Juan Emar

Juan Emar is the pen name of Chilean writer, painter and art critic Álvaro Yáñez Bianchi (1893-1964). The name Juan Emar is a play on the French phrase “J’en ai marre” (I’m fed up).

A strong advocate of the literary avant-garde of the 1920s and 30s, he was associated with the Dada and Surrealist movements. Between 1935-1937, he published four books: Un año, Miltín, Ayer and Diez. These works were largely ignored by the dominant literary circles of his time. His work was reissued in the 1970s, and he is now considered to be one of the most important 20th century Latin American writers.

Yesterday is his first work to be translated into English.