MUTIS, LVARO

born Aug. 25, 1923, Bogot, Colombia versatile Colombian writer and poet best known for his novels featuring his alter ego, a character named Maqroll el Gaviero (Maqroll the Lookout). The son of a diplomat, Mutis attended schools in Brussels, Belgium, and in Bogot. He entered the literary world in Bogot as a poet, a member of the young and diverse Cntico (Canticle) group that emerged in the 1940s. After 1956 he lived in Mexico. Influenced in part by French Surrealism, Mutis's poetry is written in free verse. His long lines are sometimes compared to those of the American poet Walt Whitman. Mutis introduced his recurring character, Maqroll el Gaviero, in his early poetry and published his first collection of Maqroll poems in 1973. After his first few volumes of verse had been published, Mutis began to write prose in addition to poetry, producing a number of collections of short stories and novellas. In Diario do Lecumberri (1960; Lecumberri Diary), Mutis wrote about his experience in a Mexican jail. His novella La mansin de Araucama (1973; Araucama Mansion) was subtitled a gothic tale from the hot lands. He was not finished, however, with the character of Maqroll; in 1986 he published La nieve del almirante (The Snow of the Admiral), Maqroll's diary of a journey on a vast tropical river. A third collection of poems was entitled Summa de Maqroll el Gaviero: poesa 19481997 (1997). Like his author, Maqroll is a solitary traveler who brings a stranger's detachment to his encounters and his loves; he searches for meaning in a time of violence and inhumanity.