Juan Emar was the pen name of Álvaro Yáñez Bianchi (1893-1964). He was the son of an influential politician and diplomat, and he lived intermittently between Santiago and Paris. In Paris, he was associated with surrealist groups, and he took the name Juan Emar because of its connection to the French phrase "J'en ai marre" (I'm fed up).
Between 1935-1937, he published four books: Miltín, Un año, Ayer y Diez, which were largely ignored in Chile as he managed to upset the dominant literary circles of his time. In the 1970s, and more recently, his work was reissued in Chile, and he is now thought of as one of the most important 20th century Chilean and South American fiction writers, and seen as a precursor to writers like Julio Cortázar and Juan Rulfo.
