Biennial in 1984; Künstler aus Kuba, at the Galerie Junge Künstler in Berlin in 1986 and Masters of Cuban Painting, at the Provincial Center of Plastic Arts and Design of Havana in 1991. In 2008, the National Museum of Fine Arts (Cuba) of Cuba organized a major retrospective of his plastic work which, under the title of An Unknown Sun, brought together fifty-two works from his different creative periods.

He founded and directed the magazines Islas (1958-1968) and Signos (1969-1985), in which plastic arts occupied a representative place and in which he developed important editorial work and dissemination of popular culture. He practiced journalism in newspapers such as El Mundo and Juventud Nacionalista, and collaborated with notable cultural magazines, among them Bohemia, Carteles and Orígenes.

In 1989 he was moved to Cienfuegos by his daughter. There a Tribute and National Symposium was organized for his seventy-fifth birthday, where he received recognition from the Central University of Las Villas. Among other distinctions and recognitions, he received the Order For National Culture, in 1981; the Alejo Carpentier Medal, in 1982; and the Félix Varela Order of the State Council of the Republic of Cuba, in 1990. Abroad he received the Medal of Cultural Merit, from Poland; the 1300 Years Medal, from Bulgaria and the 60th Anniversary of Liberation Medal, from Mongolia.

He was awarded the following decorations: For National Culture, 1981; Medal of Cultural Merit, Poland, 1981; Alejo Carpentier Medal, 1982; Félix Elmuza Medal, 1984; 1300 Years Medal of Bulgaria, 1985; Raúl Gómez García Medal, Medal of the XXX Anniversary of the Uprising of September 5, Cienfuegos, 1989; Félix Varela Order, 1990; 60th Anniversary of Liberation Medal, Mongolia.

In Santa Clara, the Professional School of Art and the Research Center bear his name, which, inaugurated in April 1995, carries out, promotes and coordinates investigative work related to the culture of the province, while also working on deepening studies linked to the life and work of Samuel Feijóo.

Personal Works: Gajo joven (1938); Camarada celeste: diálogo con Ero (1941); Infancia de la tataguaya, aventura con los aguinaldos (1947); Concierto, 1947; Beth-el (1949); Jiras guajiras (1949); Poeta en el paisaje (1949); Gajo joven (1950); Gallo campero (1950); Libro de apuntes (1954); Faz (1956); Carta de otoño (1957); La hoja del poeta (1957); La alcancía del artesano (1958); Diarios de viajes montañeses y llaneros (1958); Violas (1958); Poeta en el paisaje (1958); Diario abierto. Temas folklóricos cubanos (1960); Poemas del bosquezuelo (1960); Haz de la ceniza (1960); Azar de lecturas (1961); El pájaro de las soledades. Diario de un joven enfermo (1961); Sobre los movimientos por una poesía cubana hasta 1856 (1961); Segunda alcancía del artesano (1962); Caminante montés (1962); Mateo Torriente (1962); Segunda alcancía del artesano (1962); El girasol sediento (1963); Cuerda menor (1964); Juan Quinquín en Pueblo Mocho (1964) (Novel); Libreta de pasajero (1964); Ser fiel (1964); Tumbaga (1964); Caracol vagabundo [n.d.]; Diario abierto (1965); Juan Quinquín en Pueblo Mocho (); Pleno día (1974); Cuentacuentos (1975) (Luis Felipe Rodríguez Prize, UNEAC, 1975); Juan Quinquín en Pueblo Mocho (1976) (Novel); Cuarteta y décima (1977); Viaje de siempre (1977); Tres novelas de humor (1977); Polvo que escribe (1979); Cuentos cubanos de humor (1979); El negro en la literatura folklórica cubana (1980); Cuarteta y décima (1980); Contactos poéticos (1980); Del piropo al dicharacho (1981); Vida completa del poeta Wampampiro Timbereta (1981) (Novel); Crítica lírica (v.1, 1982); Cuentería (1982); Sirindingo Pisingollo (1982); Ser (1983); Poesías (1984); Crítica lírica (v.2, 1984); Festín de poesía (1984); El saber y el cantar de Juan sin nada (1984); Prosas (1985); El son cubano: poesía general (1986); Mitología cubana (Gente Nueva Editorial, Havana, 1993); Cuentos cubanos (1995); Mitología cubana (1996); Paisaje habitado (1998); Oro en la loma (1999); Mitología cubana (2003).

This Chronology is a version of the one appearing in the volume by Virgilio López Lemus: Acerca de Samuel Feijóo, Academia Editorial, Havana, 1994.

March 31, 1914: He was born in San Juan de los Yeras, province of Las Villas (today Villa Clara). Son of Florentino Feijóo, pharmacist, and Amelia Rodríguez.

1914-1916 He lived in Mataguá, a small town near his birthplace.

1915 His brother Nano was born.

1916 His sister Norka was born, later devoted to the Methodist Church.

1916-1922 He lived in La Jorobada. His father worked as an apothecary. He began primary education in public schools in the area.

1922-1924 The Feijóo Rodríguez family settled in San Juan de los Yeras.

1924 First trip to Havana.

1924-1934 The Feijóo Rodríguez family lived in Havana in a constant change of addresses. During this period he completed his primary education at the Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda boarding school, in Jesús del Monte, and later at the Presbyterian school of Havana, where he learned English. He reached the third year of high school at the Instituto de La Habana. His remaining education was largely self-taught.

1928 He published some stories in the magazine Billiken. It was the time of broad creative beginning in the life of Samuel Feijóo: he wrote his first poems, collected popular stories on the streets of Havana. He wrote novelettes that he never published.

1930 He began to write his first book: Diarios de viajes montañeses y llaneros, which he would publish in 1958.

1930 He began to draw and paint. He began writing Azar de lecturas, published in 1961.

1931 He translated from English The Little Lord Fauntleroy. He published his first journalistic works in capital newspapers, especially in La Voz. In "El sensible zarapico" (Signos 13 (27), 1981) he collected numerous pages from newspapers of this period, as well as avant-garde poems and poems on Black themes, very much in tune with what was being written in the period centered by the generation of the Revista de Avance.

1932 His brother Nano fell in a popular uprising at the Castillo de Atarés. His younger brother David was born, who would later become a pianist.

1933 He collaborated with the newspaper Juventud Nacionalista, establishing himself as a political journalist, for which he attended the National Assembly of the Nationalist Party.

1934 The family returned to San Juan de los Yeras.

1935 The family settled definitively in Cienfuegos. He worked for two months in the press offices of the Provincial Government of Havana. He fell ill with nerves. In Cienfuegos he recovered completely. With his uncle Tomás Feijóo he traveled through the Escambray.

1936 Several poems by Feijóo appeared in the anthology La poesía cubana en 1936, in which Juan Ramón Jiménez participated, assisted by several Cuban intellectuals.

1937 He began writing Libro de apuntes, which he would publish in 1954. He wrote El pájaro de las soledades, his first important poetry collection, whose definitive edition dates from 1961.

1938 He published Gajo joven.

1940 He began writing Beth-el, whose first version he would complete and publish in 1949. He wrote Camarada celeste, published in 1944. He met Cintio Vitier. Throughout the decade he would meet other members of the Orígenes Group and collaborated in its magazine of the same name.

1942 He undertook Aventuras con los aguinaldos, which he completed and published in 1947. He began collaborating in the Cienfuegos newspaper La Correspondencia. He began La hoja del poeta which he would publish in 1957.

1943 He met his great friend Robert Altman. With Salomón Lerner he formed a group united by painting.

1944 He published Camarada celeste, subtitled Diálogo con Eros, dated 1941.

1945 He traveled to the United States and stayed there for six months. He worked first in a necktie factory, in design work and later in the same capacity in a furniture factory, where he participated in a strike for labor demands. He was expelled from the factory and fell ill with pneumonia. He perfected his English and translated works by Poe, Whitman, Elliot, Lawrence, Santillana. He returned to Cuba and settled in his parents' home, in Cienfuegos.

1946 He wrote Poeta en el paisaje which he would edit in 1958. He began Carta en otoño, printed in 1957.

1947 He published in Havana the poetry collection Concierto, in collaboration with Aldo Menéndez and Alcides Iznaga, with whom he formed an interesting group of creators from Villa Clara. He published Infancia de la tatagua. He illustrated a book of stories by Amelia Navarro Aulet.

1948 He married Ruth Helen Ortega y Pérez de Villa-Amil. He edited his selection of Rumores del Hórmigo, by Juan Cristóbal Nápoles and Fajardo, El Cucalambé, profusely illustrated by his friend, Swiss painter Robert Altman.

1949 He published Beth-el. He published Jiras guajiras.

1949-1950 He printed at his own expense a group of poetry notebooks, without publication date: Gallo campero and Errante asilo. On October 22 in La Correspondencia of Cienfuegos appeared the first critical study of his poetry known to exist: "Un poeta guajiro", signed by Carlos Ximénez Arroyo, on Jiras guajiras. He obtained the second Honorable Mention in the Hernández Catá Contest, with his story "Alzamiento". He met Cleva Solís, with whom he developed a long and beautiful friendship.

1950 He founded the magazine Ateje, of short duration due to lack of economic resources to sustain it. He met painter Jean Dubuffet.

1950-1951 He published "Azar de lecturas" and "Nuevo azar de lecturas" in the Revista Cubana, in the issues corresponding to July-December and January-June, respectively.

1952 He published articles in the magazine Carteles.

1953 He began collaborating in Bohemia. He denounced in its pages the situation of abandonment of the peasant. Illustrated with photographs, taken by him, all of his reports appeared; among them "El hombre de los muertos" about the gravedigger of the Acea Cemetery of Cienfuegos.

1954 He published Libro de apuntes. He began writing Faz. His mother passed away.

1955 He undertook Caminante montés, whose definitive edition is from 1962.

1956 He divorced. He increased his work in La Correspondencia.
He published the extraordinary poem "Faz" in its first version; the definitive edition would appear in Ser fiel, in 1964.

1957 He published La hoja del poeta and Carta en otoño. He exhibited part of his painting and drawings at the Ateneo of Cienfuegos. He became linked with the Central University of Las Villas under the rectorship of Mariano Rodríguez Solveira.

1958 He married Isabel Castellanos Hernández. He worked as director of the Department of Folkloric Studies and Publications of the Central University of Las Villas "Marta Abreu". He carried out important work as an editor. He began editing the magazine Islas. He completed and published the anthology Colección de poetas de la ciudad de Camagüey. His friendship with poet Rolando Escardó grew. He edited Diarios de viajes montañeses y llaneros. He published La alcancía del artesano. Violas appeared, his best collection of sonnets, with definitive edition in Ser fiel, 1964.

1959 He published in Islas his great poem "Himno a la alusión del Tiempo", one of his most valuable texts, which would see its definitive edition in Ser fiel, 1964. It had been written between 1954 and 1958.

1960 He published Teatro cubano, where he included his most important theatrical piece: "La alegre noticia", written between 1939 and 1948. He published Los trovadores del pueblo. The first volume of Cuentos populares cubanos came to light. Diario abierto appeared. It would be re-edited in 1970, in Buenos Aires. He edited Poemas del bosquezuelo. Haz de la ceniza was printed, written in 1959.

1961 Exhibition of his drawings, watercolors and etchings in Cienfuegos. He published El pájaro de las soledades (1937-1940).
He presented La décima popular and compilations of riddles and witticisms. He edited Sobre los movimientos por una poesía cubana hasta 1856. Teatro bufo was printed. He published Dibujos, with a prologue by Roberto Fernández Retamar. Azar de lecturas appeared, in its definitive edition.

1962 He edited Segunda alcancía del artesano. He presented the second volume of Cuentos populares cubanos. He published Pintores y dibujantes de Las Villas. He launched a monograph on Mateo Torriente.

1963 He edited the now classic anthology La décima culta en Cuba.
He published El girasol sediento, definitive edition of part of his work from 1937 to 1948, where the important poetry collections "Camarada celeste" and "Coloquio" are found. Exhibition of his painting in Cienfuegos.

1964 His daughter Adamelia Feijóo Castellanos was born. He traveled to the USSR. He re-edited Libreta de pasajero (1948-1956). He published two novels: Tumbaga and Juan Quinquín en Pueblo Mocho. He presented his most important compilation of poems: Ser fiel, in definitive edition. His compilations Cantos a la naturaleza cubana del siglo XIX and El movimiento de los romances cubanos del siglo XIX appeared. He published his classic anthology Sonetos en Cuba.

1965 He traveled to the German Democratic Republic. He edited the anthology Poetas rusos y soviéticos, in collaboration with Nina Bulgákova.

1966 Juan Quinquín en Pueblo Mocho was made into a film.

1968 He published in Islas his short novel Pancho Ruta y Gil Jocuma, as well as La jira descomunal. He traveled to Bulgaria. Upon his return, he found serious problems at the Central University. He stopped editing Islas in issue 30 of the magazine, corresponding to June-September. He stopped working at the Central University of Las Villas, where he carried out one of the most brilliant editorial works that had occurred in Cuba to that date. Juan Quinquín en Pueblo Mocho was published in the USSR.

1969 He began editing Signos, one of the most important Cuban magazines of the twentieth century; issue 1 was released in September-December.

1970 His wife Isabel passed away. His father don Florentino Feijóo passed away. He traveled to France and England.

1974 La Gaceta de Cuba dedicated an issue to Feijóo's sixtieth birthday. He published Pleno día. Diario abierto was re-edited in Mexico.

1975 He received the UNEAC story prize for his book Cuentacuentos, which was published the following year. He traveled to Switzerland and France.

1976 Second Cuban edition of Juan Quinquín en Pueblo Mocho.

1977 He published Viaje de siempre. Cuarteta y décima, a folklore anthology, appeared. He presented Tres novelas de humor. He re-edited Romances cubanos del siglo XIX.

1978 He exhibited his drawings and paintings Kokoriokos and Kakafuakos, at the House of Culture at Calzada and 8, El Vedado. Other stories from Cuentacuentos were printed. He visited Mongolia. There he received the highest decoration of the country.

1979 He visited Poland. He reflected his trip in "Trajín polaco", published in Signos, May-August, 1980. His compilation Cuentos cubanos de humor appeared. He published Polvo que escribe.

1980 He launched El negro en la literatura folklórica cubana. He edited Contactos poético. He traveled to Mongolia.

1981 He received a high decoration from Poland. He published Del piropo al dicharacho. He received the Distinction for National Culture. He edited the novel Vida completa del poeta Wampampiro Timbereta.

1982 Television series Juan Quinquín en Pueblo Mocho. First volume of Crítica lírica was published. He published Cuentería. Polish edition of Cuentacuentos under the title of Sirindingo and Singollo. He traveled through Switzerland and France. He exhibited in Lausanne, at the Musée d'Art Brut, with a large group of painters of the so-called "Grupo Signos", founded by him. He published Mitología americana. His poetic anthology Ser appeared, selection and prologue by Cintio Vitier.

1983 He traveled to India.

1984 National Tribute for his seventieth birthday. His Poesías were published. Selection and prologue by Cintio Vitier. He edited Festín de poesía, with his work as a translator. He presented El saber y el cantar de Juan sin nada.

1985 He received a high decoration from Bulgaria.

1986 He published El son cubano (Poesía general). The total deterioration of his mental health began.

1988 His grandson Alain Ávila Feijóo was born.

1989 His daughter Adamelia moved him to Cienfuegos. Tribute and National Symposium in Cienfuegos for his seventy-fifth birthday. He received distinctions from the Central University of Las Villas.

1990 The Cuban State awarded him the Félix Varela Order. He returned to living in Havana, in the home of Cleva Solís.

1986-1992 Period of illness, senile dementia and total incapacity.

1992 July 14: He passed away in Havana, at the Calixto García Hospital. Buried on July 15 in the Colon Necropolis.

DECORATIONS

—For National Culture
—Alejo Carpentier Medal, 1982
—Félix Elmuza Medal, 1984
—Raúl Gómez García Medal
—Medal of the XXX Anniversary of the Uprising of September 5, in Cienfuegos, 1989
—Félix Varela Order, State Council, 1990
—Medal of Cultural Merit, Poland
—1300 Years Medal of Bulgaria
—60th Anniversary of Liberation Medal, Mongolia