Rafael Guillén (27 April 1933 – 4 May 2023) was a Spanish poet, a prominent member of the

Generation of '50 The Generation of '50 () relates to a Spanish literary movement of the mid-20th century, also known as the children of the civil war, and relates to writers born around the 1920s and published around the 1950s. They engendered a new lyrical preoc ...

. Awarded Spain's National Poetry Award for ''Los estados transparentes'' in 1994, he was one of the most important authors of his generation. He had a long artistic career and among his merits is the fact of helping the recovery of Andalusian poetic culture after the devastation 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 ...

(1936–1939). The neoclassical influence that weighed on other members of his generation is noticeable in his early works. However, the attraction to popular themes and airs (''Cancionero-guía para andar por el aire de Granada'', 1962) soon took on an evolution that manifested itself, already in the 1960s, abandoning the rigidity of traditional metrics. With the publication of ''Moheda'' (1979), it surprises with its uninhibited and innovative style in syntax. His themes were not light: love and eroticism are often mixed with elegy for the inevitable degradation of the passage of time, expressed in verses permeated with a cadenced musical phrasing. His prose work is divided between travel narratives, autobiography, essays, lectures and articles. Guillén died from a stroke on 4 May 2023, at the age of 90.

Selected bibliography

* ''Antes de la esperanza'' (1956) * ''Río de Dios'' (Granada, 1957) * ''Cancionero-guía para andar por el aire de Granada'' (Granada, 1962, 1970 and 1993) * ''Moheda'' (Málaga, 1979) * ''Poesía completa'' (1988) * ''Los estados transparentes'' (1993 and 1998) * ''La configuración de lo perdido'' (1995) * ''I'm Speaking'', selected poems. Northwestern University Press (Evanston, USA, 2001). English translation by Sandy McKinney. * ''Estado de palabra'' (2003) * ''Signos en el polvo'' (2005) * ''Obras completas'' (Granada, 2010) * ''Balada en tres tiempos (para contrabajo y frases cotidianas)''. Printed music by Xavier Astor. Diputación de Granada (Granada, 2013). * ''El otro lado de la niebla'', Editorial Salto de Página (Madrid, 2013). * ''El centro del silencio''. ''Selección de poemas (1956–2013)''. Entorno Gráfico Ediciones (Granada, 2014). * ''Balada en tres tiempos (para saxofón y frases coloquiales)'', Visor Libros (Madrid, 2014). * ''The Alhambra. A Suite of Silences and of the Senses''. Photographs by Ángel Sánchez. English translation by Lawrence Bohme. Ediciones Miguel Sánchez (Granada, 2016). * ''Últimos poemas (Lo que nunca sabré decirte)'', Fundación José Manuel Lara (Sevilla, 2019).

Discography

* ''Los alrededores del tiempo'' (Granada, 2001). Anthology of poems written up to the year 2000. * ''Balada en tres tiempos para contrabajo y frases cotidianas'' (Barcelona, 2021). Nine pieces for poems and double bass by Rafael Guillén & Xavier Astor. Based on the book of the same name by both authors published in 2013. Fundación Omnia, DLB 9248-2021.La Fundación Omnia publica ‹Balada en tres tiempos›, el segundo disco de Rafael Guillén
Granada Hoy, 19 January 2022 (Omnia Foundation publishes ‹Balada en tres tiempos›, the second CD bei Rafael Guillén)

Notes

External links

Rafael Guillén's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guillen, Rafael 1933 births 2023 deaths Spanish poets Spanish male poets People from Granada