Ramón Mauricio González Gutiérrez (born September 4, 1983), known by his pen name José Baroja,[1][2] is a Chilean writer, academic and editor. He is a member of the Poets of the World Movement,[3] representative of the Neofantastic Short-story[4] and the new Chilean narrative.[5]
As the eldest son of three brothers,[6] he was born in the Regional Hospital of Valdivia, Chile, in 1983.[7] But he lives his adolescence in the city of Maipú in Santiago de Chile.[8]
He graduated from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile with a bachelor's degree in Letters, with a mention in Linguistics and Hispanic Literature, and a master's degree in Letters and a mention in Literature.[9]
Between 2007 and 2017, he began to give lectures[10] and workshops on both subjects in several universities and institutes in Chile,[11] mainly in Santiago, Talca[12][13] and Valdivia.[14] Besides this, he participates in seminars and congresses in the area, among which Primer Encuentro Nacional de Escritores Gabriela Mistral stands out, in Los Andes,[15] and Tercer Encuentro Internacional de Historia y Literatura Araucanía 2017 of The University of la Frontera, in Temuco.[16]
Still in 2017, he premiered his literary recognition with the first prize in the Gonzalo Rojas Pizarro Literary contest.[17] This was followed by other awards in Argentina and Chile, as well as the publication of his first book, El hombre del terrón de azúcar y otros cuentos.[18] At the end of this year, he founded the RunRun storytelling group,[19] presenting his work in various libraries and schools in Maule[20] and O'Higgins.[21]
In 2018, after participating in some interviews[22] about the death of Nicanor Parra,[23] Baroja was invited to Mexico for the first time, first for the XI Encuentro Internacional de Investigadores de Lengua y Literatura and the XII Festival Internacional de Literatura "Palabra en el Mundo",[24] organized by Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas in Tuxtla Gutiérrez and San Cristóbal de las Casas,[25] and, later, for the Guadalajara International Book Fair.[26] In October of that same year, he published several articles and stories about the social outburst in Chile.[27] In November, he was invited to participate in the First Chonchón Latin American Meeting of Poets and Narrators, in Lebu, Chile.[28]
In 2019, after a fleeting visit to Mexico City, Toronto, Barcelona and Buenos Aires,[29] the latter places where El curioso caso de la sombre que murió como un recuerdo y otros cuentos and Cuentos Reunidos-Antología Breve are born, he decided to migrate to Guadalajara, Mexico.[30] Later that year, he co-founded in Lebu, Chile,[31] the arts and letters magazine Sudras y Parias, together with Chilean writers Jaime Magnan and Alfredo Ojeda Torres[32] and was invited to the Fourth Meeting of Writers of Tapachula,[33] in Chiapas.[34]
In 2020, he participated in the International Festival of Sonora Literature, in San Luis Río Colorado[38] and publish in Lima, Peru, El lado oscuro de la sombra y otros ladridos.[39]
In 2021, No fue un catorce de febrero y otros cuentos is published in Spain.[40]
In 2022, he married the Mexican writer Leyda Mariscal.[41]
In 2023 he is incorporated as an author in the directory of the Creative Community of Los Ríos,[42] dependent on the Ministry of Cultures, arts and heritage of the Government of Chile.[43] It also publishes in Barcelona, Spain, Sueño en Guadalajara y otros cuentos,[44] while it was translated into French by Agata Mendes de Carvalho in Toulouse,[45]France, and is part of the Chilean delegation that participates in the Guadalajara International Book Fair, along with writers such as Victor Munita Fritis,[46]Alejandro Zambra, Pablo Simonetti, María José Ferrada, the scientists Sebastián Pérez and Paula Jofré, and the visual artists Consuelo Terra, Pablo Delcielo and Catalina Bu.[47]
In 2024, he is included in the Encyclopedia of Literature in Mexico (ELEM), a digital encyclopedia on the literature of Mexico, edited by the Foundation for Mexican Letters,[48] supported by the Ministry of Culture and the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature from Mexico.[49]
Style and influences
Baroja's narrative is characterized by a simple and well-kept language,[50] although with a complex background that requires an important cultural background;[51] in contrast, his poetry tends towards the visceral and little content.[52] Among his narrative influences, Jorge Luis Borges, María Luisa Bombal, Manuel Rojas and Oscar Wilde stand out,[53] authors from whom he takes satire,[54] irony and care for the language.[55] It is correct to affirm that Baroja's literature moves between the fantastic and social realism.[56]
Works
José Baroja at Pablo Neruda Foundation
Short story collections
El hombre del terrón de azúcar y otros cuentos
Un hijo de perra y otros cuentos
En memoria del alma de Don Trementino Marabunta y otros cuentos
El curioso caso de la sombra que murió como un recuerdo y otros cuentos
Historia de dos hombres que se extraviaron en el olvido y otros relatos
Cuentos Reunidos–Antología Breve
Cuentos de un escritor chileno en México
Cuentos de un escritor trasnochado, en formato braille
Sobre la extraordinaria memoria de Ernesto Faundez Sanhueza
El lado oscuro de la sombra y otros ladridos
No fue un catorce de febrero y otros cuentos
Sueño en Guadalajara y otros cuentos
Poetry
Mi último invierno-Antología de un hombre que está cansado
Likewise, his participation in numerous anthologies, both in English and Spanish,[citation needed] stands out, among which we can name Alien Minds, a publication in English by La Rama Dorada, Argentina, Nueva Poesía y Narrativa Hispanoamericana del Siglo XXI,[57] by Ediciones Lord Byron, in Madrid, Spain, The 100 most outstanding writers of Ibero-America, from Ediciones Hispana, in the United States, versions 2018–2019, 2020–2021 and 2022–2023, Escritor Libre Internacional, from Tahiel Ediciones, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Homenaje an escritores de Jalisco, from Maya Cartonera publishing house, in Chiapas, Mexico. Finally, he has appeared in different literary magazines, such as Revista Verbo (Des)nudo,[58] in Chile, Revista Guardatextos[59] and Revista Interpretextos,[60] in Mexico, Revista Guardarraya and Revista Contrapunto de la Universidad de Alcalá,[61][62] in Spain, science fiction magazine Teoría Omicrón, in Ecuador,[63]Disparates fanzine, in France,[64] and Revista Cultural Calle B,14 in Cuba,[65] among others.
