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Xavier Villaurrutia (1903-1950) was a Mexican poet and playwright, whose most famous works are the short theatrical dramas, called Autos profanos, compiled in the work Poesía y teatro completos published in 1953.

Contents 1 Professional Achievements 2 Notable Works 3 Inspiration 4 Commemoration 5 References

Professionally, Villaurrutia worked for the Mexican literary review Contemporános (literally "Contemporaries") from 1928 to 1931. Villaurrutia would later found the first experimental theater in Mexico.

Villaurrutia's notable works include his poetic writings beginning with Reflejos in 1926 and Nocturnos in 1933. Villaurrutia's writing becomes darker in his later poetic works: Nostalgia de la muerte (literately meaning "thoughts of the dead") in 1938, and Décima muerte (literatly "tenth death") in 1941. It is unclear if this change was due to the increase turmoil in Europe that would lead to World War II or simply due to Villaurrutia's increasing age. The preoccupation with death in Villaurrutia's work would climax with his 1941 with his play Invitación a la muerte, the title of which can be literally translated to "Invitation to the death". The final published work of Villaurrutia would come posthumously in 1953 with the publication of Poesía y teatro completos a collection of his works which included the short theatrical dramas, Autos profanos.

Xavier Villaurrutia was greatly influenced by the work of Ramón López Velarde as well as by several Mexican poets, in particular Alí Chumacero.

Since 1955 there has been a Xavier Villaurrutia Award for literary works published in Mexico, selected by a jury of writers. This award has been sponsored by the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes since 1991.^[1]

• The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed.
• Christopher Ramirez (16). Mapping the Public Space of ‘(Homo)sexual’ Latino Men: Essay. University of California, Santa Cruz. Retrieved on April 3, 2007.

1. ^ El Premio Xavier Villaurrutia - in Spanish