Manuel Altolaguirre
Encyclopedia
Manuel Altolaguirre was a Spanish
poet
, an editor, publisher, and printer of poetry, and a member of the Generation of '27
.
city of Málaga
in 1905, Altolaguirre's collaborative poets included Emilio Prados
, Vicente Aleixandre
, and Federico García Lorca
. After completing law studies in Granada
, Altolaguirre founded the magazine Ambos and returned to Málaga to start the printing shop Imprenta Sur ('Southern Press'), where he drew together many of his friends, publishing most of their early verse.
In 1926 Altolaguirre published his first collection, Las islas invitadas y otros poemas, twenty-four mostly descriptive, soul-searching poems about love, nature, solitude, and death. That same year, he co-founded with Emilio Prados
the literary periodical Litorral, whose 1927 triple issue commemorated the three hundredth anniversary of the death of Luis de Góngora
, a poet greatly admired by the Generation of '27
.
In his second collection, Ejemplo, the poet seemed to want to mold himself into the universe in search of harmony, revealing the influence of Juan Ramón Jiménez
. In 1930 he began another literary magazine, Poesía, which he also printed and bound, and to which he contributed poems of love and solitude.
After two-year stay to Paris
with his portable printing press, Altolaguirre lived in Madrid
, where he produced Soledades juntas, including love poems perhaps inspired by his fellow poet Concha Méndez
, whom he married in 1932.
With Méndez, Altolaguirre founded the publications Héroe (for which Juan Ramón Jiménez
contributed lyrical character portraits of Spanish heroes) and 1616 (in England
, to strengthen the literary relations between Spain and England through publication of poems in the original as well as in translation). In 1616 (the name commemorates the year of the deaths of Miguel de Cervantes
and William Shakespeare
), he published poems by Federico García Lorca
, Luis Cernuda
, Jorge Guillén
, Pablo Neruda
, and Moreno Villa, among others. He wrote a biography of Garcilaso de la Vega
, edited the Antología de la poeśia romántica española, and translated Victor Hugo
and other writers.
Published in 1936, his poetry collection, La lenta libertad, included many poems from previous volumes, the newer poems dealing with evil and social injustice.
In 1936, when the Spanish Civil War
broke out, Altolaguirre became a member of the Alliance of Anti-Fascist Intellectuals and became the director of "La Barraca", a classic theater troupe that took Spanish theater to the countryside, after its leader Federico García Lorca
was killed. Altolaguirre enlisted with the Republican forces and involved himself in printing projects. He printed Pablo Neruda
’s España en el corazón (Spain in the Heart, 1938) on paper manufactured from old flag
s and uniforms of the enemy, the wet paper then hung with clothespins to dry.
In 1939, Altolaguirre suffered an emotional collapse. Later that year, he and his family traveled to Mexico City
, stopping off in Cuba
for five years. In Cuba he founded more magazines, Atentamente and La Verónica, and completed Nube temporal, poems of war and human suffering.
He completed Nuevos poems de las islas invitadas in 1946, poems revealing his increasing interest in mysticism, and in 1949, after leaving his wife for María Luisa Gómez Mena (whom he later married), he published Fin de un amor, the poet seemingly torn between spiritual love inspired by Concha and the passion he felt for María Luisa.
For the last years of his life, he was involved with the Mexican film industry, writing scripts, producing, and directing. In 1959, Altolaguirre returned to Spain to present El Cantar de los cantares at the San Sebastián
Film Festival. On 23 July, after the festival, he had a car accident on his way to Madrid and died three days later in Burgos
.
Ejemplo ("Example") (Malaga: Imprenta Sur, 1927)
Soledades juntas ("Joint Solitudes") (Madrid: Plutarco, 1931)
La lenta libertad ("The Slow Freedom") (Madrid: Héroe, 1936)
Nube temporal ("Temporary Clouds") (Havana: Veronica/Altolaguirre, 1939)
Nuevas poemas de las islas invitadas ("New Poems of the Invited Islees") (Mexico city: Isla, 1946)
Fin de una amor ("End of a Love") (Mexico City, Isla, 1949)
Poemas en América ("Poems in America") (Málaga: Dardo, 1955)
Altolaguirre also wrote a propaganda play El triunfo de las germanías ("The Triumph of the Brotherhood of the Guilds") with José Bergamín
in 1937, and screenplays for six motion pictures from 1951-1959. He edited and was responsible for publishing Antología de la poesía romántica española ("Anthology of Spanish Romantic Poetry") in 1933, Poemas escogidos de Federico Garćia Lorca in 1939, Presente de las lírica mexicana in 1946, and Gerardo Diego
's Poemas in 1948.
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, an editor, publisher, and printer of poetry, and a member of the Generation of '27
Generation of '27
The Generation of '27 was an influential group of poets that arose in Spanish literary circles between 1923 and 1927, essentially out of a shared desire to experience and work with avant-garde forms of art and poetry. Their first formal meeting took place in Seville in 1927 to mark the 300th...
.
Biography
Born in the AndalusiaAndalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
city of Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
in 1905, Altolaguirre's collaborative poets included Emilio Prados
Emilio Prados
Emilio Prados was a Spanish poet and editor, a member of the Generation of '27.-Life:Born in the Andalusian city of Málaga in 1899, Prados was offered a place at Madrid's famous Residencia de estudiantes in 1914 and moved into its university section in 1918...
, Vicente Aleixandre
Vicente Aleixandre
Vicente Pío Marcelino Cirilo Aleixandre y Merlo was a Spanish poet who was born in Seville. Aleixandre was a Nobel Prize laureate for Literature in 1977. He was part of the Generation of '27. He died in Madrid in 1984....
, and Federico García Lorca
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
. After completing law studies in Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
, Altolaguirre founded the magazine Ambos and returned to Málaga to start the printing shop Imprenta Sur ('Southern Press'), where he drew together many of his friends, publishing most of their early verse.
In 1926 Altolaguirre published his first collection, Las islas invitadas y otros poemas, twenty-four mostly descriptive, soul-searching poems about love, nature, solitude, and death. That same year, he co-founded with Emilio Prados
Emilio Prados
Emilio Prados was a Spanish poet and editor, a member of the Generation of '27.-Life:Born in the Andalusian city of Málaga in 1899, Prados was offered a place at Madrid's famous Residencia de estudiantes in 1914 and moved into its university section in 1918...
the literary periodical Litorral, whose 1927 triple issue commemorated the three hundredth anniversary of the death of Luis de Góngora
Luis de Góngora
Luis de Góngora y Argote was a Spanish Baroque lyric poet. Góngora and his lifelong rival, Francisco de Quevedo, are widely considered to be the most prominent Spanish poets of their age. His style is characterized by what was called culteranismo, also known as Gongorism...
, a poet greatly admired by the Generation of '27
Generation of '27
The Generation of '27 was an influential group of poets that arose in Spanish literary circles between 1923 and 1927, essentially out of a shared desire to experience and work with avant-garde forms of art and poetry. Their first formal meeting took place in Seville in 1927 to mark the 300th...
.
In his second collection, Ejemplo, the poet seemed to want to mold himself into the universe in search of harmony, revealing the influence of Juan Ramón Jiménez
Juan Ramón Jiménez
Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón was a Spanish poet, a prolific writer who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1956. One of Jiménez's most important contributions to modern poetry was his advocacy of the French concept of "pure poetry."-Biography:Jiménez was born in Moguer, near Huelva, in...
. In 1930 he began another literary magazine, Poesía, which he also printed and bound, and to which he contributed poems of love and solitude.
After two-year stay to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
with his portable printing press, Altolaguirre lived in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, where he produced Soledades juntas, including love poems perhaps inspired by his fellow poet Concha Méndez
Concha Méndez
Concepción Méndez Cuesta was a leading Spanish poet and dramatist and member of the Generation of '27 who became known in the literary world under the pseudonym Concha Mendez.-Early life:...
, whom he married in 1932.
With Méndez, Altolaguirre founded the publications Héroe (for which Juan Ramón Jiménez
Juan Ramón Jiménez
Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón was a Spanish poet, a prolific writer who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1956. One of Jiménez's most important contributions to modern poetry was his advocacy of the French concept of "pure poetry."-Biography:Jiménez was born in Moguer, near Huelva, in...
contributed lyrical character portraits of Spanish heroes) and 1616 (in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, to strengthen the literary relations between Spain and England through publication of poems in the original as well as in translation). In 1616 (the name commemorates the year of the deaths of Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...
and William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
), he published poems by Federico García Lorca
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
, Luis Cernuda
Luis Cernuda
Luis Cernuda , was a Spanish poet and literary critic.-Life and career:...
, Jorge Guillén
Jorge Guillén
Jorge Guillén y Álvarez was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27.-Biography:Jorge Guillén was born in Valladolid. His life paralleled that of his friend Pedro Salinas, whom he succeeded as a Spanish teaching assistant at the Collège de Sorbonne in the University of Paris from 1917 to...
, Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
, and Moreno Villa, among others. He wrote a biography of Garcilaso de la Vega
Garcilaso de la Vega
Garcilaso de la Vega was a Spanish soldier and poet. He was the most influential poet to introduce Italian Renaissance verse forms, poetic techniques and themes to Spain.-Biography:...
, edited the Antología de la poeśia romántica española, and translated Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
and other writers.
Published in 1936, his poetry collection, La lenta libertad, included many poems from previous volumes, the newer poems dealing with evil and social injustice.
In 1936, when the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
broke out, Altolaguirre became a member of the Alliance of Anti-Fascist Intellectuals and became the director of "La Barraca", a classic theater troupe that took Spanish theater to the countryside, after its leader Federico García Lorca
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
was killed. Altolaguirre enlisted with the Republican forces and involved himself in printing projects. He printed Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
’s España en el corazón (Spain in the Heart, 1938) on paper manufactured from old flag
Flag
A flag is a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is usually rectangular and used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium.The first flags were used to assist...
s and uniforms of the enemy, the wet paper then hung with clothespins to dry.
In 1939, Altolaguirre suffered an emotional collapse. Later that year, he and his family traveled to Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, stopping off in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
for five years. In Cuba he founded more magazines, Atentamente and La Verónica, and completed Nube temporal, poems of war and human suffering.
He completed Nuevos poems de las islas invitadas in 1946, poems revealing his increasing interest in mysticism, and in 1949, after leaving his wife for María Luisa Gómez Mena (whom he later married), he published Fin de un amor, the poet seemingly torn between spiritual love inspired by Concha and the passion he felt for María Luisa.
For the last years of his life, he was involved with the Mexican film industry, writing scripts, producing, and directing. In 1959, Altolaguirre returned to Spain to present El Cantar de los cantares at the San Sebastián
San Sebastián
Donostia-San Sebastián is a city and municipality located in the north of Spain, in the coast of the Bay of Biscay and 20 km away from the French border. The city is the capital of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The municipality’s population is 186,122 , and its...
Film Festival. On 23 July, after the festival, he had a car accident on his way to Madrid and died three days later in Burgos
Burgos
Burgos is a city of northern Spain, historic capital of Castile. It is situated at the edge of the central plateau, with about 178,966 inhabitants in the city proper and another 20,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León...
.
Selected bibliography
Las islas invitadas y otros poemas (“The Invited Isle and Other Poems”) (Málaga: Imprenta Sur, 1926); also Las islas invitadas (Madrid: Viriato/Altolaguirre, 1936; revised edition, Madrid: Castalia, 1973)Ejemplo ("Example") (Malaga: Imprenta Sur, 1927)
Soledades juntas ("Joint Solitudes") (Madrid: Plutarco, 1931)
La lenta libertad ("The Slow Freedom") (Madrid: Héroe, 1936)
Nube temporal ("Temporary Clouds") (Havana: Veronica/Altolaguirre, 1939)
Nuevas poemas de las islas invitadas ("New Poems of the Invited Islees") (Mexico city: Isla, 1946)
Fin de una amor ("End of a Love") (Mexico City, Isla, 1949)
Poemas en América ("Poems in America") (Málaga: Dardo, 1955)
Altolaguirre also wrote a propaganda play El triunfo de las germanías ("The Triumph of the Brotherhood of the Guilds") with José Bergamín
José Bergamín
José Bergamín Gutiérrez was a Spanish writer, essayist, poet, and playwright. His father served as president of the canton of Málaga; his mother was a devout Catholic...
in 1937, and screenplays for six motion pictures from 1951-1959. He edited and was responsible for publishing Antología de la poesía romántica española ("Anthology of Spanish Romantic Poetry") in 1933, Poemas escogidos de Federico Garćia Lorca in 1939, Presente de las lírica mexicana in 1946, and Gerardo Diego
Gerardo Diego
Gerardo Diego Cendoya was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27.Gerardo Diego taught language and literature at institutes of learning in Soria, Gijón, Santander and Madrid...
's Poemas in 1948.
Further reading
- John Crispin, "Quest for Wholeness: the Personality and Works of Manuel Altolaguirre" (Valencia: Albatros Hispanófila, 1983)
- C.B. Morris, "The Closed Door," in A Generation of Spanish Poets: 1920-1936 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969), pp. 143-171.