EAST BAY EXPRESS 2004
Chile Warmth – Fernando Alegría
by Kelly Vance

Surely everyone in the East Bay is at least marginally familiar with the dismal story of Salvador Allende, Augusto Pinochet, and how, in the early 1970s, the government of Chile turned from a legally elected socialist one into a junta-ruled right-wing dictatorship — complete with “disappearances” — with the connivance of the CIA and US business interests.
Surprisingly, today few Chileans hold that against us. In fact, the Bay Area has long been a refuge for chileno political exiles; Berkeley’s La Peña Cultural Center was originally started as a meeting place for them. And this Saturday evening, La Peña will once again ring with echoes of Chile at the world premiere screening of the documentary, ¡Viva Chile M …!, honoring the life and work of writer, activist, and teacher Fernando Alegría. It was the Santiago-born Alegría who wrote the poem “¡Viva Chile M …!”, a popular work that captures the love-hate dichotomy of chilenos who love their country, yet hate what happened to it (the title circumnavigates the poem’s repeated line, “Long live Chile shit!”, better translated as “Long live Chile, my ass!”).
After Alegría moved to the United States to teach at Stanford, his rebellious spirit earned him the respect of such counterculture heroes as Allen Ginsberg and Angela Davis — but now, with the poet in his late eighties and reportedly suffering from a form of dementia in an East Bay nursing home, Berkeley’s Western Institute for Social Research (where Alegría served on the board of trustees) felt the time was right to produce the documentary, written and directed by local filmmaker Uwe Blesching and sociologist Marcia Campos. Blesching is especially pleased that Alegría was able to view a finished cut of the film last year at a special sneak screening. “His entire life,” Blesching says, “was about bringing the Chilean spirit into the world.”
¡Viva Chile M …! is being shown at La Peña (3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley) followed by a reception at the center’s restaurant.
For more info: www.lapena.org or 510-849-2568.
Originally published in East Bay Express: January 28, 2004

Press Releases
Press Articles Fernando Alegría – Scholar of Latin American Authors
Memorial Services for Fernando Alegría
Biblioteca Nacional de Chile-July 2004

COMUNICADO DE PRENSA (Santiago, 1 de julio de 2004)
El día Jueves 29 de Julio, a las 7:00 PM En la Sala Andes de la Biblioteca Nacional de Chile se realizara la Premiere del documental Viva Chile M…! Un tributo a la vida y obra de Fernando Alegria; novelista, poeta, diplomático y crítico literario, Fernando Alegria encarna la maxima expresión del chileno universal. Sus navegaciones lo llevan siempre a un puerto llamado Chile, punto de partida y de retorno de su experiencia emocional e intelectual. El documental acompaña al autor del emblematico poema Viva Chile M…!, por los altos y bajos emocionales del poema que es Chile mismo. Hombre, poesía y tierra cabalgando al unisono. Es el “galopon del potro chileno a traves de las edades” , frente a un horizonte abierto al panorama político nacional y mundial.
El documental sigue los pasos de Fernando Alegria hasta California, donde es Profesor Emerito de laUeniversidad de Stanford, representante para los Estados Unidos de la Real Academia de la Lengua Española y Consul vitalicio. Con pasion, humor, irreverencia y amor, amor a la vida, Fernado Alegria invierte su enorme prestigio uniendose a las causas mas nobles de la humanidad mientras su vida se entrelaza con la vida de otros iconos de la cultura mundial, como Thomas Mann, Allen Ginsberg, Gabriela Mistral, Salvador Allende, Pablo Neruda, Jorge Luis Borges, Joan Baez y Angela Davis, entre otros.
Con este evento se dará inicio a la repatriación del ideario de Fernando Alegria y la recuperación de su vasta obra para la memoria de Chile.Viva Chile M…! Un tributo a la vida y obra de Fernado Alegria, en formato bilingue Espanol/Ingles de 50 minutos, del realizador aleman Uwe Blesching, nos devuelve un tesoro nacional a la conciencia de Chile.
Por favor confirmar su asistencia a: vivachilem2004@yahoo.com
Paz, dignidad y… Alegria
Departamento de Extención de la Biblioteca Nacional de Chile
Av. Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins 651
Santiago,Chile.
Fono: 6324853-3605310

Viva Chile M…!
El cineasta alemán, residente en el Area de San Francisco, Uwe Blesching en colaboración con la socióloga Marcia Campos, han realizado el documental !Viva Chile Mierda! Un Tributo a la Vida y Obra de Fernando Alegria, un notable escritor, poeta y critico literario chileno.
Este documental es un reconocimiento a una de las figuras mas influyentes y claves en el fomento de la cultura Latina en los Estados Unidos.El poema Viva Chile Mierda de Fernando Alegría fue uno de poemas mas recitados en la Unidad popular (durante el mandato de Allende).
Este documental esboza el panorama cultural, politico y literario Latinoamericano de los ultimos setenta años desde las raíces del socialismo en Latinoamerica, la epoca de Allende, hasta el renacimiento latinoamericano en los Estados Unidos a través de los ojos y la mente de Fernando Alegría, el brillante escritor y revolucionario del siglo pasado.
Fernando Alegría nació el 26 de Septiembre de 1918 en un barrio del norte de Santiago, llamado Independencia. Un barrio que surge bajo el influjo multicultural de los sueños rotos de immigrantes del interior del pais y de todo el mundo. De allí surgieron las voces líricas de Neruda, Pablo de Rokha y Volodia Teitleboim . Dando también a Fernando su expresión, su identidad nacional y su espiritu indómito.
La obra de Fernando Alegría, ya sea histórica o de ficción, refleja siempre el pulso del momento en que fue escrita, a la vez que traciende el tiempo por su habilidad para captar el espiritu eterno de la gente y los lugares que evoca. Por su mágico don de articular los sentimientos del pueblo de una manera irreverente, reflexiva y bella, Alegría se a ganado el cariño de sus paisanos y el reconocimiento de gigantes culturales y literarios del siglo tales como Thomas Mann, Allen Ginsberg, Angela Davis, y Joan Baez, entre otros.
Duración: 50 minutos
Productor / Director :Uwe Blesching
Coproductora: Marcia Campos
Editors: Daniel Baer & Sarah Harbin
Music: Rafael Manrriquez & Andy Butler
Photos by: Alejandro Stuart
Disponible en DVD y Video (Español/Ingles)
Website: www.vivachilem.com
E-mail: ub511@mindspring.com

ENGLISH PRESS RELEASE
January 2004

San Francisco-based German film maker Uwe Blesching in collaboration with Chilean Sociologist and Biographer Marcia Campos, are currently completing the documentary film entitled ¡Viva Chile Mierda! a Tribute to the Life and Works of Fernando Alegría, one of Chile’s most notable writers, poets and literary critics.
This documentary traces the Chilean and American cultural, political, and literary landscapes of the past seventy years-from the seeds of socialism in Latin America, to Allende, the Beats and the Latino revival through the eyes and mind of Fernando Alegría, one of the most gifted and renown contemporary Latin-American writers and revolutionaries of the past century.
Fernando Alegría was born on Sep. 26. 1918 in the northern barrio of Santiago de Chile called Independencia- Independence”. This barrio grew intertwined with the broken dreams of immigrants from all over the world and gave birth to the lyrical voices of Pablo Neruda, Violeta Parra and Volodia Teitelboim, and gave Alegría not only his voice but also his indomitable spirit of rebellion and sense of national identity. Fernando Alegría’s works, whether factual or fictional, reflect the pulse of the moment in which they were penned yet transcend time in their ability to capture the spirit of the people and places they depict. This revered gift of being able to articulate the feelings of a people, and to do so in a witty, reflective, and lyrically beautiful manner has endeared Alegría to his countrymen and earned him recognition from many literary and cultural icons such as Thomas Mann, Allen Ginsberg, Angela Davis and Joan Baez.
As an academic, visionary, writer and revolutionary Alegría brought prestige and legitimacy to the Spanish language in the US at a time when children were punished in schools for speaking their native tongues. Here again, Alegría was at the cutting edge of important cultural, literary, and political movements. Apart from the admiration and honor he has received from the America’s highest academic institutions, Alegría’s students revere him as a different kind of professor: “A writer, if he is to teach in a university, will teach his students how to doubt everything, he will put his students on the podium, and he himself will retreat, punished, to a corner against the wall. The universities, like revolutions, can not become institutionalized (What a foul concept!) His reason d’aitre is in the powers of creation, in the bankruptcy of memory, in the triumph of oblivion. The university is not the epicenter, but rather the street is.”
Though Alegría is now a retired Stanford emeritus professor, the same nature of his youth remains with him as the pendulum of history swings once again and, like a phoenix, a new Chile begins to rise out of the ashes of the past.

¡Viva Chile Mierda!
The impetus for the film grew out of the Western Institute for Social Research (WISR), a multicultural academic institution in Berkeley – where Alegría served on the Board of Trustees for almost twenty years. The film is being made with the permission of the Alegría family, and is in part, a way for the family, friends, board, faculty, students, and alumni of WISR to honor Fernando, and generate greater public awareness and recognition of Fernando’s accomplishments.

SPANISH PRESS RELEASE
January 2004

El cineasta aleman, residente en el Area de San Francisco, Uwe Blesching en colaboracion con la sociologa chilena, Marcia Campos, se encuentran en la etapa final de produccion del film documental titulado ¡Viva Chile Mierda! Un Tributo a la Vida y Obra de Fernando Alegría, el notable escritor, poeta, y critico literario chileno.
Este documental esboza el panorama cultural, politico y literario Latinoamericano de los ultimos setenta anos- desde las raices del socialismo en Latinoamerica, la epoca de Allende, hasta el renacimiento latinoamericano en los Estados Unidos a traves de los ojos y la mente de Fernando Alegría, el brillante escritor y revolucionario del siglo pasado.
Fernando Alegría nacio el 26 de Septiembre de 1918 en un barrio del norte de Santiago, llamado Independencia, un barrio que surge bajo el influjo multiculturalde los suenos rotos de immigrantes del interior del pais y de todo el mundo. De alli surgieron las voces liricas de Neruda, Pablo de Rokha y Volodia Teitleboim dando tambien a Fernando su expresion, su identidad nacional y su espiritu indomito. La obra de Fernando Alegría, ya sea historica o de ficcion, refleja siempre el pulso del momento en que fue escrita a la vez que traciende el tiempo por su habilidad para captar el espiritu eterno de la gente y los lugares que evoca. Por su magico don de articular los sentimientos del pueblo de una manera irreverente, reflexiva y bella, Alegría se a ganado el carino de sus paisanos y el reconocimiento de gigantes culturales y literarios del siglo tales como Thomas Mann, Allen Ginsberg, Angela Davis, y Joan Baez, entre otros.
Como academico, Fernando Alegría visualizo la literatura etnica, como revolucionaria dando prestigio y legitimidad al idioma espanol en los Estados Unidos en una epoca en la cual se castigaba en las escuelas a los ninos latinos por hablar su idioma natal. Con eso, una vez mas, Alegría se encuentra en la cuspide de un importante movimiento cultural, literario y politico. Aparte de la admiracion y el honor que ha recibido de las instituciones academicas mas prestigiosas de los Estados Unidos, sus estudiantes lo han premiado con el respeto que se le otorga a un profesor extraordinario. “Un escritor, si ha de ensenar en una universidad, ensenara a dudar de todo, y pondra al estudiante en la catedra y el se colocara en un rincon, castigado, vuelto hacia la pared. La Universidad, como la revolucion, no se puede institucionalizar Que palabrota! Su razon de existir esta en el poder de la improvisacion, en la bancarrota de la memoria, en el triunfo del olvido. La Universidad no es es la madre del cordero. La calle es la madre del cordero.”
Alegría se encuentra hoy retirado de su posicion como profesor emerito de Stanford pero conserva el impetu de su juventud. Mientras, el pendulo del tiempo vuelve a moverse y un Chile vuelve a surgir como un ave Fenix, de las cenizas.
¡Viva Chile Mierda!
La iniciativa para la realizacion de este documental deriva del Western Institute for Social Research (WISR), una institucion academica multicultural con sede en Berkeley, California, en la cual Fernando Alegría ha participado como miembro de su Consejo Directivo por mas de veinte anos. Este documental cuenta con la autorizacion de la Familia Alegría y es, en parte, una manera de honrar la trajectoria de Fernando Alegría. Sus amigos, consejo, facultad, estudiantes y ex alumnos del WISR rinden tributo a Fernando y esperan promover el reconocimiento publico de su notable obra.

COMUNICADO DE PRENSA
Av. Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins 651
Santiago,Chile.
Fono: 6324853-3605310

Viva Chile M…!
El cineasta alemán, residente en el Area de San Francisco, Uwe Blesching en colaboración con la socióloga Marcia Campos, han realizado el documental !Viva Chile Mierda! Un Tributo a la Vida y Obra de Fernando Alegria, un notable escritor, poeta y critico literario chileno.
Este documental es un reconocimiento a una de las figuras mas influyentes y claves en el fomento de la cultura Latina en los Estados Unidos.El poema Viva Chile Mierda de Fernando Alegría fue uno de poemas mas recitados en la Unidad popular (durante el mandato de Allende).
Este documental esboza el panorama cultural, politico y literario Latinoamericano de los ultimos setenta años desde las raíces del socialismo en Latinoamerica, la epoca de Allende, hasta el renacimiento latinoamericano en los Estados Unidos a través de los ojos y la mente de Fernando Alegría, el brillante escritor y revolucionario del siglo pasado.
Fernando Alegría nació el 26 de Septiembre de 1918 en un barrio del norte de Santiago, llamado Independencia. Un barrio que surge bajo el influjo multicultural de los sueños rotos de immigrantes del interior del pais y de todo el mundo. De allí surgieron las voces líricas de Neruda, Pablo de Rokha y Volodia Teitleboim . Dando también a Fernando su expresión, su identidad nacional y su espiritu indómito.
La obra de Fernando Alegría, ya sea histórica o de ficción, refleja siempre el pulso del momento en que fue escrita, a la vez que traciende el tiempo por su habilidad para captar el espiritu eterno de la gente y los lugares que evoca. Por su mágico don de articular los sentimientos del pueblo de una manera irreverente, reflexiva y bella, Alegría se a ganado el cariño de sus paisanos y el reconocimiento de gigantes culturales y literarios del siglo tales como Thomas Mann, Allen Ginsberg, Angela Davis, y Joan Baez, entre otros.
Duración: 50 minutos
Productor / Director :Uwe Blesching
Coproductora: Marcia Campos
Editors: Daniel Baer & Sarah Harbin
Music: Rafael Manrriquez & Andy Butler
Photos by: Alejandro Stuart
Disponible en DVD y Video (Español/Ingles)
Website: www.vivachilem.com
E-mail: ub511@mindspring.com

Memorial Services Announcement
Fernando Alegría
September 26, 1918 – October 29, 2005

Dear Friends, Estimados Amigos,
Thank you so much for your kind words of support as well as the prayers and thoughts offered in memory of my father, Fernando Alegria. Please join us, if you can, at the services for him which will be held at the following locations:
Friday, November 4, 7:00pm Rosary, Viewing and Gathering of Friends
Roller Hapgood & Tinney Funeral Home
980 Middlefield Rd. (at Addison), Palo Alto Phone: 650 328-1360
Saturday, November 5, 2:00pm Mass and Burial following church service
St. Raymond’s Catholic Church
1100 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park
For directions see http://www.google.com/maps?hl=en&lr=&q=st+raymond’s+church&near=Menlo+Park,+CA&sa=X&oi=locald&radius=0.0&cid=37453889,-122181111,928780162824275759&iwstate1=form:to
I would also ask for your help in sending this information to others who might want to attend the services, we would love them to be there. Thank you very much.
Isabel Alegría

Fernando Alegría - Scholar of Latin American Authors
— Tyche Hendricks, Chronicle Staff Writer
Reprinted from SFGate.com
Sunday, November 20, 2005

Fernando Alegría, a renowned Chilean writer, longtime Bay Area university professor and former cultural attaché to the United States for former Chilean President Salvador Allende, has died at his home in Walnut Creek.
He was 87 when he died Oct. 29.
A professor emeritus in Stanford’s department of Spanish and Portuguese, Professor Alegría pioneered the study of Latin American literature in the United States in the mid-20th century. It was a time when most literature in Spanish being taught here was written in Spain, according to Adán Griego, curator of Latin American, Mexican American and Iberian collections at the Stanford library.
In addition, Professor Alegría supported Chicano and Latino writers in the United States.
“Fernando was one of the links between the Chicano movement in California and Latin American intellectuals, especially Mexican writers,” said Griego, who helped archive Professor Alegría’s papers, including correspondence with such literary lights as Thomas Mann, Mario Vargas Llosa and Allen Ginsberg, for the Stanford library collection.
Alegría’s daughter Isabel recalled having a ringside seat on the world of Latin American literature as she grew up in Berkeley. Visiting poets and writers would talk into the night and appear again at the breakfast table. Among them were Mexican author Juan Rulfo, Argentine novelist Julio Cortázar and Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Neruda, Isabel Alegría recalled in a eulogy for her father, “made me my first drink, a wonderful concoction of champagne, orange juice and sherbet. Imagine.”
“My father brought into our home such a rich cultural life,” she said. “He brought literature to life for me in a way that was very special and significant.”
Though Professor Alegría was a scholar, he was a poet and novelist in his own right, with two dozen books to his credit. A 1957 novel, “My Horse González,” won Chile’s Premio Atanea and Premio Municipal awards. Professor Alegría also received the Latin American Literary Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Creative and hardworking, Professor Alegría would retire to his study after his morning cornflakes to focus on creative writing before the demands of his academic job took over, his daughter recalled.
He was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1918. He began his higher education at the University of Chile and went on to earn a doctorate from UC Berkeley in 1947. He taught at Berkeley for two decades and, in 1967, joined the Stanford faculty, retiring in 1988. In 1943, he married a medical student from a prominent Salvadoran family, Carmen Letona Meléndez, and the couple had four children.
He maintained strong ties to Chile, returning annually for visits after settling in California and retaining his Chilean citizenship. When his longtime friend Allende was elected president in 1970, Professor Alegría was named cultural attaché. After the coup that claimed Allende’s life, the military government took Professor Alegría’s passport, and he was barred from returning to Chile until 1986. He founded a literary magazine for Chileans in exile and became “the intellectual face of the opposition to the regime,” Griego said.
“He was not a politically active person, but he had strong convictions,” Isabel Alegría said. “He became more political as the situation around him did.’‘
Professor Alegría is survived by his four children, Carmen Alegría of Palo Alto, Isabel Alegría of Berkeley, Dr. Daniel Alegría of Portola Valley and Andrés Alegría of Pinole, as well as nine grandchildren. His wife died in 1994.
A memorial service was held this month. Donations in Professor Alegría’s memory may be made to La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705, or the Western Institute for Social Research, 3220 Sacramento St., Berkeley, CA 94702.