José María Balcells Doménech (born March 5, 1943, in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

) is a Spanish philologist, literary critic, and university professor, widely recognized for his work on 20th‑century Spanish literature. His research focuses on figures such as

Miguel Hernández Miguel Hernández Gilabert (30 October 1910 – 28 March 1942 ) was a 20th-century Spanish-language poet and playwright associated with the Generation of '27 and the Generation of '36 movements. Born and raised in a family of low resources, he ...

Rafael Alberti Rafael Alberti Merello (16 December 1902 – 28 October 1999) was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27. He is considered one of the greatest literary figures of the so-called ''Silver Age'' of Spanish Literature, and he won numer ...

Ángel Crespo Ángel Crespo (18 July 1926 in Alcolea de Calatrava, Ciudad Real (province), Province of Ciudad Real – 12 December 1995 in Barcelona) was a Spanish poet and translation#Literary translation, translator. Crespo was the author of over thirty book ...

, as well as topics like the

Spanish Golden Age The Spanish Golden Age (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Siglo de Oro'', , "Golden Century"; 1492 – 1681) was a period of literature and the The arts, arts in Spain that coincided with the political rise of the Spanish Empire under the Catholic M ...

and

women's literature The academic discipline of women's writing is a discrete area of literary criticism, literary studies which is based on the notion that the experience of women, historically, has been shaped by their sex, and so women writers by definition are a g ...

Academic career

He began his working life as teacher in secondary education in Catalonia (1969–1985) during which time he took a doctorate (awarded 1979) at the University of Barcelona with a thesis ''Las ascéticas y morales de Quevedo'' supervised by

José Manuel Blecua Teijeiro José Manuel Blecua Teijeiro ( Alcolea de Cinca, Huesca, 10 November 1913 – Barcelona, 8 March 2003) was a Spanish philologist, professor of Spanish Literature at the University of Barcelona and a member of the Royal Spanish Academy. He took his ...

. He then worked as a researcher for the Commission for the Fifth Centenary of the

Discovery of America The human history of the Americas is thought to begin with people migrating to these areas from Asia during the height of an ice age. These groups are generally believed to have been isolated from the people of the "Old World" until the coming o ...

under the Catalan government (1985–1986). He served as an associate professor at the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

(1986–1991) and

Rovira i Virgili University University of Rovira i Virgili (; ) is located in the Catalan cities of Tarragona, Reus, Tortosa Vila-seca, el Vendrell and Vilafranca del Penedès (Spain). Its name is in honor of Antoni Rovira i Virgili. The Universitat Rovira i Virgili i ...

(1991–1992). In 1993, he became a full professor of Hispanic philology at the

University of León The University of León (ULE) is a public university based in the city of León (Spain), León (Spain), with an additional campus in Ponferrada. The origins of the university can be traced back to 1843, with the creation of the Normal School of Te ...

, and directed the department of Hispanic and classical philology (2007–2013).

Research

His dedication to the work of

is noteworthy, contributing to his knowledge with editions and monographs. During his early youth, he met and interacted in

Orihuela Orihuela (; ''Corpus Toponímic Valencià''. Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua. 2009, València.) is a city and municipality located at the foot of the Sierra de Orihuela mountains in the province of Alicante, Valencian Community, Spain. The c ...

with people such as his widow Josefina Manresa, his brother Vicente Hernández, and other friends and acquaintances of the poet such as the lawyer José Martínez Arenas and the poet-baker, Carlos Fenoll. His biography ''Miguel Hernández, corazón desmesurado'' (1975) consolidated, along with other texts of the time, “the definitive affirmation of the figure and work” of the poet from Orihuela at the beginning of Spanish democracy. He was responsible for one of the editions of Miguel Hernández's main work, ''El rayo que no cesa'' (2002), helping to bring his poetry closer to new audiences. likewise, he has analyzed his poetry in different books such as ''Miguel Hernández: espejos americanos y poéticas taurinas'' (2012), where he “explains new aspects of the poetry of the author from Orihuela.”, ''Nacido (s) para el luto. Miguel Hernández y los toros'' (2017) or in ''Miguel Hernández y los poetas hispanoamericanos'' (2020), a book that “opens new paths in research” on Miguel Hernández. He has also compiled the spiritual poetry of the author from Orihuela in Asuntos del cielo: Antología de poesía religiosa de Miguel Hernández (2024), He has made several important contributions to the study of women's writing and women’s poetry in Spain in works such as ''Voces del margen. Mujer y poesía en España. Siglo XX'' (2009) and, previously, in the anthology ''Ilimitada voz. Antología de poetas españolas. 1940-2002'' (2003), a work that has contributed to the "consolidation of women authors born since the 1980s" because it "represents Balcells´s impressive efford to read, digest, and condense some seven hundred to eigth hundred books of poetry and marks an important milestone in the history of studies of women´s writing.” Among his studies on the

are monographs and editions on Fray Luis de Granada and

Francisco de Quevedo Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas, Order of Santiago, Knight of the Order of Santiago (; 14 September 1580 – 8 September 1645) was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Baroque era. Along with his lifelong rival, ...

and in contemporary literature he has also conducted studies on the work of various 20th-century writers from different generations, mainly

, José Corredor-Matheos, Rafael Ballesteros and

, compiling his scattered poetry in ''Obras completas. Poesía IV'' (Seix Barral 2004). He has written about

Miguel de Unamuno Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (; ; 29 September 1864 – 31 December 1936) was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, professor of Greek and Classics, and later rector at the University of Salamanca. His major philosophical ...

in his book ''Tragedia en juego. Toros y tauromaquia en Miguel de Unamuno'', where he explores "unamunian approaches to the world of bullfighting, expanding on them with quotations, anecdotes, and digressions." José María Balcells Doménech has also focused on researching the various forms of the burlesque epic throughout Spanish literature, compiling his contributions in his 2016 monograph, ''La epopeya burlada. Del Libro de buen amor a Juan Goytisolo'', hailed by the author as the “most comprehensive collection of studies on a neglected genre.” He has also carried out studies on medieval and 20th-century Catalan literature and has studied the Catalan influence in America in his book Revistes dels catalans a les Amériques (Generalitat de Catalunya, 1998). He has lectured at the

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

, Sorbonne Nouvelle University,

Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a public university, public research university in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the SKY (universities), SKY universities and a part of the Flagship Korean National Universities. The university's main c ...

, and branches of the

Instituto Cervantes Instituto Cervantes (, the Cervantes Institute) is a worldwide nonprofit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991. It is named after Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), the author of ''Don Quixote'' and perhaps the most important fi ...

Other information

* Sr. Josep Maria Balcells - Elected National Corresponding Academicians No 39 of the

Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona The Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona (in Spanish ''Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona'', Royal Academy of the Good Writings of Barcelona) is a Catalan literary society, based in Barcelona. It was founded in 1729 and it has i ...

: 20th December 2001: * Real Academia Alfonso X el Sabio * Corresponding Academician of the North American Academy of the Spanish Language (ANLE)

Selected publications

* ''Tragedia en juego. Toros y tauromaquia en Miguel de Unamuno'' (University of Jaén, 2022) ISBN: 978-84-9159-475-8 * ''Miguel Hernández y los poetas hispanoamericanos'' (2020). Prólogo de Aitor L. Larrabide. Orihuela: Fundación Cultural Miguel Hernández, 2020. ISBN: 978-84-948164-4-4Aitor Luis Larrabide Achútegui (2023) Balcells, José María (2020). Miguel Hernández y los poetas hispanoamericanos y otras páginas hernandistas. Orihuela: Fundación Cultural Miguel Hernández, Paraíso: revista de poesía, ISSN 1887-200X, Nº. 20, 2023, págs. 158-160 * Nacido (s) para el luto. Miguel Hernández y los toros (2017). ISBN: 978-84-9159-081-1 * ''La epopeya burlada. Del 'Libro de buen Amor' a Juan Goytisolo''. Prólogo de Juan Matas Caballero (University of León, 2016). ISBN: 978-84-9773-756-2 * Miguel Hernández: espejos americanos y poéticas taurinas (2012). ISBN: 978-84-92877-35-5 * Voces del margen. Mujer y poesía en España. Siglo XX' (University of León, 2009). ISBN: 978-84-9773-484-4 * Rafael Alberti. Obras completas. Poesía IV. Ediciones críticas de José María Balcells. Barcelona: Seix Barral, 2004. ISBN: 978-84-322-4055-3 * Ilimitada voz. Antología de poetas españolas. 1940-2002. Edición y estudio de José María Balcells., Universidad de Cádiz, 2003. ISBN: 978-84-7786-800-2 * Hernández, Miguel. El rayo que no cesa. Edición de José Maria Balcells. 2002. ISBN: 9788495498519 * Miguel Hernández, corazón desmesurado. 1975. ISBN: 978-84-7358-022-9

References

External links

Catálogo bibliográfico WorldCatRessources de la Bibliothèque nationale de FranceCervantes virtual

AEPE – European Association of Teachers of Spanish

Universidad de León

University of Jaén – Author profile

Dialnet – Author profile

Zenda Libros – Author page

Academia.edu – Academic profile

ResearchGate – Scientific contributions
{{Authority control Spanish philologists Spanish literary critics Spanish academics 1943 births Living people Writers from Barcelona