José Garcia Villa

            

 

 

Although José Garcia Villa (1914–1997) is largely known as a Filipino poet, he spent 67 years of his life in the United States. His work has been praised as innovative and talented. A contributor to the Dictionary of Oriental Literature observed of Villa that "His craftsmanship and skill remains unchallenged among Filipino poets."

          

 

Born in Manila, Philippines, on August 5, 1914, Villa was the son of Simeon Villa, a doctor who was Army chief-of-staff during the Philippine revolution against Spain, as well as personal physician to revolutionary leader Emilio Aguinaldo; his mother was Guia Garcia, a wealthy landowner. Villa attended the University of the Philippines in 1929. He first studied medicine, and then switched to law, but he was always interested in writing, and as a law student he wrote short stories and poetry. Some of his writing, notably a series of erotic verse titled "Man Poems," was so controversial that the authorities at the University of the Philippines expelled him. In that same year, however, Villa won a prize from the Philippines Free Press for the best short story of the year.

Villa moved to the United States in 1930, seeking a more congenial and liberal literary scene. Although he remained a Philippine citizen, he spent the rest of his life in the United States, only rarely returning to his home country. He enrolled in the University of New Mexico, earning a B.A. degree in 1933. While at the University of New Mexico, he founded a literary magazine, titled Clay, which published the work of several young American writers who later became famous. Villa attended Columbia University for graduate study in 1942.

Villa began writing short stories while he was still an undergraduate at the University of New Mexico. He published these and his poems in American literary magazines to almost immediate praise. He received far more publicity than his seemingly obscure origins would bring, largely because of the work of critic Edward J. O'Brien, who saw in Villa an incredible talent. In 1932 O'Brien dedicated his edited collection Best American Short Stories of 1932 to Villa. Villa also won the Shelley Memorial and Rockefeller awards, received a Guggenheim fellowship for writing, and was given membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Although he was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize, he did not win, as his work was considered too experimental.

On 12 June 1973, Villa was named National Artist in Literature.

Villa died on February 5, 1997, at the age of 88.

 

Sources:
http://nationalartists.panitikan.com.ph/jgvilla.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Garcia_Villa