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About the Author
Born in Punta Arenas, Chile in 1916 to a family of Croatian émigrés, Nicolás Mihovilovič Rajčević, the oldest of three brothers, was the first proficient Spanish speaker in his family. He completed high school at the Liceo Fiscal de Hombres de Punta Arenas where, in his senior year, he was editor of the school magazine “Germinal”. An avid reader, he participated in local literary festivals since his youth; he was interested in politics and, from 1946 to 1950, he was Governor of Tierra del Fuego. In 1953 he moved to Santiago, maintaining close contacts with literary circles of the capital. He explored the art of cinematography and, in the late fifties, taught history of the cinema at the Universidad Católica de Santiago. In 1966 he published his first novel, Desde Lejos Para Siempre (From Afar Forever), followed, in 1974, by Entre el Cielo y el Silencio (Only Sky and Solitude) and in 1978 by En El Ultimo Mar del Mundo (The Remotest Sea in the World). These three novels form a trilogy depicting the lives of city dwellers, country folks and seamen in Southern Chile and Argentina during the early XX century. These novels were followed by Estampas Magallánicas/Cuatro Hombres de Ayer y Siempre (Images from Magallanes/ Four Men to Remember from Yesteryear) and Semi-cuentos (Quasi-stories) in 1984. Shortly before his death in Quilpue, in 1986, he was elected a member of the Academia Chilena de la Lengua. His work is still poignant and in print. Desde Lejos Para Siempre is in its 6th Spanish edition, En el Último Mar del Mundo, Estampas Magallánicas and Semi-Cuentos all are in their 2nd edition. Two of his works, Desde Lejos Para Siempre, and his Semi-Cuentos (Iz Daleka Zauvijek and Ludi Keko) were published in Croatian in 2003 and 2005, respectively. From Afar Forever is the first of his works to be translated into English.
Works by the Author
Desde Lejos Para Siempre. 1966 (Eros, Santiago, Chile). 1985 (La Noria, Santiago, Chile), 1996, 1997, 1999, 2007 (Ediciones Dálmatas, Punta Arenas, Chile).
Entre el Cielo y el Silencio. 1974 (Pineda Libros, Santiago, Chile).
En el Último Mar del Mundo. 1978 (Zig-Zag, Santiago Chile), 1997 (Ediciones Dálmatas, Punta Arenas, Chile). Premio Municipalidad de Santiago (1979).
Estampas Magallánicas/Cuatro Hombres de Ayer y Siempre. 1984 (La Noria, Santiago, Chile), 2007 (Ediciones Dálmatas, Punta Arenas, Chile).
Simbad sin Mar/Semi-Cuentos. 1984 (Sociedad de Escritores de Valparaíso), 1987 (Edición de Homenaje)
Croatian Translations
Iz Daleka Zauvijek. 2003 (Naklada Bošković, Split, Croatia).
Ludi Keko. 2005 (Naklada Bošković, Split, Croatia.
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