Francisco Cascales (1564–1642) was a Spanish erudite,

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

and writer. He wrote ''Discurso de la ciudad de Cartagena''.

Life

Very little is known about the writer’s family; he appears to have had a twin brother. He never mentions his parents in his works, nor does he talk of his family or their circumstances like other writers of the period, which has led some to speculate that he may have been a natural child.J. García Soriano, preface to ''Cartas filológicas'', p. xiii After studying grammar, he joined the military (1585) and travelled to the

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and

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. He spent a large part of his youth in these areas, before returning to Spain. He had contact with distinguished humanists of the period and travelled through

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, where he perhaps attended university. In Cartagena, he befriended Luis Carrillo y Sotomayor, whose use of the ''culteranismo'' style he strongly opposed. It was also here that he wrote his work ''Discurso de la ciudad de Cartagena'' (1598), in which he praises the poets of the region. Here he obtained a post lecturing in rhetoric before teaching at the Seminario Mayor de San Fulgencio in Murcia. He seems to have composed several ''autos'' and ''comedias'', now lost, for festivals in honour of this patron. ''Discursos históricos de la muy noble y muy leal ciudad de Murcia'' (1621), on the other hand, has been conserved, and is a work which he complied as a chronicler. He married three times, but only had children with his final wife, the sister of poets Pedro and Bartolomé Ferrer Muñoz. While he was still young, it seems that he was imprisoned in the castle at

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. Part of his humanist ideology advocated what is known as eclectic imitation, a technique which he used widely in his own writings. As a poet he also earned the praise of his friend

Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio ( , ; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Age of Baroque literature. His reputation in the world of Spanish literature ...

in ''El laurel de Apolo''. He also wrote Latin epigrams inspired by

Marcus Valerius Martialis Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and ...

, and translated

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

’s ''Ars Poetica'' into Spanish. He also composed the ''Florilegio de versificación'' and started an ''Epopeya del Cid'' which he was never able to complete.

Cartas filológicas

The ''Cartas filológicas'' is indisputably his most celebrated work. The book takes the form of a confidential correspondence between Cascales and contemporary scholars. This correspondence was compiled and published in 1626. The ''Cartas filológicas'' tackles a wide variety of topics, adopting a very clear essayistic style, through which he discusses ideas on history and aesthetic. Some of these ideas were controversial, such as his opinions on the works of

Luis de Góngora Luis de Góngora y Argote (born Luis de Argote y Góngora; ; 11 July 1561 – 24 May 1627) was a Spanish Baroque lyric poet and a Catholic priest. Góngora and his lifelong rival, Francisco de Quevedo, are widely considered the most prominent ...

, but Cascales works on the premises of promoting his own ingenuity through his discussions.

References

Spanish male writers Murcian writers 1564 births 1642 deaths {{Spain-bio-stub