Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón (; 23 December 1881 – 29 May 1958) was a Spanish

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 ...

, a prolific writer who received the 1956 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his

lyrical poetry Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. The term for both modern lyric poetry and modern song lyrics derives from a form of Ancient Greek literature, ...

, which in the Spanish language constitutes an example of high spirit and artistic purity". One of Jiménez's most important contributions to modern poetry was his advocacy of the concept of "pure poetry".

Biography

Early life

Juan Ramón Jiménez was born in Moguer, near Huelva, in Andalucia, on 23 December 1881. He was educated in the Jesuit institution of San Luis Gonzaga, in

El Puerto de Santa María El Puerto de Santa María (), locally known as El Puerto and historically in English as Port Saint Mary, is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain located on the banks of the Guadalete River in the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. , the c ...

, near Cadiz. Later, he studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

and

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

at the

University of Seville The University of Seville (''Universidad de Sevilla'') is a university in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. Founded under the name of ''Colegio Santa María de Jesús'' in 1505, in 2022 it has a student body of 57,214,U-Ranking Universidades español ...

, but he soon discovered that his talents were better used for writing. He then dedicated himself to literature, under the influence of

Rubén Darío Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (18 January 1867 – 6 February 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 French symbolism. He published his first two books at the age of eighteen, in 1900. The death of his father the same year devastated him, and a resulting depression led to his being sent first to France, where he had an affair with his doctor's wife, and then to a sanatorium in Madrid staffed by novice nuns, where he lived from 1901 to 1903. In about 1904 Jiménez was hoodwinked by some Peruvians. José Gálvez, Carlos Rodríguez Hübner and a 15 year old Maria Isabel Sanchez-Concha created a fictional woman named Georgina Hübner and they started a correspondence with the poet. José and Carlos were hoping to get access to his writing and Sanchez-Concha did the writing. Jiménez fell in love with their creation and planned to travel to Peru to meet the young woman. The plan was only aborted by a telegram they arranged via the Spanish consul to the poet, giving him the fabricated news of Georgina's death.

Career

He was among the contributors of the Madrid-based avant-garde magazine '' Prometeo'' between 1908 and 1912. In 1911 and 1912, he wrote many erotic poems depicting romps with numerous women in numerous locales. Some of them alluded to sex with novices who were nurses. Eventually, apparently, their mother superior discovered the activity and expelled him, although it is not known whether the sexual activity described in his poems actually occurred. The main subjects of many of his other poems were music and color, which, at times, he compared to love or lust. He suffered a mental breakdown and depression, so he stayed hospitalised in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. He celebrated his home region in his prose poem about a writer and his donkey called '' Platero and I'' (1914). In 1916 he and Spanish-born writer and poet Zenobia Camprubí were married in the United States. Zenobia became his indispensable companion and collaborator. Upon the outbreak of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, he and Zenobia went into exile in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, where he settled in 1946. Jiménez was hospitalized for eight months due to another deep depression. He later became a Professor of Spanish Language and Literature at the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Universidad de Puerto Rico;'' often shortened to UPR) is the main List of state and territorial universities in the United States, public university system in the Commonwealth (U.S. i ...

. His literary influence on Puerto Rican writers strongly marks the works of

Giannina Braschi Giannina Braschi (born February 5, 1953) is a Puerto Rican poet, novelist, dramatist, and scholar. Her notable works include '' Empire of Dreams'' (1988), '' Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998), '' United States of Banana'' (2011), and '' Putinoika'' (2024). ...

René Marqués René Marqués (October 4, 1919 – March 22, 1979) was a Puerto Rican people, Puerto Rican short story writer and playwright. Early years Marqués was born, raised and educated in the city of Arecibo. He developed an interest in writing at a ...

, Aurora de Albornoz, and Manuel Ramos Otero. The university named a building on campus and a writing program in his honor. He was also a professor at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

Coral Gables, Florida Coral Gables is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida and is located southwest of Greater Downtown Miami, Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

. While living in Coral Gables he wrote "Romances de Coral Gables". In addition, he was a professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

, which renamed Jimenez Hall for him in 1981. Although he was primarily a poet, Jiménez' prose work '' Platero y yo'' (1917; "Platero and I"; Platero is a donkey) sold well in Latin America and in translation won him popularity in the USA. He also collaborated with his wife in the translation of the Irish playwright

John Millington Synge Edmund John Millington Synge (; 16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909), popularly known as J. M. Synge, was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, essayist, and collector of folklores. As an important driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, Ir ...

's '' Riders to the Sea'' (1920). His poetic output during his life was immense. Among his better known works are: * ''Sonetos espirituales 1914–1916'' (1916; “Spiritual Sonnets, 1914–15”) * ''Piedra y cielo'' (1919; “Stones and Sky”) * ''Poesía en verso'', 1917–1923 (1923; “Poetry in Verse”) * ''Poesía en prosa y verso'' (1932; “Poetry in Prose and Verse”) * ''Voces de mi copla'' (1945; “Voices of My Song”), and * ''Animal de fondo'' (1947; “Animal at Bottom”). Both Jiménez and Camprubí used a simplified

Spanish orthography Spanish orthography is the orthography used in the Spanish language. The alphabet uses the Latin script. The spelling is fairly phonemic orthography, phonemic, especially in comparison to more opaque orthographies like English orthography, Engl ...

different from the RAE standard. A collection of 300 poems (1903–53) in English translation by Eloise Roach was published in 1962.

Later life and death

In 1956, he received the

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

; two days later, his wife died of ovarian cancer. Jiménez never recovered from the emotional devastation, and he died two years afterwards, on 29 May 1958, in the same clinic where his wife had died. Both are buried in his hometown of Moguer, Spain.

In popular culture

*A quotation from Jiménez, "If they give you ruled paper, write the other way," is the epigraph to

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury ( ; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, Horror fiction, horr ...

's novel ''

Fahrenheit 451 ''Fahrenheit 451'' is a 1953 Dystopian fiction, dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury. It presents a future American society where books have been outlawed and "firemen" Book burning, burn any that are found. The novel follows in the ...

'' (1953). *The same quotation used in Fahrenheit 451 is used in '' The Lovely Bones'' (2002) by Alice Sebold. * In 1968, the Spanish film director Alfredo Castellón adapted Jiménez's novel '' Platero and I'' into a movie by the same title. * The

Spanglish Spanglish (a blend of the words "Spanish" and "English") is any language variety (such as a contact dialect, hybrid language, pidgin, or creole language) that results from conversationally combining Spanish and English. The term is mostly u ...

novel '' Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998) by the Puerto Rican author

features a scene in which poets and artists debate Jiménez's genius versus that of other Spanish-language poets

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, ...

, Luis de Góngora,

Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936) was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27, a g ...

, and Julia de Burgos. * A rock band in Spain is named Platero y Tú after Jiménez's novel

Streets named after Jiménez

Several streets have been named after Jiménez, including one in

, one in

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, and one in

Quintanar de la Orden Quintanar de la Orden is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain located in the Toledo (province), province of Toledo, Castilla–La Mancha. The municipality spans across a total area of 87.87 km2 and, as of 1 January 2023, the municipalit ...

, Toledo.

Published works (original editions)

* '' I Am Not I''

Published works (translations)

* ''Books of Love: The Lost Poems of Juan Ramon Jimenez.'' Athens:Kinchafoonee Creek Press, 2022.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* de Albornoz, Aurora, ed. 1980. ''Juan Ramón Jiménez''. Madrid: Taurus. * Blasco, F. J. 1982. ''La Poética de Juan Ramón Jiménez. Desarrollo, contexto y sistema''. Salamanca. * Campoamor González, Antonio. 1976. ''Vida y poesía de Juan Ramón Jiménez''. Madrid: Sedmay. * Campoamor González, Antonio. 1982. ''Bibliografía general de Juan Ramón Jiménez''. Madrid: Taurus. *El Cultural. 14 Jun 2007
Los poemas eróticos de Juan Ramon Jiménez. Aparece Libros de amor. Conoce los poemas del JRJ más lujurioso
*Diario de Córdoba. 6 Jan 2007
´Libros de amor´ descubre a un Juan Ramón Jiménez erótico
* Díez-Canedo, E. 1944. ''Juan Ramón Jiménez en su obra''. México City. *Guardian (London). 19 Jun 2007
My sex in the convent - by Nobel poet
* Font, María T. 1973. ''Espacio: autobiografía lírica de Juan Ramón Jiménez''. Madrid. * Guerrero Ruiz, J . 1961. ''Juan Ramón de viva voz''. Madrid. * Gullón, R. 1958. ''Conversaciones con Juan Ramón Jiménez''. Madrid. * Jensen, Julio, 2012
The Poetry of Juan Ramón Jiménez. An Example of Modern Subjectivity
Copenhagen. * Juliá, M. 1989. ''El universo de Juan Ramón Jiménez''. Madrid. * Olson, P.R. 1967. ''Circle of Paradox: time and essence in the poetry of Juan Ramon Jimenez''. Baltimore. * Palau de Nemes, G. 1974. ''Vida y obra de Juan Ramón Jiménez''. 2/e. 2 v. Madrid: Gredos. * Predmore, Michael P. 1966. ''La obra en prosa de Juan Ramón Jiménez''. Madrid: Gredos. * Salgado, M. A. 1968. ''El arte polifacético de las caricaturas líricas juanramonianas''. Madrid.

External links

* * *
Fundacion Casa-Museo Zenobia y Juan Ramón Jiménez

* * *
Juan Ramon Jimenez recorded at the Library of Congress for the Hispanic Division’s audio literary archive on May 17, 1947, Sept. 29, and Dec. 8, 1949
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jimenez, Juan Ramon 1881 births 1958 deaths People from the Province of Huelva Writers from San Juan, Puerto Rico Nobel laureates in Literature Spanish Nobel laureates Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in the United States University of Seville alumni University of Maryland, College Park faculty Spanish male poets 20th-century Spanish poets Translators of Rabindranath Tagore People of Moguer