Ginés Pérez De Hita
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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 {{spain-writer-stub