Miguel Angel: A Biographical Sketch

Miguel Angel Asturias was born on 1899 in Republica de Guatemala, he was raised in his native country by his parents Ernesto Asturias, a lawyer turned sugar and flour importer, and Maria Rosales, a schoolteacher. He attended the state high school for a baccalaureate education and proceeded to take up medicine at the University of San Carlos but later transferred to the school?s law program. During his days at the university, he traveled to Honduras and El Salvador as the representative of the Asociaci?n General de Estudiantes Universitarios and became one of Guatemala?s spokesperson for the 1921 International Student Congress held in Mexico.

In 1923, Miguel Angel Asturias earned his law degree and left for Europe with intent to take up political economy in England for further studies. However, the original plan was not pushed through. Instead he only stayed in London for a few months and went to Paris where he resided for ten years. He studied Anthropology at the Sorbonne in Paris under the instruction of Georges Raynaud. In those times, he also worked as a correspondent for various Latin-American newspapers. This gave him the privilege to travel to several countries in Western Europe, Middle East, Greece, and Egypt.

In 1925, inspired by the French translation of the Mayan Writings, he rendered a Spanish version of the sacred Mayan literature entitled Popol Vuh. Apart from that, he goes home from time to time in order to conduct lectures at the Popular University. A collection of his lectures, La arquitectura de la vida nueva (Architecture of the New Life), was published in 1928.

In 1930, his passion for the culture enthuse him to write the book Leyendas de Guatemala which earned him a reputation. It was recognized as the best Spanish-American book published in France for which Miguel was bestowed a Silla Monsigur Prize. Several more books were written by him for which he received due recognition. His most popular masterpiece El Senor Presidente was published in 1946. His valiant display of disgust for the government prompted his exile. He spent his final years in Madrid and died on June 9, 1974 during a lecture tour.