Agustin Gomez-Arcos (15 January 1933 – 20 March 1998) was a Spanish writer. He was born in

Enix, Spain Enix is a municipality of Almería province, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Demographics Notable people * Agustín Gómez-Arcos was born in 1933 in Enix and died on March 20, 1998, in Paris. See also *List of municipalitie ...

. He studied law but quit university for theater. However, some of his work was banned in

Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" * Franco of Cologne (mid to late 13th cent ...

's Spain. He emigrated to London in 1966, then to Paris in 1968 and wrote primarily in French, often with themes condemning the

Francoist State Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of History of Spain, Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . ...

. He died in Paris of cancer. In his early years in Spain he wrote a number of plays, notable for their bizarre themes and highly innovative and non-realistic theatrical technique (see S.G. Feldman's study, referenced below). After emigrating to France he wrote many novels, all in French and listed below. Half of them are bitter attacks on Francoist Spain. These won him a considerable French readership (

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

was a particular admirer), but were unpopular, indeed largely ignored, in Spain, where the attempt was being made to get beyond the fierce antagonism generated by the Spanish Civil War by forgetting about it. The most successful of these novels was 'Ana Non', which is less polemical and concentrates on the grief and bereavement of a widow who has lost her husband and sons in the civil war; it tells of her slow, sad journey through a Spain alien to her on her way to see her one surviving son, imprisoned for life, whom she finds dead on her arrival at his prison. In the English-speaking world more attention was paid to his first novel, 'The Carnivorous Lamb', which gives a highly sympathetic account of a passionate sexual relationship between two brothers; this is the most extreme example of the writer's anarchistic antinomianism.

Novels

* ''L'Agneau carnivore'', 1975; won the 1975 Hermès Prize. (Translated from the original French by

William Rodarmor William Rodarmor (born June 5, 1942) is an American journalist, adventurer, and translator of French literature. He is notable in the field of literary translation for having won the Lewis Galantière Award from the American Translators Associat ...

as ''The Carnivorous Lamb'' for David Godine, Boston in 1984; reprinted in 2007 by Arsenal Press, Vancouver.) * ''Maria Republica'', 1976 * ''Ana non'', 1977; won the 1977 Livre Inter prize, the 1978 Roland Dorgelès Prize and the Thyde Monnier Prize * ''Scène de chasse (furtive)'', 1978 * ''Pré-papa ou Roman de fées'', 1979 * ''L'enfant miraculée'', 1981 * ''L'enfant pain'', 1983 * ''Un oiseau brûlé vif'', 1984 (''A Bird Burned Alive'', 1988) * ''Bestiaire'', 1986 * ''L'homme à genoux'', 1989 * ''L'aveuglon'', 1990 * ''Mère Justice'', 1992 * ''La femme d'emprunt'', 1993 * ''L'ange de chair'', 1995

References

* Sharon G. Feldman, Allegories of Dissent: The Theatre of Agustin Gomez-Arcos (1999).

External links

Biography in the Anarchist Encyclopedia (EN)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gomez-Arcos, Agustin Spanish writers in French 20th-century Spanish novelists 1933 births 1998 deaths Spanish male dramatists and playwrights Spanish gay writers Spanish LGBTQ novelists Spanish LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Spanish dramatists and playwrights Spanish male novelists Prix du Livre Inter winners 20th-century Spanish male writers LGBTQ history in Spain 20th-century Spanish LGBTQ people