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Pedro Juan Soto (July 11, 1928 - November 7, 2002) was a Puerto Rican writer.
Early life
Pedro Juan Soto was born in Cataño, Puerto Rico, and went to primary and secondary school in Bayamón. At the age of eighteen, he moved to New York City and attended Long Island University. He initially studied to become a doctor, but after being influenced by the works of Ernest Hemingway, he decided to dedicate his life to the study of literature.
After graduating from Long Island with a Bachelor of Arts degree, he served in the United States Army for a year, and then went to Columbia University to obtain a Master of Arts degree. It is around this time that Soto began to publish his first works, Garabatos and Los inocentes, for which he won awards. He also published stories in Revista Asomante, a Hispanic magazine.
Return to Puerto Rico
In 1955, Soto moved back to Puerto Rico, where he continued to write novels and short stories, as well as a few dramas, and he later became a professor at the University of Puerto Rico.
Among Soto's most famous works are Spiks, which deals with the struggles he and many other Puerto Ricans faced in New York, and Usmaíl, a story set in the Puerto Rican island of Vieques in the early 20th century. Soto was a supporter of the Puerto Rican independence movement, a theme that often shows up in his books.
On July 25, 1978, one of his sons, Carlos Soto Arriví, was killed by police officers in the Cerro Maravilla Incident. Soto sued the commonwealth government and United States federal authorities for what he called "outright assassination".
Works
Books
- Los perros anónimos (unpublished), 1950
- Spiks, 1956
- Usmaíl, 1959
- Ardiente suelo, fría estacion, 1961
- El francotirador, 1969
- Temporadora de duendes, 1970
- A solas con Pedro Juan Soto, 1973
- El huésped, las máscaras y otros disfraces, 1974
- Un decir (de la violencia), 1976
- Un oscuro pueblo sonriente, 1982
- Memoria de mi amnesia, 1991
- La sombra lejana, 1999
Other works
- Los inocentes, 1954
- Las máscaras, 1958
- La Nueva Vida, 1966
- A Solas con Pedro Juan Soto, 1973
- El huesped, las mascaras y otros disfraces, 1973
- Un decir, 1976
- En busca de J.I. de Diego Pandro, 1990
