González, Ángel 1925-2008 (Angel Gonzalez)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born September 6, 1925, in Oviedo, Spain; died of pneumonia, January 12, 2008, in Spain. Poet, educator, government official, and author. González's poetry was celebrated in his native land and published in dozens of Spanish collections, even though he spent many of his mature years abroad. Half a dozen collections were published between 1955 and 1972, while González worked as an official of the Spanish Ministry of Works in Madrid. He left Spain in 1972, reportedly because of intellectual and political differences with the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, and spent the next ten years as a professor of contemporary Spanish literature at the University of New Mexico. In the United States González's creativity bloomed, and he published at least fifteen collections before his retirement in 1993 enabled him to resettle in Spain. A few of the collections were translated into English and introduced his work to an appreciative American audience. Others earned him acclaim in his homeland, where he was elected to the Spanish Royal Academy and awarded the Asturias Prize for Letters. González continued to compose poetry in retirement, including the poems in 101 + 19 = 120 poemas (2000). His translated works include the bilingual collection Harsh World and Other Poems (1977) and Astonishing World: The Selected Poems of Ángel González, 1956-1986 (1993).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, January 15, 2008, sec. 2, p. 11.