Miguel Sáenz Sagaseta de Ilúrdoz (

Larache Larache ( ar, العرايش, al-'Araysh) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast, where the Loukkos River meets the Atlantic Ocean. Larache is one of the most important cities of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region. Man ...

, Spanish Morocco, 1932) is a Spanish translator.

Biography

Born in colonial Morocco, he was son of a military officer. He studied German philology at the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loc ...

. He specialized in translating German authors into Spanish: Bertolt Brecht, Günter Grass, W. G. Sebald,

Thomas Bernhard Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (; 9 February 1931 – 12 February 1989) was an Austrian novelist, playwright and poet who explored death, social injustice, and human misery in controversial literature that was deeply pessimistic about modern civilizat ...

(of whom he also wrote a biography). He has also translated from English:

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most o ...

, Henry Roth,

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and We ...

. Since 1999 he is a member of the German Academy for Language and Poetry. In 2002 he was the first Spanish translator to receive an honoris causa diploma from the

University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca ( es, Universidad de Salamanca) is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the city of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It was founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX. It is t ...

. Sáenz was elected to seat ''b'' of the Real Academia Española on 22 November 2012, he took up his seat on 23 June 2013.

Awards

*In 1991 he was awarded the Premio Nacional a la Obra de un Traductor. *On 18 February 2019 he received the Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes.

Notes

References

1932 births People from Larache Germanists Complutense University of Madrid alumni Spanish translators English–Spanish translators German–Spanish translators Members of the Royal Spanish Academy Living people Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany {{Spain-translator-stub