• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
The University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin

PORTAL

Web magazine of LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections

  • Home
  • About
  • Features
  • Arte/Letras
  • Black Diaspora
  • En Español
  • Indigenous Issues
  • Benson
  • Past Issues

Staff Pick: Ernesto Cardenal in Solentiname

October 30, 2020

Ernesto Cardenal, n.d. (photo: Sandra Eleta)

Ernesto Cardenal in Solentiname, Ernesto Cardenal Papers, 1925–2016

BY DYLAN JOY

The acquisition of the Ernesto Cardenal Papers in 2016 marked a renewed focus by LLILAS Benson on collecting and preserving collections and stories from Central America. Cardenal, who passed away at 95 in March 2020, lived a multifaceted life as a poet, revolutionary, priest, sculptor, and activist in his native Nicaragua.

I arrived at LLILAS Benson shortly before the acquisition of the Ernesto Cardenal Papers. In my role as the Latin American Archivist, I had the good fortune of processing and readying the collection for research, overseeing a related digitization project in Nicaragua, curating several exhibitions related to Cardenal, and serving as the reference specialist when it comes to this and other related collections. In May of 2020 I created an online exhibition which expands on Cardenal’s life and impact. (Visit Remembering Ernesto Cardenal.)

The particular item I have selected as my favorite from the Ernesto Cardenal Papers is a photograph of Cardenal fishing near the Solentiname Islands, an archipelago in the south of Lake Nicaragua. It was there in 1966 that Cardenal founded a semi-monastic community of artists and peasants that would be fertile ground for artistic and poetic exploration as well as Cardenal’s development as a proponent of liberation theology. This particular photograph captures the peace and connection with nature that Cardenal and the people of Solentiname maintained in the 1960s and early 1970s.

In 1977, troops controlled by Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle destroyed farms, homes, and artisans’ workshops in the community, transforming the small church into a prison and sending Cardenal into exile in Costa Rica. After the successful overthrow of Somoza’s regime by the Sandinistas in 1979, the community of Solentiname was rebuilt.

Cardenal’s initial years on Solentiname, best illustrated in his book El Evangelio en Solentiname (The Gospel in Solentiname), and his lifelong connection with the community there, constitute one of the more intriguing parts of his life and legacy.


Watch: Interview with Ernesto Cardenal at his home in Managua in spring 2016.


Dylan Joy is Latin American archivist at the Benson Latin American Collection.

IN HONOR OF THE CENTENNIAL of the Benson Latin American Collection, staff members submitted short descriptions of some of their favorite items in the collection.

Tagged With: Benson Latin American Collection, Dylan Joy, Ernesto Cardenal, literary archives, Solentiname

Visit our website or sign up for our bi-weekly newsletter.

Primary Sidebar

2021–2022 Edition

View All Issues

Search this site

Tweets by llilasbenson

LLILAS Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/UTLLILAS

Benson Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/utbenson

Footer

About LLILAS Benson

Portal is the annual review of LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, The University of Texas at Austin. Read More >

© 2023
LLILAS Benson

Contact Us

LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections
2300 Red River Street, Stop S5410
SRH 1.308
Austin, TX 78712-1469

512.232.2403

Give

Donate to LLILAS

Donate to Benson

Stay in Touch

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Email us

llilasbenson

UT Home • Emergency Information • Site Policies • Web Accessibility • Web Privacy • Adobe Reader

© 2023 The University of Texas at Austin