In thisSpanish name, the first or paternal surname is Novo and the second or maternal family name is López.
Novo in 1971
Salvador Novo López (July 30, 1904 – January 13, 1974) was a Mexican writer, poet, playwright, translator, television presenter, entrepreneur, and the official chronicler ofMexico City. As a noted intellectual, he influenced popular perceptions of politics, media, the arts, and Mexican society in general. He was a member of the Mexican modernist writers' groupLos Contemporáneos, as well as of theAcademia Mexicana de la Lengua.
In spite of themachismo and conservativeCatholicism prevalent in 20th-century Mexico, Novo was openly homosexual.[1] As a result, he was referred to by the literary prodigyLuis Spota as "Nalgador Sobo", aspoonerism that roughly translates to "butt groper". This elicited a riposte from Novo, who published an epigram mocking Spota's surname.[2] The feud reportedly culminated in a fist fight between the two writers during a performance at thePalacio de Bellas Artes, after which they were both arrested.[3]
Nevertheless, Novo was accepted by the Mexican government, for whom he worked in official posts related to culture. He was elected to theAcademia Mexicana de la Lengua and had a television program on Mexico City's history. Towards the end of his life, he dyed his hair a bright carrot color and wore many ostentatious rings and colored suits. He has been compared toOscar Wilde, but unlike Wilde, Novo never suffered the setback of scandal or persecution and remained a respected member of high society and governmental circles until his death. In fact, some sectors resented the fact that a gay writer would align himself so closely with the government and media after the repression of social movements in the 1960s and 1970s.[4]
The street on which he lived was renamed after him when he assumed the role of Mexico City's official chronicler, a post held for life.[5]
Within a 1,000-sq.m.-land purchased in the late 1940s, Salvador Novo decided to build, with the aid of architect Alejandro Prieto, the cultural project "La Capilla", for which purpose he adapted an old chapel as a theatre, which was inaugurated on January 22, 1953.[6][7]
^Corona, Ignacio; Beth Ellen Jorgensen (2002).The Contemporary Mexican Chronicle: theoretical perspectives on the liminal genre. SUNY Press.ISBN0-7914-5353-7.
^Rebolledo Ayerdi, Anituy (May 5, 2022)."El lenguaje popular V" [The Vernacular Language (Part V)].El Sur: Periódico de Guerrero (in Spanish).Archived from the original on May 29, 2024. RetrievedMay 29, 2024.
^"¿Qué ver, qué leer?" [What to see, what to read?].Periódico AM (in Spanish). July 11, 2021.Archived from the original on May 29, 2024. RetrievedMay 29, 2024.
Novo, Salvador (1994). "Introduction: About the Author".War of the Fatties and Other Stories from Aztec History. Translated by Alderson, Michael. Austin, Texas:University of Texas Press.ISBN0-292-75554-6.
