biography
| name: |
Villaespesa, Francisco
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pronunciation:
[veelyespaysa]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1877–1935)
|
| biography:
| Poet and playwright, born in Laujar, Almería, E Spain. His first work showed the earliest Modernist influence in Spain: Intimidades and Flores de almendro (both 1898), Luchas (1899) and La musa enferma (1901); later he turned to Romantic figures such as Zorrilla for inspiration. Throughout his life he was inspired by Moorish art and culture, especially that in Granada. He travelled across Latin America as a theatrical impresario, earning a great deal of money and squandering it, returning to Spain poor. His weaknesses are vulgarity, uncritical fecundity, and repetition even in his best work such as Tristitia rerum and El jardín de las quimeras (both 1909). His Poesías completas appeared in 1953. His drama, in the words of Cejador, ‘resulta poco dramático por la falta de densidad y sobra de lirismo’. His most characteristic play is perhaps El Alcázar de las Perlas (first performed 1911), written according to Viallespesa ‘to magnify the spirit of Granada lyrically as an Arab of Granada would have written’. The volumes in Novelas completas (1951) are little read, but are still available in Colección Crisol. |
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