Ginés Pérez de Hita (1544? – 1619?) was a Spanish
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...
and
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
, born at
Mula (
Murcia) about the middle of the 16th century.
It is likely that he joined the
campaign against the "Moriscos" in the Alpujarra in 1560.
''Guerras civiles de Granada''
Pérez de Hita owes his wide celebrity to the ''Historia de los bandos de los Zegríes y Abencerrajes'' (1595–1619), better known as the ''Guerras civiles de
Granada'' ("Wars of Granada"), which purports to be a chronicle based on an Arabic original ascribed to a certain Aben-Hamin.
Abed-Hamin is a fictitious character, and the "Wars of Granada" is, in reality, a
historical novel
Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the setting of particular real historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to oth ...
, perhaps the earliest example of its kind, and certainly the first historical novel that attained popularity.
In the first part, the events which led to the downfall of
Granada are related with uncommon brilliancy, and Pérez de Hita's sympathetic transcription of life at the
Emir
Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...
's court has clearly suggested the conventional presentation of the picturesque, chivalrous
Moor in the pages of Mlle de
Scudéry, Mme de
Lafayette,
Châteaubriand and
Washington Irving.
The second part is concerned with the author's personal experiences and the treatment is effective; yet, though
Calderón's play, ''Amar después de la muerte'', is derived from it, this less picturesque second part has never enjoyed the vogue or influence of the first. The exact date of Pérez de Hita's death is unknown. His
blank verse rendering of the ''Crónica Troyana'', written in 1596, exists in manuscript.
References
Modern editions
* ''Historia de los bandos de zegríes y abencerrajes'' (primera parte de las "Guerras Civiles de Granada".)
* ''La guerra de los moriscos'' (segunda parte de las "Guerras Civiles de Granada".)
* ''Guerras civiles de Granada''
[ Simancas Ediciones, 2005]
Notes
Sources
*
*
1540s births
1610s deaths
Murcian writers
People from Río Mula
16th-century Spanish poets
17th-century Spanish novelists
Spanish male novelists
Spanish male poets
16th-century Spanish novelists
16th-century Spanish male writers
17th-century Spanish male writers
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