Ramón María del Valle-Inclán y de la Peña (in

Vilanova de Arousa Vilanova de Arousa is a municipality in Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also ca ...

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, 28 October 1866 –

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of S ...

, 5 January 1936) was a Spanish dramatist, novelist and member of the Spanish

Generation of 98 The Generation of '98 ( es, Generación del 98), also called Generation of 1898 ( es, Generación de 1898, links=no), was a group of novelists, poets, essayists, and philosophers active in Spain at the time of the Spanish–American War (1898), comm ...

. He is considered perhaps the most noteworthy and certainly the most radical dramatist working to subvert the traditionalism of the Spanish theatrical establishment in the early part of the 20th century. His drama is made all the more important by its influence on later generations of Spanish dramatists. His statue in Madrid therefore receives the homage of the theatrical profession on the national theater day.

Biography

Ramón María del Valle-Inclán was the second son of Ramón Valle-Inclán Bermúdez and Dolores de la Peña y Montenegro. As a child he lived in Vilanova and

A Pobra do Caramiñal A Pobra do Caramiñal is a town and municipality at the entrance of one of the lower bays of the Galician coastline known as the ''Ria de Arousa'' in the province of A Coruña, Spain. It is located in the autonomous community of Galicia. A Pobra ...

, and then he moved to

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a Spanish city in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of both the '' Comarca'' (County) and Province of Pontevedra, and of the Rías Baixas in Galicia. It is also the capital of its own municipality wh ...

in order to study high school. In 1888 he started to study Law at

University of Santiago de Compostela , established = , type = Public , budget = €228 million (2011) , rector = Prof. Dr. Antonio López Díaz , city = Santiago de Compostela , state = Galicia , country = Spain , undergrad = 23,835 , postgrad = 1,716 , doctoral = 2,697 , ...

, and there he published his first story, ''Babel'', at the ''Café con gotas'' magazine. He left his studies and moved to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

in 1890, where he wrote for various periodical newspapers such as ''El Globo'', ''La Ilustración Ibérica'' or '' El Heraldo de Madrid''. In 1892 he traveled to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

, where he wrote for ''El Universal'', ''El Correo Español'' and ''El Veracruza In 1893, he returned to

, where he wrote his first book, ''Femeninas (Feminine)'', published in 1895. In 1895, he moved to

again, working as an official at the Ministry of Public Instruction and Fine Arts. In

he did some translations of

José Maria de Eça de Queirós José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacu ...

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...

, Gabriele D'Annunzio,

Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly (2 November 1808 – 23 April 1889) was a French novelist and short story writer. He specialised in mystery tales that explored hidden motivation and hinted at evil without being explicitly concerned with anythin ...

Paul Alexis Antoine Joseph Paul Alexis (16 June 1847 – 28 July 1901) was a French novelist, dramatist, and journalist. He is best remembered today as the friend and biographer of Émile Zola. Life Alexis was born at Aix-en-Provence. He attended the ...

and

Matilde Serao 200px, Matilde Serao, by "Rossi" Matilde Serao (; gr, Ματθίλδη Σεράο; 7 March 1856 – 25 July 1927) was an Italian journalist and novelist. She was the first woman called to edit an Italian newspaper, Il ''Corriere di Roma'' an ...

. In spite of his economic difficulties, he started to have a name in the ''tertulias'' (literary gatherings) of many culturally significant coffeehouses in

, such as

Café Gijón Café Gijón (Also known as ''Gran Café de Gijón'') is a culturally significant coffeehouseAntonio Espina, «''Las tertulias de Madrid''», Madrid, Alianza, 1995 situated at No. 21,José Esteban,Blanca Mena,Pilar Mateos,Marta Menacho Julián ...

, and to be noticed for his dandy attitude and his eccentric looks. His hot temper got him involved in various affrays. Because one of those, at Café de la Montaña in 1899, an unfortunate stick wound by writer Manuel Bueno caused one of his cufflinks to inlay in his arm. The wound produced gangrene, and Valle-Inclán had his arm amputated. That same year of 1899, he met

Rubén Darío Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (January 18, 1867 – February 6, 1916), known as Rubén Darío ( , ), was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-language literary movement known as ''modernismo'' (modernism) that flourished at the end of ...

, and both of them became good friends. At that time, he published his first theater play, ''Cenizas (Ashes)'', and he started a very prolific literary period. In 1907 he married the actress Josefina Blanco Tejerina. In 1910 he traveled for six months to various Latin American countries (

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to t ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

) escorting his wife on an acting tour. In 1913 he returned to

, and set his residence in Cambados. Then, after the death of his second son, he moved to

. In 1916 he published in the Cuban magazine Labor Gallega a poem in Galician language with the title of ''Cantiga de vellas (Son of old women)'', which is his most valuable contribution to Galician literature. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, he supported the allied army, visiting the front in various occasions as a war correspondent for ''

El Imparcial ''El Imparcial'', founded in 1918, was a newspaper in Puerto Rico. It circulated daily, except Sundays./ ''About El Imparcial. (San Juan, P.R.) 1918-197?.''] United States Library of Congress. Retrieved 26 July 2012. Its complete name was ''El ...

''. In 1921 he traveled to

México Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatem ...

again, invited by the President of the Republic,

Álvaro Obregón Álvaro Obregón Salido (; 17 February 1880 – 17 July 1928) better known as Álvaro Obregón was a Sonoran-born general in the Mexican Revolution. A pragmatic centrist, natural soldier, and able politician, he became the 46th President of Me ...

. There he participated in many literary and cultural events, and got conquered by the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...

. On his way back to

, he spent two weeks in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, and two weeks in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. That same year, 1921, he was appointed President of the International Federation of Latin American Intellectuals. He returned to

at the end of 1921, and there he started to write ''Tirano Banderas (Tyrant Banderas)''. He went back to

in 1922, still inflamed by the spirit of the

. Since 1924 he showed his opposition to

Miguel Primo de Rivera Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, 2nd Marquess of Estella (8 January 1870 – 16 March 1930), was a dictator, aristocrat, and military officer who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 1923 to 1930 during Spain's Restoration era. He deepl ...

’s dictatorship. With the arrival of the

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 ...

, he ran in the elections with the Partido Radical of

Alejandro Lerroux Alejandro Lerroux García (4 March 1864, in La Rambla, Córdoba – 25 June 1949, in Madrid) was a Spanish politician who was the leader of the Radical Republican Party. He served as Prime Minister three times from 1933 to 1935 and held severa ...

, but he did not get a seat. In 1932 he divorced his wife, and he was appointed Director of the Museum of

Aranjuez Aranjuez () is a city and municipality of Spain, part of the Community of Madrid. Located in the southern end of the region, the main urban nucleus lies on the left bank of Tagus, a bit upstream the discharge of the Jarama. , the municipality h ...

and President of the Ateneo of Madrid. Also, the government of the Second Spanish Republic appointed him Curator of the National Artistic Heritage, but his confrontations with the Ministry because of the bad state of the palaces and museums under his direction forced his resigning. In 1933 he was the director of the Spanish Academy of Fine Arts in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. He died in

, on January the 5th, 1936.

Works

His early writings were in line with French symbolism and modernism; however, his later evolution took his works to more radical formal experiments. He despised literary realism and openly disregarded

Benito Pérez Galdós Benito Pérez Galdós (May 10, 1843 – January 4, 1920) was a Spanish realist novelist. He was the leading literary figure in 19th-century Spain, and some scholars consider him second only to Miguel de Cervantes in stature as a Spanish n ...

, its most prominent Spanish representative. His political views, accordingly, changed from traditional absolutism (in Spain known as Carlismo) towards

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

. This also caused him problems. All his life he struggled to live up to his bohemian ideals, and stayed loyal to his aestheticist beliefs. However, he had to write undercover for serialised popular novels. Works by Valle-Inclán such as ''Divine Words'' (''Divinas palabras'') and ''

Bohemian Lights ''Bohemian Lights'', or ''Luces de Bohemia'' in the original Spanish, is a play written by Ramón del Valle-Inclán, published in 1924. The central character is Max Estrella, a struggling poet afflicted by blindness due to developing syphilis. ...

(Luces de Bohemia)'' attack what he saw as the

hypocrisy Hypocrisy is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another or the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform. In moral psychology, it is the ...

, moralising and

sentimentality Sentimentality originally indicated the reliance on feelings as a guide to truth, but in current usage the term commonly connotes a reliance on shallow, uncomplicated emotions at the expense of reason. Sentimentalism in philosophy is a view in ...

of the

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. ...

playwrights, satirise the views of the ruling classes and target particular concepts such as masculine honour,

militarism Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...

patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...

and servile attitudes toward the Crown and the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. His dramas also featured irreverent portrays of figures from Spain's political past and deployed crude, obscene language and vulgar imagery in a mocking attack on theatrical blandness. In addition to being politically subversive, though, Valle-Inclán's plays often required staging and direction that went far beyond the abilities of many companies working in the commercial theatre, often featuring complex supernatural

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wo ...

and rapid, drastic changes of scene. For this reason, some of his works are regarded as

closet drama A closet drama is a play that is not intended to be performed onstage, but read by a solitary reader or sometimes out loud in a large group. The contrast between closet drama and classic "stage" dramas dates back to the late eighteenth century. Al ...

s. Valle-Inclán also wrote major novels including the ''Tyrant Banderas'' (''Tirano Banderas''), which was influential on the Latin American 'dictator' novel (for example, ''

I, the Supreme ''I the Supreme'' (orig. Spanish ''Yo el Supremo'') is a historical novel written by exiled Paraguayan author Augusto Roa Bastos. It is a fictionalized account of the nineteenth-century Paraguayan dictator José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, wh ...

'' by

Augusto Roa Bastos Augusto Roa Bastos (13 June 1917 – 26 April 2005) was a Paraguayan novelist and short story writer. As a teenager he fought in the Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia, and he later worked as a journalist, screenwriter and professor. ...

), although it was received with disdain by many Latin American authors.

Rufino Blanco Fombona Rufino Blanco Fombona (1874–1944) was a Venezuelan literary historian and man of letters who played a major role in bringing the works of Latin American writers to world attention. He is buried in the National Pantheon of Venezuela. He w ...

, for example, pokes fun of "the America of tambourine" ("la América de pandereta") of that novel where you could be in the jungle one day and the Andes the next. Some critics view him as being the Spanish equivalent to

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...

; however, due to a lack of translations his work is still largely unknown in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

-speaking world, although his reputation is slowly growing as translations are produced. Diego Martínez Torrón has studied and published ''El ruedo ibérico'', the first annotated edition of this work, a lot of unpublished manuscripts of this work.Ramón del Valle-Inclán, Manuscritos inéditos de ''“El ruedo ibérico”'', Sevilla, Renacimiento/UCOpress Editorial Universidad de Córdoba, 2019 (Col. Los Cuatro Vientos, 154)

Plays

*''Cenizas. Drama en tres actos'' (1899) *'' El marqués de Bradomín. Coloquios románticos'' (1907) *''Águila de blasón. Comedia bárbara'' (1907) *''Romance de lobos. Comedia bárbara'' (1908) *''El yermo de las almas'' (1908) *''Farsa infantil de la cabeza del dragón'' (1909) *''Cuento de abril. Escenas rimadas en una manera extravagante'' (1910) *''Farsa y licencia de la Reina Castiza'' (1910) *''Voces de gesta. Tragedia pastoril'' (1911) *''El embrujado. Tragedia de tierras de Salnés'' (1913). *''La marquesa Rosalinda. Farsa sentimental y grotesca'' (1913) * ''Divine Words''-''Divinas palabras. Tragicomedia de aldea'' (1919) *''Farsa italiana de la enamorada del rey'' (1920) *''Farsa y licencia de la Reina Castiza'' (2nd edition, 1920) * ''Bohemian Lights''-''Luces de bohemia. Esperpento'' (1920) (12 scenes) *''Silver Face'' ''Cara de Plata. Comedia bárbara (1922) *''¿Para cuándo son las reclamaciones diplomáticas? '' (1922) * ''Bohemian Lights''-''Luces de bohemia. Esperpento'' (2nd edition, enhanced, 1924) (15 scenes) *''La rosa de papel. Novela macabra'' (1924) *''La cabeza del Bautista. Novela macabra'' (1924) *''Los cuernos de don Friolera. Esperpento'' (1925) *''Tablado de marionetas para educación de príncipes'' (1926). Contains: ''Farsa y licencia de la Reina Castiza'', ''Farsa italiana de la enamorada del rey'', ''Farsa infantil de la cabeza del dragón'' *''El terno del difunto'' (1926) (renamed as ''Las galas del difunto'' in 1930) *''Ligazón. Auto para siluetas'' (1926) *''La hija del capitán. Esperpento'' (1927) *''Sacrilegio. Auto para siluetas'' (1927) *''Retablo de la avaricia, la lujuria y la muerte'' (1927). Contains: ''Ligazón. Auto para siluetas'', ''La rosa de papel'', ''La cabeza del Bautista'', ''El embrujado'', ''Sacrilegio. Auto para siluetas'' *''Martes de Carnaval. Esperpentos'' (1930). Contains: ''Las galas del difunto'' (''El terno del difunto''), ''Los cuernos de don Friolera. Esperpento'', ''La hija del capitán. Esperpento''

Prose

*''Tyrant Banderas- Tirano Banderas'' (1926) *''The Pleasant Memoirs of the Marquis de Bradomín - Memorias del Marqués de Bradomín'' **''Spring and Summer Sonatas - Sonata de primavera y Sonata de estío'' (1904 and 1903) **''Autumn and Winter Sonatas - Sonata de otoño y Sonata de invierno'' (1902 and 1905) *''Mr Punch the Cuckold'' *''The Lamp of Marvels '' *''La pipa de kif'' (lyric poem) (1919)

References

External links

* * *
Works by Ramón María del Valle-Inclán
at Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes
Biography and bibliography of Ramón María del Valle-Inclán
at Escritores.org

by Spain's

Centro Dramático Nacional The Centro Dramático Nacional ("National Drama Centre" or CDN) is a Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 ...

in the ''New York Times'', 2007
House-Museum in A Pobra do Caramiñal

House-Museum in Vilanova de Arousa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valle-Inclan, Ramon Del 1866 births 1936 deaths People from O Salnés Writers from Galicia (Spain) Spanish male dramatists and playwrights Spanish novelists Spanish male novelists Spanish male short story writers Spanish short story writers 19th-century Spanish novelists 19th-century Spanish dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Spanish novelists 20th-century Spanish dramatists and playwrights Spanish amputees 19th-century short story writers 19th-century male writers 20th-century short story writers 20th-century Spanish male writers