Salvador de Madariaga

Salvador de Madariaga . Spanish writer and diplomat ( 1886 – 1978 ), also widely dedicated to journalism . In 1916 he moved to London where he was editor of The Times. A year later his book The War from London appeared and in 1920 his first volume of essays entitled Shelly and Calderón and other essays on English and Spanish poetry appeared. He worked for six years in the secretariat of the League of Nations in Geneva .

Summary

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• 1 Biographical summary
  • 1 Literary career
  • 2 Diplomatic career
• 2 Work
• 3 Sources

Biographical summary

He was born in La Coruña on July 23 , 1886 and died in Locarno ( Switzerland ) on December 14 , 1978 .

Literary career

His liberal ideology manifested itself in a prolific work that encompasses both essays and novels , poetry and theater . Despite his early literary vocation, he studied engineering in Paris to fulfill the will of his father, a soldier with liberal ideas. In 1911 he joined the Northern Railway Company , but in 1916 he decided to abandon his profession and travel to London to dedicate himself to journalism .

In 1917 , while working as an editorial writer and editor at The Times newspaper , he published his first book , The War from London . Shortly after, the essays by Shelley and Calderón and other essays on English and Spanish poetry ( 1920 ) appeared in English , edited in Spanish with the title of Ensayos anglo-españoles ( 1922 ), in which he revealed himself as an expert in literature . compared.

Between 1921 and 1927 he held various positions in the League of Nations, an institution that he left when the University of Oxford offered him the chair of Spanish language and literature. His work From him English, French and Spanish ( 1927 ) dates from this period , a study of social psychology written in the three languages ​​of the aforementioned countries, which he mastered perfectly.

Diplomatic career

The first republican government appointed him ambassador in Washington ( 1931 ) and in Paris ( 1932 ), and in 1936 he was elected member of the Royal Spanish Academy , which he could not join until forty years later. At the outbreak of the Civil War he settled in England , and until his return to Spain in 1976 he traveled around the world, gave lectures, and collaborated with international organizations with the testimony of his liberal and anti-Franco ideas.

Construction site

His production is guided by his knowledge of Spanish culture and his interest in the Latin American world. Books such as the Reader’s Guide to Don Quixote ( 1926 ), Don Juan and Donjuanía ( 1950 ), The Rise and Decline of the Spanish Empire in America ( 1958 ) and the biographies of Columbus ( 1940 ), Hernán Cortés ( 1941) belong to this area . ) and Bolívar ( 1952 ), as well as Spain: an essay in contemporary history ( 1930 ), where he examined the origin of the Spanish and sharply interpreted the main events in the country’s history throughout the 19th century .

No less important are texts of greater autobiographical and political significance, such as The Memoirs of a Federalist ( 1967 ), an exposition of his thoughts opposed to both separatism and unitarism , and Dawn without Midday , 1921 – 1936 ( 1974 ), about the previous years. to the Civil War.

In the field of narrative he published novels such as Arceval and the English ( 1925 ), The Sacred Giraffe ( 1925 ), The Enemy of God ( 1926 ), The Heart of Green Stone ( 1943 ), Blood War ( 1957 ), One Drop of Time ( 1958 ), The Black Stallion ( 1961 ) and Satanael ( 1966 ).

He also cultivated poetry , with books such as Blind Romances ( 1922 ), The Serene Fountain ( 1927 ), Roses of Silt and Ash ( 1942 ), and The One Who Smells Like Thyme and Rosemary ( 1958 ).

Within the dramatic genre are Carmen’s death ( 1963 ), Viva la muerte ( 1965 ), and The cross and the flag ( 1969 ).