Background
When it was closed down, he and his family moved to Antofagasta, where his mother died.
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Hernan Letelier
Edit ProfileEducation
He completed his seventh and eighth years of study at night school, and at the Inacap educational institute he earned his license as a secondary education instructor.
Career
Until the age of 11 he lived in the Algorta saltpeter mining town. He stayed in Antofagasta, alone, until he was about 11. To survive, he sold newspapers.
Later he worked as a messenger for Anglo Lautaro Nirate Company, until his thirst for adventure led him to spend three years traveling in Chile, Bolivia, Perú, Ecuador and Argentina.
He returned to Antofagasta in 1973 and began to work at another company, Mantos Blancos. Later he left for Pedro de Valdivia, another saltpeter mining town.
Although his early works consisted of poetry and stories (Poemas y Pomadas Cuentos breves y Cuescos de brevas), it is as a novelist that he has had the greatest success, both critical and popular. His books are being translated to several languages and it is possible that film versions will be made.
He dreams of having a literary style which blends "the magic of Juan Rulfo, the marvels of Gabriel García Márquez, the playfulness of Cortázar, the refinement of Carlos Fuentes, and the intelligence of Borges." El arte de la resurrección is a comic love story set in the early 1940s during a strike by saltpetre miners in barren northern Chile.
lieutenant centres on the obsession of the historical-mythical folk preacher El Cristo de Elqui (the Christ of Elqui) with making a disciple of a devout prostitute called Magalena Mercado.
Achievements
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Born
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Nationality
Chile