José Martínez Ruiz

José Augusto Trinidad Martínez Ruíz (June 8, 1873 - March 2, 1967) was a Spanish poet and writer.

He used the pseudonym of Azorín for his literary works. Ruiz attended the University of Valencia to study law in the 1880s. He lived in Madrid and worked as a journalist. He was born in Monovar, Alicante in 1873. His father was from the town of Yecla and a soldier in the conservative party (he later became mayor, representative and follower of Romero Robledo). His mother was born in nearby Petrer. He practiced law in Monóvar and was from a middle-class traditional family. Azorín was the oldest of nine brothers. He studied internal degree for eight years in the school of the Escolapios of Yecla, a phase that is reflected in his early novels. From 1888 to 1896 he studied in Valencia, where he became interested in Krausismo and anarchism.

He used the pseudonyms of Fray José, in "The Catholic Education of Petrer," and Juan of Lily in "The Defender of Yecla," etc. As a journalist, he wrote for a number of periodicals, including a newspaper edited by Valencian writer Vicente Blasco Ibáñez. He penned numerous theatrical critiques praising the works of Angel Guimerá and Benito Pérez Galdós. In 1895, Azorín published two pieces on literary anarchists and social notes, in which he presents the main anarchist theories of the time. During this time he was a political radical. Throughout that period Azorín became an admirer of the liberal Antonio Maura who founded a party to fight the culture of "caciques" which he saw as the antidemocratic cancer of Hispanic politicians.

However, by the time of Franco ruling over Spain, Azorín though established in Paris, had become extremely conservative and had no problems with Franco's dictatorship.

Using mostly short sentences, in both his fiction and his essays he emphasized the small but enduring elements and events in history and in one's life. In his view time consists of a series of repetitions; this notion of time has been described as "timeless". He received such awards/honours (translated to English) as the "Press Delegation" (1943), "The Grand Cross of Isabel, the Catholic" (1946) and "The Grand Cross of Alfonso X, the Wise" (1956), amongst others. He died in Madrid on March 2, 1967, at the age of 93 from natural causes; he was the longest lived of the writers of the Generation of 98.

Bibliography

* "Diario de un enfermo" (1901)
* "La voluntad" (1902)
* "Castilla" (1902)
* "Antonio Azorín" (1903)
* "Confesiones de un pequeño filósofo" (1904)
* "Los pueblos" (1905)
* "La ruta de don Quijote" (1905)
* "Lecturas españolas" (1912)
* "Castilla" (1912)
* "Clásicos y modernos" (1913)
* "Al margen de los clásicos" (1915)
* "Don Juan" (1922, tr. 1923)
* "Doña Inés" (1925)
* "Félix Vargas" (1928)
* "Una Hora de Espana" (1948)
* "Pueblo" (1949)

Sources and References:"The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia", 6th ed. : [http://www.ctv.es/USERS/cpralcoben/intertextos/azorin.htm Azorin Biography Site]

External links

*
* [http://obrasocial.cam.es/casamuseoazorin/ Casa-Museo Azorín]
* [http://amigos-de-borges.net/site/english/foundation/ International Foundation Can Mossenya - Friends of Jorge Luis Borges]