Pedro Juan Soto

Pedro Juan Soto (July 11, 1928 - November 7, 2002) was a Puerto Rican writer, activist, and playwright who is known for inspiring Puerto Rican Independence in his novels and short stories. In his stories, he depicts the life of people living in Puerto Rico under United States occupation during the 1930s to the Puerto Rican diaspora to the United States in the 1950s.

Personal life Pedro Juan Soto was born in Cataño, Puerto Rico, and went to primary and secondary school in Bayamón. In 1946, 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 study English and American Literature.

During an Interview conducted in 2002, shortly before his death, Pedro Juan Soto has openly stated that his writing has been inspired by the writings of Ernest Hemingway, Graham Greene, William Faulkner, and José Luis González. Many of his books, primarily Usmaíl, has shown clear parallels with William Faulkner's Light in August.

When asked about how he started to write stories, Soto stated that he learned by conversing with people when he was selling lottery tickets growing up in the La Puntilla slums in Cataño. Soto has stated in 2002 that a novel about this incident is in the works but it has yet to be published.

Career After graduating from Long Island with a Bachelor of Arts degree, he served in the United States Army during the Korean War. After service, Soto attended Columbia University to obtain a Master of Arts degree in creative writing at Columbia University.

Soto's collection of short stories was reprinted in to a collection called Spiks in 1956 Soto uses The Captive to frame departure by writing about the exile of a 17 year-old girl named Fernanda, from Puerto Rico to New York, after she was caught cheating with her brother-in-law months before her sister's expected baby. Soto uses this story to extrapolate the diasporic phenomenon that was happening in Puerto Rico due to Operation Bootstrap, where many Puerto Ricans were forced to migrate due to the Coercive nature of financial dependence to the United States. Despite the major theme of forceful migration, Soto also explores the issues of patriarchy through the breaking of gender norms by the main character, highlighting the suppression of female sexuality.

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Books Los perros anónimos (unpublished), 1950 Spiks, 1956 Usmaíl, 1959 Ardiente suelo, fría estacion, 1961 El francotirador, 1969 Temporadora de duendes, 1970 A solas con Pedro Juan Soto, 1973 El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