Abelardo Díaz Alfaro


Abelardo Díaz Alfaro was a Puerto Rican author who achieved great fame throughout Latin America during the 1940s. His book Campo Alegre is a text that has been studied at schools in Austria, Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand as well as all over the Americas.

Life and career

Díaz Alfaro was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, but soon after his family moved to Ponce. He was the son of Abelardo Díaz Morales, a Baptist minister, and Asunción Alfaro Pratts. His siblings were Abigail, Dalila, Miriam, Priscilla, Raquel, Lydia and Samuel. He returned to Caguas to attend University and married Gladys Meaux, with whom he had two daughters and one son.
Díaz Alfaro obtained a bachelor's degree in arts at the Instituto Politécnico de San Germán, which is now known as Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico. He also obtained a title as a social worker, and certificates in Spanish and Psychology.
He obtained many honorary doctorates from different universities.
Some of his short stories, like "Peyo Mercé enseña inglés" or "Santa Cló va a la Cuchilla" create a Manichaean dichotomy between unlearned Puerto Rican peasants and American invaders. Thus, a praise of layman culture is expressed throughout his short stories. The metaphor of weak or feminine Americans versus uneducated but brave Puerto Ricans is taken later by other writers like Ana Lydia Vega.
He presented at conferences in many parts of Latin America after reaching fame, including in Mexico, Venezuela and many other countries. His books have been translated into English, Polish, Russian, German, French, Italian and Czech, among other languages.

Works

Among the books he wrote are: