The Dominican Republic is in mourning. Not only has he lost his greatest writer, but a key figure in Latin American history and culture. This Saturday he died of coronavirus Marcio Veloz Maggiolo at the age of 84.
His wise and profound articles will no longer appear in the pages of Listín Diari, but will always remain a model of literary quality and vertical thinking, always on the side of the best causes in his country and in the world.
Don Marcio, as he was affectionately known, was born in Villa Francisca, Santo Domingo, in August 1936.
At the time of his death, he was about to publish for the label Loqueleo, by Editorial Santillana, his youth novel “Jánuman”, about the nice story of a lion eating sweet potatoes and a monkey called Jánuman.
At the time of his death he was also working on two adult novels. He was a hard worker of the word. He did so without rest and devotion.
Narrator, poet, essayist, literary critic, archaeologist and anthropologist, Marcio Veloz Maggiolo attended his primary education at the Mexico School and his secondary education at the Liceu President Trujillo and the Hostos School.
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the Hostos School (1957); One received the master’s degree in Philosophy and Letters by the Independent University of Santo Domingo (1962), and realized his doctorate in History of America in the University of Madrid (1970). He also studied journalism in Quito, Ecuador.
Throughout his career he held positions such as Undersecretary of State for Culture; director of the Research Department of the Museum of the Dominican Man; director of the Department of Anthropology and History of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo; director-founder of the Department of Cultural Extension of the same university, and director of the Museum of the Royal Houses. In addition, he served as ambassador to Mexico, Peru and Italy.
He had an extensive literary career. Part of his narrative and essay work has been translated into English, Italian, French and German. “He is one of the most prolific and widely spread contemporary Dominican writers nationally and internationally.”
Among his passive bibliography are books the size of the good thief (1960); Creon and Six Stories (1961); Intus (1962); The Refugee (1962); Judas: The Good Thief (1962); Life has no name (1965); The Bone Angels (1966); Culture, theater and stories in Santo Domingo (1969); From April onwards (1975); On Dominican Culture (1977); Where people came from (1978); On Culture and Cultural Policy in the Dominican Republic (1980); The diffuse biography of Chestnut Shade (1981); Raw material (1990); Cabaret Rites (1992); The head went barefoot (1993); Trujillo, Villa Francisca and other ghosts (1996).
Among the many awards he has received for his creative work are the National Poetry Prize (1961) with intus; the National Novel Prize (1962) with The Good Thief; the National Prize of Novel (1981) with the diffuse biography of Chestnut Shade; the National Prize of Story (1981) with the fertile agony of the love; the National Novel Prize (1990) with Raw Material; the National Novel Prize (1992) with Rites of Cabaret; the National Literature Prize (1996), and the National Book Fair Prize (1997) with Trujillo, Villa Francisca and other ghosts.