Who is Papelucho?
Read and enjoyed for over seventy years, in a range of languages, “Papelucho” is a Spanish language work of children’s literature that has breached all generational barriers, inspiring versions for cinema, television and theatre, and entertaining readers of all ages around the world up to this day.
Initially inspired by the subject of divorce - which was just beginning to be discussed around then- and its effect on children, Chilean writer Marcela Paz (pen name of Ester Huneeus) finished a first draft of “Papelucho” in 1934. However, it was not but until 1947 when it was finally published by Rapa-Nui Publishers.
According to the author, she put away the first version of “Papelucho” because this first draft was neither for children or adults. However, when in 1947 she decided to enter it in the Rapa-Nui literary competition, she lightened it up and made it more fun.
Her manuscript won the second place in the competition and was published that same year. The rest is history.
The success of “Papelucho” was almost immediate, publishing a second edition less than a full year after the first release.
Since then, “Papelucho” has been translated to more than seven languages (among them English, Russian, Japanese, Greek and French), and is part of the compulsory reading list in all primary schools of its country of origin.
Although it’s not necessary to push children to read Papelucho!
Marcela Paz in 1930
The name of the character was inspired by the nickname of Marcela Paz’s husband, José Luis Claro Montes, who was affectionately called “Pepe Lucho” (the pet names of 'José' and 'Luis', respectively).
However, it was Marcela’s young nephew who inspired the character itself, embodying the characteristics of all children of his age: lively, imaginative, adventurous, mischievous and naïve.
Papelucho’s greatest accomplishment lies in its apparent simplicity.
Using a simple language free of artifice, although no less mindful, Marcela Paz weaves a continuous story thread by small events and characters, which begin to appear and articulate with one another, forming little by little a final story.
Written in first person and in journal format, Marcela Paz manages to faithfully capture the voice of children’s thoughts, without excess of sentimentality or moralization, and yet delivering an implicit message of healthy social cooperation.
In fact, in the different volumes of “Papelucho”, the author examines subjects that frequently concern children: the arrival of a new little sibling, the age difference with a much older sibling, the possibility of becoming an orphan or having to spend time at the hospital, the difficulty to learn history for school, the possibility of having dyslexia, among others, always through the diaphanous, light, and carefree lens of a child’s view.
This very simplicity was also carried over to its illustrations. Of simple traces and open lines, these allow the imagination to run free and give leeway for the reader to complete each image with his/her own personal version.
Illustrated on its first edition by the writer’s sister, “Yola” (Yolanda Huneeus Cox), who used a sketch made by the author in 1934, it was Marcela Paz’s daughter, Marcela Claro Huneeus, who was in charge to illustrate the second edition of the popular book.
Her particular style remained up until the first colour edition, at the end of the 1990s, and went on to distinguish the defining aesthetic of “Papelucho” for all forthcoming generations.
However, although since then many other artists have illustrated different editions in different styles, they all have tried to keep the simplicity which makes of “Papelucho” a character with which everyone can identify.
First and fifth editions of "Papelucho and the martian".
Marcela Paz published 12 stories with “Papelucho” as main character, each one with a different plot, but connected by the same main characters: Papelucho, his parents, his older brother, his junior sister (“Ji” for “Jimena”), and the loyal home worker, Domitila.
̊ Papelucho (1947)
̊ Papelucho almost orphan (1951)
̊ Papelucho historian (1955)
̊ Papelucho detective (1957)
̊ Papelucho at the Clinic (1958)
̊ Papelucho lost (1960)
̊ My sister Ji, by Papelucho (1964)
̊ Papelucho missioner (1966)
̊ Papelucho and the martian (1968)
̊ Mi brother hippie, by Papelucho (1971)
̊ Papelucho on holidays (1971)
̊ Papelucho: am I dyx-lazy? (1974)
Each book has been re-edited several times, the last one in 2002, matching the 100th birth anniversary of its author. For this occasion, the editorial not only decided to modernize the look of the character, but also published bilingual English-Spanish editions.
In 2007, “Papelucho” jumped to the big screen with an animated film based on one of its most popular adventures, “Papelucho and the martian”.
Although made with great respect for its source, the animated version removes one of the main elements of Papelucho’s charisma, and of every literary work: the use of the personal imagination of each reader to recreate, animate and give voice to the character in their own minds.
However, although it does not replace the written work, the film brings the character closer to newer generations, mixing 2D and 3D animation and inserting a dynamic style to the story, while trying to keep faithful to the original character.
At the same time, the publishing house has also released comic books with Papelucho’s adventures, as well as audiobooks.
“Today’s new year’s day, the anniversary of the
day in which God made the world.
What day had it been before?
I hate holidays, because they are;
I prefer the day before,
because then it’s “tomorrow, the holiday”
-From “Papelucho” (1947)
Aside from “Papelucho”, Marcela Paz published several other books, between stories, poems and short novels for children, and novels for adults, among them “I’m a redhead”, “Sebastian’s Return”, “Despite my Aunt”, “The Freckled Ones”, “Catita’s Secrets”, “Light Candies” and “Perico Climbs Chile” (co-authored with writer Alicia Morel and illustrated on its first edition by the famous illustrator Marta Carrasco , who had already illustrated the "Papelucho" books).
She also contributed for magazines such as “Eva”, “El Peneca”, “Zig-Zag” and “Ecran”, and created the children’s magazine “Pandilla”.
Greek and French editions of "Papelucho".
The social and emotional sensitivity behind Papelucho is undeniable.
Marcela Paz was attentive to all the issues that affected the society of her time. Thus, it’s not surprising that she would include hippies precisely during the Flower Power revolution, and that she would address the subject of dyslexia in children just when this subject was emerging in pedagogy, a field to which she always felt linked.
Moreover, in a not yet published story, potentially entitled “Papelucho M.D.”, the author confronted Papelucho with the possibility of having diabetes, an illness that Marcela Paz suffered and which affects many children nowadays.
In 2018, Marcela Paz’s heirs published an unpublished manuscript, “My Letters to Papelucho”, in which for the first time she explores her famous character from the point of view of a young girl neighbour who, aside from revealing us unknown aspects of the famous character, finds in him a perfect confidante for her reflections just entering adolescence.
That same year two new unpublished stories, written by Marcela Paz at the start of the 1980s, were published: “Papelucho, Romelio and the Castle”, and “Goodbye, Planet, by Papelucho”.
Although Marcela Paz wrote other books, it was “Papelucho” which gave her fame, marking her writing career, and for which she’s the most remembered.
In 1982, she was awarded the National Prize of Literature, the highest literary award in her country.
As further honour to her work, many libraries and schools all across Chile bear the name of “Marcela Paz”, and during several years a literary competition with her name was carried out in her home country.
In 2012, Google even honored her beloved character with its own ‘doodle’.
Papelucho’s simplicity and the candid honesty of his stories have made it accessible and attractive to both children and adults of all generations.
Even the renowned literary critic Harold Bloom extolled his adventures, considering it a marvelous book, very well written. (La Tercera, February, 2003).
However, for those readers whose first language is not Spanish, a word of caution: Papelucho’s colloquial speech includes Chilean slangs and old-fashioned expressions that may require translation by a local.
To Learn More...
To know more about Marcela Paz, her life, work and characters, and to access competitions and news about her famous character, visit Papelucho’s official page (in Spanish only):
www.papelucho.cl
Sources: Papelucho.cl, Biblioteca Nacional, Wikipedia, El Mercurio, La Tercera, La Estrella de Quillota
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