He was born in the port city of Corral, in the province of Valdivia, Chile. She studied at the Salesian Institute of Valdivia and at the University of Concepción. He has taught in Chile, Ecuador, France, the United States, and Mexico. He is part of the faculty at the University of California, San Diego (La Jolla). Author of monographs on Darío, Neruda, Mistral and Huidobro, among many others, he is considered one of the most important Latin America critics.