Documents for "Spanish and Portuguese Literature: Biographies":

• Alarcón, Juan Ruiz de 1581?-1639, Spanish dramatic poet, one of the great literary figures of the Spanish Golden Age, b. Mexico. After practicing law in Spain (1600-1608) and Mexico, he returned (1613) to Spain, where...

• Alarcón, Pedro Antonio de 1833-91, Spanish writer, politician, and diplomat. He wrote several novels, including El sombrero de tres picos (1874, tr. The Three-cornered Hat, 1891), on which Manuel de Falla based his popular...

• Alas, Leopoldo 1852-1901, Spanish novelist, short-story writer, and literary critic who wrote under the pseudonym Clarín, b. Zamora. Although he began his literary career as a journalist, he later was a...

• Alberti, Rafael 1902-99, Spanish poet. After abandoning an earlier career as a painter, Alberti published his first book, Marinero en tierra [sailor on dry land] (1925), which was widely applauded. He was a member of the "Generation of 1927," which also included such figures as Vicente Aleixandre , Luis Buñuel , and Federico García Lorca. Alberti's poems show the influence of Juan Ramón Jiménez and of the Spanish classics, especially of Góngora. His poetic brilliance is revealed in Concerning the Angels (1929, tr. 1967), a collection of introspective lyrics with surrealist overtones. A Loyalist in the Spanish civil war, Alberti sought exile in Buenos Aires, Argentina, after Franco's triumph in...

• Aldana, Francisco de 1537-78, Spanish general, diplomat, and poet, b. Alcántara or Naples. He symbolizes the ideal of the Spanish Renaissance. As a soldier he served Philip II of Spain and Sebastian of Portugal in...

• Aleixandre, Vicente 1898-1984, Spanish lyric poet. He won the national prize for literature for La destrucción o el amor (1935, tr. 1976) and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1976. His earlier verse, often free in form, is pessimistic and surrealistic. His later verse is marked by realism and then by an increasingly...

• Alemán, Mateo 1547-1614?, Spanish novelist, b. Seville. Alemán studied medicine and practiced accounting. He led a turbulent life, was sent to jail twice for his debts, and at the age of 60 found refuge in...

• Alencar, José de 1829-77, Brazilian jurist and author. Alencar was one of the founders of modern Brazilian literature. His historical novels ( O Guarani, 1857; Iracema, 1865, tr. 1886) offer idealized portraits of...

• Almeida Garrett, João Batista de see Garrett, João Batista de Almeida.

• Alonso, Dámaso 1898-1990, Spanish philologist, lyric poet, and literary critic, b. Madrid. He is known for his literary sensitivity and the precision and rigor of his critical approach. His critical works include...

• Altoaguirre, Manuel 1904-59, Spanish poet, b. Málaga. With his contemporary Emilio Prados he founded the literary journal Litoral. His poetry is distinguished by its grace, sensitivity, and refinement, treating such themes as love, nature, and solitude. His interest in typography is evident in some of the beautiful editions of...

• Andrade, Carlos Drummond de 1902-87, Brazilian poet. The son of landowners, he worked as a journalist before earning (1925) a degree in pharmacology. In 1928 Andrade became a civil servant while working as a newspaper...

• Andrade, Mário de 1893-1945, Brazilian author. Through his fiction, poetry, and wide-ranging essays, Andrade became a leading representative of Brazilian modernismo. Macunaíma (1928, tr. 1984), his most important novel, is marked by colloquial and innovative language and anticipates the rise of magical realism in Latin American literature. Andrade's work shows the...

• Aranguren, José Luis 1909-, Spanish philosopher, theologian, and essayist, b. Ávila. A professor of ethics and sociology at the Univ. of Madrid, he is concerned with philosophical problems. His works include La...

• Aub, Max 1903-72, Spanish author, b. Paris. He was educated in Spain where he lived until 1942, when he emigrated to Mexico. His style combines realism with fantasy. He used the Spanish civil war and its...

• Avellaneda, Alonso Fernández de pen name used by the unknown Spanish writer who published a spurious second part of Don Quixote in 1614, before Cervantes's own second part appeared (1615). The book is usually referred to as El...

• Avellaneda, Gertrudis Gómez de see Gómez de Avellaneda, Gertrudis.

• Ayala, Pedro López de see López de Ayala.

• Ayala, Ramón Pérez de see Pérez de Ayala.

• Azorín see Martínez Ruiz, José.

• Bécquer, Gustavo Adolfo 1836-70, Spanish poet and writer of romantic tales. Bécquer's work is considered to be among the best 19th-century lyric poetry. Orphaned at 10, unhappy in love and marriage, and living in poverty...

• Böhl de Faber, Cecilia see Caballero, Fernán.

• Baroja y Nessi, Pío 1879-1956, Spanish novelist from the Basque Provinces, member of the group of writers known as the Generation of '98. He left medicine to devote himself to literature and came to be the most popular Spanish novelist of the 20th cent. Of his several trilogies, the most widely read abroad concerns the underworld of...

• Bazán, Emilia Pardo see Pardo Bazán.

• Benavente y Martínez, Jacinto 1866-1954, Spanish dramatist, b. Madrid. He was awarded the 1922 Nobel Prize in Literature. His best-known play is Los intereses creados (1907, tr. Bonds of Interest, 1917), a farce written on the pattern of the Italian commedia dell'arte. In 1916 he wrote a second part to this play, La ciudad alegre y confiada [the gay and confident city]. La malquerida (1913, tr. The Passion Flower, 1920), on the Phaedra theme, was popular with the public and the critics. His plays fall into four classes: social satires, psychological dramas, children's plays, and allegorical-morality plays...

• Benet, Juan 1927-93, Spanish novelist and essayist. He earned a degree in civil engineering and worked as a highway engineer before publishing (1961) his first work, Nunca llegarás a nada [you'll never...

• Berceo, Gonzalo de c.1198-1265?, earliest known Spanish medieval poet. He was a religious in a Benedictine monastery who wrote prolifically on saints and other figures important in the history of the church. His...

• Bernardes, Diogo c.1530-c.1600, Portuguese poet. A follower of Sá de Miranda, he wrote melodious pastoral verse, and was one of the chief poets of the Portuguese Renaissance. The official poet on the tragic...

• Blasco Ibáñez, Vicente 1867-1928, Spanish novelist and politician, b. Valencia. Outspoken against the monarchy, Blasco Ibáñez published a radical republican journal, El pueblo, and was imprisoned 30 times for...

• Boscán Almogáver, Juan c.1495-1542, Spanish poet. A Catalan aristocrat, Boscán was a literary figure at the court of Ferdinand V. He introduced Italian poetic forms into Spanish poetry, thus revolutionizing its...

• Brandão, Raul 1867-1930, Portuguese novelist. His major theme was the tragic lives of poor people, and he often depicted a nightmare world of suffering ruled by inexplicable forces. His major works of fiction...

• Caballero, Fernán pseud. of Cecilia Böhl de Faber , 1796-1877, Spanish novelist and folklorist. Born in Switzerland, she spent most of her adult life in Andalusia, where her novels are set. They are marked by a didactic tone and sentimental plots,...

• Cadalso, José de 1741-82, Spanish poet, critic, and satirist. Cadalso's rhapsodic prose autobiography, Noches lúgubres (1798), probably suggested by Edward Young's Night Thoughts, was a herald of the Spanish...

• Calderón de la Barca, Pedro 1600-1681, Spanish dramatist, last important figure of the Spanish Golden Age, b. Madrid. Educated at a Jesuit school and the Univ. of Salamanca, he turned from theology to poetry and became a...

• Camões, Luís de 1524?-1580, Portuguese poet, the greatest figure in Portuguese literature. Born of a poor family, Camões gained wide familiarity with classic literature at the Univ. of Coimbra. It is thought that...

• Campoamor, Ramón de 1817-1901, Spanish poet, the first to break with the romantic tradition of long, tragic, and emotional poetry. While no longer generally popular, he was one of the most popular Spanish poets of...

• Castillejo, Cristóbal de c.1490-1550, Spanish poet of the Renaissance. As secretary to the king of Bohemia, Castillejo visited Vienna and other European cities. His poems are grouped under the titles Obras de amores [works...

• Castro y Bellvís, Guillén de 1569-1631, Spanish dramatist, best known of the Valencian group of playwrights of the Golden Age. Three of his plays dramatize episodes from Don Quixote. His masterpiece, Las mocedades del Cid [the...

• Castro, Américo 1885-1972, Spanish philologist and literary critic, b. Brazil. After the Spanish Civil War, Castro's studies focused on how modern Spanish history was adversely affected by the shift of Spain's...

• Castro, Rosalía de 1837-85, Spanish poet and novelist. Castro's book of verse Cantares gallegos (1863) was the first important poetry in Galician since the 13th cent.; it reflected the lyrical appeal of Galician folk...

• Cela, Camilo José 1916-2002, Spanish novelist, short-story writer, and poet, b. Iria Flavia. Among the writers to emerge after the Spanish civil war , he won critical acclaim with the novel La familia de Pascual Duarte (1942, tr. The Family of Pascual Duarte, 1964). Its brutal realism and crudeness of language are characteristic of Cela's style. These attributes are also evident in La colmena (1951; tr. The Hive, 1953), a powerful work detailing three days among the poor of Madrid. Cela was an extremely prolific author, but comparatively few of his works have been translated into English. These include the...

• Cernuda, Luis 1904-63, Spanish poet. Cernuda fled Spain after the Spanish civil war and taught abroad. His works include La realidad y el deseo [reality and desire] (1936), a collection of his delicate surrealist...

• Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de 1547-1616, Spanish novelist, dramatist, and poet, author of Don Quixote de la Mancha, b. Alcalá de Henares.

• Clarín see Alas, Leopoldo.

• Cruz, Ramón de la 1731-94, Spanish dramatist. He wrote tragedies and adapted French and Italian plays, but he owes his fame to his sainetes, some 450 masterly one-act comedies that depict the life of the middle and...

• Cueva, Juan de la 1550?-1610?, Spanish dramatist, one of the precursors of Lope de Vega. He spent the years from 1574 to 1577 in Mexico. Of his 14 plays, the most famous is the comedy El infamador [the scoundrel] (1581). Cueva rejected traditional dramatic unities and introduced national themes to the stage, laying the foundation for the national drama of Spain's Golden Age. His innovations...

• Delibes, Miguel 1920-, Spanish novelist, short-story writer, and journalist, b. Valladolid. He is known for his descriptions of provincial and rural life and for his psychological analysis of middle- and...

• Diego, Gerardo 1896-1987, Spanish poet, b. Santander. Although he embraced many new poetic credos, his poetry is classified into two styles. His traditional poetry of real and sentimental experiences includes Soria...

• Domenchina, Juan José 1898-1959, Spanish poet and critic, b. Madrid. He was active in the transition from modernismo to the "new poetry." Such early volumes as Del poema eterno [from the eternal poem] (1917) and...

• D'Ors, Eugenio see Ors, Eugenio d'.

• Drummond de Andrade, Carlos see Andrade, Carlos Drummond de.

• Eça de Queiroz, José Maria see Queiroz, José Maria Eça de.

• Echegaray, José 1832-1916, Spanish dramatist, mathematician, physicist, economist, and politician. He taught science, practiced engineering, and devoted his later life to economics and politics, holding several...

• Encina, Juan del 1469?-c.1530, Spanish dramatist, musician, and poet, b. Encino. He served as court musician to the duke of Alba in Italy, and in 1513 his play Plácida y Victoriano was presented in Rome. His...

• Enzina, Juan del see Encina, Juan del.

• Ercilla y Zúñiga, Alonso de 1533-94, Spanish poet. In Chile (1556-63) he fought against the Araucanian, and while there he began the epic poem La Araucana, considered the finest Spanish historical poem. This heroic work in 37 cantos is divided into three parts, published in 1569, 1578, and 1589. It tells of the courageous insurrection of the...

• Espinel, Vicente Martínez 1550-1624, Spanish writer, musician, and adventurer. Espinel was notorious for his dissolute life, which his holy vows, taken in 1589, did little to change. An accomplished guitarist, he helped...

• Espronceda, José de 1808-42, Spanish romantic poet. Involved in radical intrigue from the age of 14, he suffered imprisonment and was twice exiled. His Poesías (1840) brought him lasting fame. Of Espronceda's...

• Feijoo, Benito Jerónimo 1676-1764, Spanish Benedictine scholar and critic, abbot at Oviedo, Asturias. Feijoo led in bringing the Enlightenment to Spain. His writings on philosophy, science, and literature represent the...

• Fernández de Avellaneda, Alonso see Avellaneda, Alonso Fernández de.

• Fernández de Moratín, Leandro 1760-1828, Spanish dramatist and poet. A supporter of Joseph Bonaparte, he lived in exile in France after Bonaparte fell. Molière, whose works he translated, was his literary model. His plays,...

• Ferreira, António c.1528-69, Portuguese dramatist and poet. Ferreira served as a privy councillor and a magistrate. Influenced by the Italian Renaissance, he wrote his great play Inés de Castro (c.1557), employing Italian meters and classical form. The only Renaissance tragedy in Portuguese, it was translated into English in 1697. Ferreira also wrote comedies, sonnets, and odes. His...

• Gómez de Avellaneda, Gertrudis 1814-73, Spanish poet, b. Cuba. She went to Spain in 1836. Her passionate and poignant verses reflecting an unhappy love affair won her a high place among Spanish romantic poets. She also wrote...

• Gómez de la Serna, Ramón 1888-1963, Spanish novelist, biographer, and critic, b. Madrid. One of the most prolific and imaginative of modern Spanish writers, Gómez de la Serna was a precursor of surrealism. He sought to...

• Góngora y Argote, Luis de 1561-1627, poet of the Spanish Golden Age, b. Cordova. Of a cultured family, he studied in Salamanca and became a prebendary (1585?) and later a priest (1617). In his youth he was carefree and...

• Galdós, Benito Pérez see Pérez Galdós, Benito.

• García Gutiérrez, Antonio 1813?-1884, Spanish romantic playwright. He was a soldier when his best-known play, El trovador, was staged in 1836. This play and his Simón Bocanegra (1843) were adapted by Verdi for the...

• García Lorca, Federico 1898-1936, Spanish poet and dramatist, b. Fuente Vaqueros. The poetry, passion, and violence of his work and his own tragic and bloody death brought him enduring international acclaim. A joyous,...

• Garcilaso de la Vega 1503?-1536, lyric poet of the Spanish Golden Age, b. Toledo. Garcilaso, the embodiment of the cultured and gifted courtier, was chiefly responsible for the renovation of Spanish poetry. He was the...

• Garrett, João Batista de Almeida 1799-1854, Portuguese dramatist, poet, journalist, and orator, leader of the romantic movement in Portugal. After a period in the Azores he returned to graduate from the Univ. of Coimbra. An...

• Gil Vicente see Vicente, Gil.

• Goytisolo, Juan 1931-, Spanish writer, b. Barcelona. Goytisolo is considered among the foremost novelists writing in Spanish in the late 20th cent. Much of his work focuses on injustice and moral emptiness in...

• Gracián, Baltasar 1601-58, Spanish Jesuit philosopher and writer. A scholar, satirist, and epigrammatist, Gracián frequently ran afoul of Jesuit authority. El héroe (1637) and El político (1640)...

• Grau, Jacinto 1877-1958, Spanish dramatist, b. Barcelona. Participating in Spain's early-20th-century literary renaissance, Grau slowly gained recognition for his strikingly original plays. El conde Alarcos (1917)...

• Guerra Junqueiro, Abílio 1850-1923, Portuguese poet. A revolutionary, he wrote violent satiric poems attacking conservatism, romanticism, and the Church. Typical are A morte de Dom Jõas (1874) and A velhice do Padre...

• Guevara, Luis Vélez de see Vélez de Guevara.

• Guillén, Jorge 1893-1984, Spanish poet. Guillén left Spain after the civil war (1939) and taught Spanish in the United States. His verse is difficult, terse, and lyrical. Cántico, his volume of poems, has appeared in four successively augmented editions (1928, 1936, 1945, 1950; tr. 1965). Among the most intellectual of modern Spanish poets, he has been compared to Paul...

• Guimerà, Ángel 1845?-1924, Catalan poet and dramatist. His first successful play, Mar y cel [sea and sky] (1888), was followed by many others, among them Maria Rosa (1894) and his masterpiece, Terra baixa (1896;...

• Hernández, Miguel 1910-42, Spanish poet, b. Orihuela. A completely self-taught writer, he absorbed the influence of the poets of the Golden Age and of the generation of García Lorca. His poetry, both tender...

• Herrera, Fernando de 1534-97, Spanish poet. One of the outstanding poets of the 16th cent. and the leader of the Seville school, he earned the name Herrera el Divino. He is remembered for his Neoplatonic love lyrics...

• Ibáñez, Vicente Blasco see Blasco Ibáñez.

• Iriarte, Tomás de 1750-91, Spanish poet and dramatist, b. Canary Islands. He spent most of his life in Madrid, where, like many of his contemporaries, he engaged in polemics, criticism, satire, and the translation...

• Isla, José Francisco de 1703-81, Spanish Jesuit preacher and writer. Enormously precocious, he took his law degree at 11. Isla's fame rests on the satirical novel Historia del famoso predicador Fray Gerundio de Campazas (1758, tr. 1772), which was banned by the Inquisition. In this account of the exploits of an ignorant preacher, he attacked the pedantry of pulpit eloquence. Isla's translation of Le Sage's...

• Jiménez, Juan Ramón 1881-1958, Spanish lyric poet, b. Andalusia, studied at the Univ. of Seville. In his youth Jiménez was influenced by the French symbolists; he wrote the romantic Almas de violeta in 1900. He later turned to greater simplicity of style in Diario de un poeta recién casado [diary of a recently married poet]. Later collections include Unidad (1925), Sucesión (1932), and Presente (1935). During the civil war he left Spain and lived for many years in the United States, Cuba, and, finally, Puerto Rico. Jiménez wrote some 32 volumes of poetry. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in...

• Jovellanos, Gaspar Melchor de 1744-1811, Spanish statesman and writer. Very influential as an advocate of economic and social reform during the enlightened reign of Charles III (his reports both on agrarian and prison reform...

• Juan Manuel, Infante de Castile 1282-1349?, Spanish nobleman, soldier, and writer; nephew of Alfonso X (called the Wise). Juan Manuel was a wealthy and powerful prince. His masterpiece is the Libro del Conde Lucanor (1323-35, tr....

• López de Mendoza, Iñigo, marqués de Santillana see Santillana.

• La Cruz, Ramón de see Cruz, Ramón de la.

• La Cueva, Juan de see Cueva, Juan de la.

• Laforet, Carmen (Carmen Laforet Díaz) , 1921-2004, Spanish writer, b. Barcelona. Her first novel, Nada (1945, tr. Andrea 1964), which describes the spiritual desolation of a country emerging from civil war, parallels some of her own experiences. Her other works, noted for their sensitivity and accuracy of...

• Larra, Mariano José de 1809-37, Spanish satirist, b. Madrid. Using several pseudonyms, Larra wrote a series of satirical articles on Spanish politics and customs. These were published in his own periodical, Pobrecito hablador...

• León, Luis Ponce de 1527?-1591, Spanish mystic and poet, an Augustinian monk. Fray Luis held various theological chairs at the Univ. of Salamanca. A noted Hebraist, he translated the Song of Songs and the Book of...

• Lope de Rueda 1510?-1565, Spanish dramatist. A precursor of the Golden Age of Spanish literature, Rueda was an actor and a manager as well as a playwright. He is said to have created the genre known as pasos (short...

• Lope de Vega Carpio, Félix 1562-1635, Spanish dramatic poet, founder of the Spanish drama, b. Madrid. Lope, born a peasant, was orphaned at an early age. He wrote the first of his nearly 1,800 plays at 12, and by 25 he was...

• Lorca, Federico García see García Lorca.

• Luzán, Ignacio de 1702-54, Spanish scholar and critic. He studied the classics and the humanities in Italy. From 1747 to 1749 he was secretary at the Spanish embassy in Paris. Luzán's most famous work is La poética (1737), in which he voices the need for neoclassical rules and principles in poetry. About a third of the book, which had great influence, is a critical study of the Spanish drama. Luzán was the...

• Machado, Antonio 1875-1939, Spanish poet of the Generation of '98. He spent most of his life in Castile and his best poetry was influenced by its sober and dramatic landscape. His Poesías completas appeared in 1936. Forced to leave Spain because of his support of the Loyalist cause during the Spanish civil war, he crossed the Pyrenees on foot and died in France a month later. With his...

• Madariaga, Salvador de (Salvador de Madariaga y Rojo) , 1886-1978, Spanish author and diplomat. In 1922 Madariaga became head of the disarmament section of the League of Nations. After teaching at Oxford (1928-31), he served as Spanish ambassador to...

• Manrique, Jorge c.1440-1479, Spanish poet and soldier. Most of his verse is undistinguished, but his Coplas [couplets], on his father's death, are among the treasures of world poetry. Incomparably elegant, they describe an exemplar of medieval knighthood and his stoic acceptance of death. Longfellow's...

• Marañón, Gregorio 1887-1960, Spanish essayist, b. Madrid. A physician and professor of endocrinology, he used his scientific knowledge and approach to analyze literary characters, historical figures, writers, and...

• Martínez de la Rosa, Francisco 1787-1862, Spanish dramatic poet, statesman, and historian. He was an outspoken liberal professor of philosophy, a deputy, and an ambassador. His major plays include La conjuración de Venecia...

• Martínez Ruiz, José 1873?-1967, Spanish writer. He often used the pseudonym Azorín. A political radical in the 1890s, he moved steadily to the right. In literature Martínez exemplified the Generation of '98 (a term he coined), especially in his attempt to define the eternal qualities of Spanish life. His essays and criticism are written in a simple, compact style. Particularly notable are his...

• Martínez Sierra, Gregorio 1881-1947, Spanish dramatist, novelist, and poet. His masterpiece is Canción de cuna (1911, tr. The Cradle Song, 1917), but he is also known for his tale El amor brujo, which is the subject of a ballet set to music by Manuel de Falla. In addition to many plays, he wrote novels, the most popular of which is Tu eres la paz (1907, tr. Ana María, 1921). Flores de escarcha [flowers of frost] (1900) is a collection of verse. He also translated Shakespeare and Maeterlinck, founded several literary magazines, and was active in the theater. In much of his work he...

• Matute, Ana María 1926-, Spanish novelist, b. Barcelona. Much of her fiction reflects her searing experiences as a preadolescent during the Spanish Civil War. In simple, delicate prose she writes of isolation,...

• Meléndez Valdés, Juan 1754-1817, Spanish neoclassic poet. He studied classics and law and later taught humanities at Salamanca. After much political vacillation during the rise and fall of the Bonapartes, he was forced...

• Menéndez y Pelayo, Marcelino 1856-1912, Spanish literary historian and critic. His vast contribution to Spanish scholarship includes Historia de los heterodoxos españoles (1880-82), a panoramic history of Spain; Historia...

• Mena, Juan de 1411-56, Spanish poet and scholar. Influenced by the Italian school, he modeled his chief work Laberinto de Fortuna (1444) upon Dante. This 300-stanza allegorical poem was the major Spanish harbinger...

• Mendoza, Iñigo López de see Santillana, Iñigo López de Mendoza, marqués de.

• Miró Ferrer, Gabriel 1879-1930, Spanish novelist and short-story writer. One of the Generation of '98 , he achieved his powerful individual style through unusual combinations of words and cadences. His novels are sensuous in tone, haunting, and evocative. Their themes are the beauty and cruelty of...

• Miró, Gabriel see Miró Ferrer, Gabriel.

• Molina, Tirso de see Tirso de Molina.

• Montalván, Juan Pérez de see Pérez de Montalván, Juan.

• Moratín, Leandro Fernández de see Fernández de Moratín, Leandro.

• Moreto y Cabaña, Agustín 1618-69, dramatic poet of the Spanish Golden Age, b. Madrid. Moreto borrowed and often improved upon the plots of others, chiefly those of Lope de Vega and Calderón. The author of more than 100...

• Ors, Eugenio d' 1882-1954, Spanish writer. His works include Glosari, brief essays in which he attempted to relate passing events to aesthetic and intellectual concepts; a novel in Catalan (1912); and El secreto...

• Pérez de Ayala, Ramón 1880?-1962, Spanish writer. He was educated at Jesuit schools, which he satirized in the novel A.M.D.G. (1910). His early realistic novels, among them The Fox's Paw (1912, tr. 1924), reveal ties...

• Pérez de Montalván, Juan 1602-38, Spanish dramatic poet and novelist. He was the close friend and biographer of Lope de Vega. He wrote 48 plays; among the most successful was Los amantes de Teruel [the lovers of Teruel]....

• Pérez Galdós, Benito 1843-1920, Spanish novelist and dramatist, b. Canary Islands. At 20 he went to Madrid, where he spent most of his adult life. For his masterly treatment of the vast panorama of Spanish society, he...

• Palacio Valdés, Armando 1853-1938, Spanish novelist and critic. He began his career with critical writings, but his reputation rests on his realistic novels, characterized by an optimistic view of life. La aldea perdida...

• Pardo Bazán, Emilia, condesa de 1852-1921, Spanish novelist and critic. Her biography of St. Francis of Assisi appeared the same year as her controversial "La cuestión palpitante" (1883), an essay on Zola's naturalism....

• Pereda, José María de 1833-1906, Spanish novelist. His stories are laid chiefly in his native Santander. An aristocrat by birth, he wrote sympathetically of the peasants but satirically of the bourgeoisie. His colorful...

• Pessoa, Fernando 1888-1935, Portuguese poet, b. Lisbon. Reflecting the influence of both the classical tradition and French symbolism, his poetry moves from saudosismo, or nostalgia for a mythic past, to an increasing concern with consciousness and sensation. He is famous for having written under 73 different names. Four of these (his own, Alberto Caeiro, Ricardo...

• Prados, Emilio 1899-1962, Spanish poet, b. Málaga. After 1939 he lived in Mexico, and his post-civil war lyrics decry the anguish, death, and injustice of that upheaval. A literary associate of Manuel Altoaguirre...

• Queiroz, José Maria Eça de 1845-1900, Portuguese writer. Trained in law and employed in the foreign service, he became an ardent admirer of French culture. Influenced by both romanticism and Flaubert's naturalism, he is...

• Quental, Antero de 1842-91, Portuguese poet. A brilliant student at the Univ. of Coimbra, he led the Coimbra dissidents in their opposition to the monarchy and to romanticism. He worked for a time in Lisbon...

• Quevedo y Villegas, Francisco de 1580-1645, Spanish satirist, novelist, and wit, b. Madrid. In 1611 he fled to Italy after a duel and became involved in revolutionary plottings. When Philip IV ascended the Spanish throne, Quevedo...

• Quintana, Manuel José 1772-1857, Spanish poet. He held high government posts and was tutor to Queen Isabella II. One of the last Spaniards to exemplify classical style, he is best known for his patriotic odes, among...

• Ramón see Gómez de la Serna, Ramón.

• Resende, Garcia de c.1470-1536, Portuguese poet and chronicler. Resende's Cancioneiro geral (1516) is a compilation of the court poetry of his day, the best of which is his own. His lament for the death of Inés de Castro is generally regarded as his finest poem. His chronicles, stories...

• Ribeiro, Bernardim 1482?-1552?, Portuguese poet. Ribeiro was a figure at the Lisbon court and is said to have gone mad after an unhappy love affair. Saudades, or Menina e moça (1554), recounts the affair. In part a tale of chivalry and in part a pastoral romance, it is remarkable for its prevailing tone of melancholy, for the music of its language, and for the haunting,...

• Rivas, Ángel de Saavedra, duque de 1791-1865, Spanish romantic poet and dramatist. A liberal, Rivas was condemned to death and fled in 1823 to England. After the death of Ferdinand VII he returned to Spain, having inherited his...

• Rodoreda, Mercè 1909-83, Spanish novelist writing in Catalan. Exiled for several decades in Paris and Geneva following the Spanish Civil War, Rodoreda focuses her novel Time of the Doves (1962, tr. 1980) on the war's...

• Rojas Zorrilla, Francisco de 1607-48, Spanish dramatist. He created a new type of comedia de gracioso, enlarging the role of the gracioso, or buffoon, to include a variety of fools taken from real life. Of the 40 to 45 plays...

• Rojas, Fernando de 1465?-1541?, Spanish writer. Scanty records show him to have practiced law at Salamanca. He wrote La Celestina, published anonymously in 1499. An extended novel, in 22 acts, it is a graphic description of human passion recounted in exquisite Renaissance prose. It is considered a masterpiece of Spanish...

• Rueda, Lope de see Lope de Rueda.

• Ruiz, Juan 1283?-1350?, Spanish poet, musician, and archpriest of Hita. Ruiz suffered 13 years in prison, during which time he revised his masterpiece, El Libro de buen amor (c.1330, tr. The Book of Good Love, 1933). This is a miscellany in verse of fables; autobiographic adventures in the picaresque style; and adaptations of medieval, classical, and Arab stories and apologues—all forming a vivid and...

• Sá de Miranda, Francisco de 1481-1558, Portuguese writer. A noble and a courtier, he lived for a time in Italy and became acquainted with the literature of the Italian Renaissance. He was impressed by the new classic style...

• Sánchez Ferlosio, Rafael 1927-, Spanish novelist, b. Rome. He has published two novels. Industrias y andanzas de Alfanhuí [the projects and wanderings of Alfanhuí] (1951) is a work of fantasy about a child's...

• Saavedra, Ángel de, duque de Rivas see Rivas, Ángel de Saavedra, duque de.

• San Pedro, Diego de fl. 1450, Spanish writer. He is best known for two sentimental novels that influenced the later development of the Spanish novel. They are Tratado de amores de Arnalte y Lucena [treatise on the loves...

• Santillana, Iñigo López de Mendoza, marqués de 1398-1458, Spanish poet and literary patron. Influenced by Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, his work marks the transition between medieval and Renaissance Spanish literature. The first to write...

• Saramago, José 1922-, Portuguese novelist and short-story writer. A Communist, Saramago was essentially a journalist until the revolution of 1974. Often employing paradox and irony and mingling humor with...

• Sastre, Alfonso 1926-, Spanish dramatist, essayist, and critic, b. Madrid. Approaching his work from a Marxist and existentialist point of view, he explores the problems of society's needy and rejected and pleads...

• Sender, Ramón José 1902-82, Spanish novelist. A journalist, Sender fought on the side of the Loyalists in the Spanish civil war. He left Spain in 1938 and became a U.S. citizen in 1946. Sender's novels, which have...

• Silva, Antonio José da 1705-39, Portuguese playwright, b. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He belonged to a family of "New Christians" (Jews forced to convert), suspected of remaining secretly loyal to Judaism. Silva practiced law in Portugal and wrote a number of vigorous, satiric plays. They are related to the commedia dell'arte...

• Solís y Rivadeneyra, Antonio de 1610-86, Spanish historian and dramatic poet. His intricate comic dramas were popular at court and the best are still performed. He is celebrated for his Historia de la conquista de Méjico...

• Téllez, Gabriel see Tirso de Molina.

• Tamayo y Baus, Manuel 1829-98, Spanish dramatist. Born into a family of actors, Tamayo became one of the most popular and versatile Spanish playwrights of the 19th cent. Among his many successful plays are the...

• Tirso de Molina pseud. of Fray Gabriel Téllez , 1584?-1648, outstanding dramatist of the Spanish Golden Age, b. Madrid. His fame rests on El burlador de Sevilla (1630; tr. The Love Rogue, 1924), the earliest...

• Torres Naharro, Bartolomé de fl. 1531, Spanish dramatist and lyric poet, b. Extremadura. As a young man he went to Italy and became a priest. Greatly influenced by the Italian Renaissance, he is considered the originator of...

• Vélez de Guevara, Luis 1579?-1644, Spanish playwright and novelist. He was a follower of Lope de Vega and wrote many popular plays noted for their poetic quality. Among these the most important are La luna de la sierra...

• Valdés, Armando Palacio see Palacio Valdés.

• Valera y Alcalá Galiano, Juan 1824-1905, Spanish writer and diplomat. Of a leading liberal family, Valera was a diplomat until 1858, and he later became a senator and an ambassador. Among his major works are Cartas americanas...

• Valle Inclán, Ramón del 1866-1936, Spanish writer, a member of the Generation of '98. Valle Inclán was deeply influenced by foreign literary trends, especially by modernismo. An eccentric who cultivated bizarre...

• Vega Carpio, Lope de see Lope de Vega Carpio.

• Verdaguer, Jacinto 1845-1902, Catalan poet, considered the national poet of Catalonia and the most beloved poet of the Catalan Renaissance of the 19th cent. Religious troubles and poor health frequently darkened his...

• Vicente, Gil 1470?-1536?, Portuguese dramatist and poet, considered second only to Camões. Vicente was attached to the courts of the Portuguese kings Manuel I and John II, and he may have been identical with,...

• Zorrilla y Moral, José 1817-93, Spanish poet and dramatist. His works and life epitomized the brief period of Spanish romanticism. One of the most honored of Spanish writers, he was nevertheless continually...