Manuel Ortiz Guerrero

@Playwrights, Life Achievements and Childhood

Paraguayan-born Manuel Ortiz Guerrero was a renowned bilingual poet, playwright and musician

Jul 16, 1897

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Biography

Personal Details

  • Birthday: July 16, 1897
  • Died on: August 5, 1933
  • Nationality: Paraguayan
  • Famous: Writers, Poets, Playwrights
  • Birth Place: Villarrica
  • Gender: Male
  • Sun Sign: Cancer

Manuel Ortiz Guerrero born at

Villarrica

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Birth Place

He married Dalmatia in 1921 in Villarrica. The duo relocated to Asuncion in 1922 and built a home in San Lorenzo where he stayed for the remaining of his life.

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Personal Life

He died prematurely on May 8, 1933, aged 39, in exile in Buenos Aires.

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Personal Life

His body was flown to his hometown, Asuncion, where his ashes were interred in a central square, bearing the name ‘Manuel Ortiz Guerrero y Jose Asuncion Flores’.

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Personal Life

Manuel Ortiz Guerrero was born on July 16, 1894, in Ybaroty, Villarrica del Espiritu Santo, Paraguay, to Vicente Ortiz and Susana Guerrero. His mother died while giving birth to him and he was, therefore, brought up by his grandmother, Dona Florencia Ortiz.

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Childhood & Early Life

After completing his primary studies at a Villarrica school in 1908, he enrolled in the Colegio Nacional de Villarrica, where he was introduced to poetry and composed his first poems.

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Childhood & Early Life

He went to Brazil with his father in 1912, where he participated in an armed struggle and put into exile. There, he fell terribly ill with leprosy.

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Childhood & Early Life

Upon his return to Villarrica in 1913, he moved to Asuncion in 1914 to resume his studies at Colegio Nacional de la Capital.

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Childhood & Early Life

His work started getting recognized when he released his poems through his college student magazine, ‘Revista del Centro Estudiantil’, in 1915.

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Career

Among his most celebrated works was ‘Loca’, published in the ‘Letras’ magazine, as a representative of Paraguayan modernism. His other modernist works revolved around romanticism, like ‘Diana de gloria’, ‘Raida poty’, and ‘La sortija’.

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Career

In 1917, he left Asuncion and returned to Villarrica, where he was diagnosed with Hansen’s disease.

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Career

He chose to write in Guarani, the native and official language of Paraguay, and went on to publish a series of poems during the 1920s, which included ‘Surgente’ (1921), ‘Nubes del Este’ (1928), and ‘Pepitas’ (1930).

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Career

He launched the magazine, Orbita, in 1922 and opened a publishing house, Zurucu’a, in 1924, where he took up editing pamphlets, receipt books, brochures, and other documents to earn a living.

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Career

His poem ‘India’, set to music by noted Paraguayan musician, Flores, became the ‘national song’ of Paraguay in 1944 and was regarded as his best composition.

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Major Works