Edwards, Jorge

Jorge Edwards is a Chilean writer and former diplomat whose critical stance on oppressive dictatorships in Latin America has sparked controversy. Born in Chile in 1931, Edward was educated in the United States and served as a Chilean diplomat in Cuba and France in the 1970s. He openly criticized the regimes of Fidel Castro in Cuba and Augusto Pinochet in Chile, which eventually led to his exile in Spain. He authored Persona Non Grata, a memoir of his time in Cuba, and Adios, Poeta, a biography of Pablo Neruda, along with several other novels, short stories, poems, and essays. His most persistent theme is the weakness of middle-class society, and his stories, like those of Mario Benedetti in Uruguay, show the pathos, homor, grief and tragedy inherent in his capital city. These stories have appeared in the collections El patio (1952), Gente de la ciudad (1961) and Las máscaras (1967).

From the guide to the Jorge Edwards Collection, 1953-1982, (Princeton University. Library. Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections)