Tomás Borrás y Bermejo (10 February 1891,

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 ...

- 26 August 1976, Madrid) was a Spanish journalist, novelist and playwright.

Life and career

He attended the

Instituto San Isidro The Instituto de Enseñanza Secundaria San Isidro (IES San Isidro) is a co-educational day school for pupils from 12 to 18 years of age. It is located in the historical Calle de Toledo in Madrid, Spain. It is one of 66 secondary schools establis ...

, leading to a degree in law, but he practiced for only a short time before deciding to change careers; having been a writer since his youth. As a member of the

tertulia A ''tertulia'' (, ; ; ) is a social gathering with literary or artistic overtones, especially in Iberian Peninsula, Iberia or in Spanish America. Tertulia also means an informal meeting of people to talk about current affairs, arts, etc. The word ...

at the , he appears in a famous group portrait by

José Gutiérrez Solana José Romano Gutiérrez-Solana y Gutiérrez-Solana (28 February 1886, Madrid – 24 June 1945, Madrid) was a Spanish painter, engraver, and author. He usually signed his paintings as "J. Solana". Generally, he is considered to be an Expressio ...

. He was married to the tonadillera and cupletista, Aurora Jaufrett, who performed under the name "". Eventually, he became a journalist, beginning as a collaborator at the informal daily journal, , during the dictatorship of

Primo de Rivera Primo de Rivera is a Spanish family prominent in politics of the 19th and 20th centuries: *Fernando Primo de Rivera (1831–1921), Spanish politician and soldier *Miguel Primo de Rivera (1870–1930), nephew of Fernando, military officer and dictat ...

, then took a position with the daily ''

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

'' and its associated magazine, ''

Blanco y Negro Blanco y Negro Records (Spanish: "White and Black"), a subsidiary of WEA Records Ltd., was established in 1983 by Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records and Mike Alway of él Records. Michel Duval of Les Disques du Crépuscule was also involve ...

''. Later, he was a participant in the

Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista (, JONS) was a nationalist and fascist movement in 1930s Spain. In 1934, it merged with the Falange Española into the Falange Española de las JONS. History JONS was founded on 10 October 1931 as the f ...

(JONS), which became the

Falange Falange () is the name of a political party whose ideology is Falangism. Falange primarily refers to: * Falange Española, a Spanish political party active 1933–1934, it merged with the Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista (JONS) * Falange ...

. During the

Francoist Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

dictatorship, he worked for publications such as ''

Vértice ''Vértice'' () was a monthly Falangist magazine published in Spain, between 1937 and 1946. Its subtitle was ''Revista nacional de la Falange''. From late 1937 its subtitle was redesigned as ''Revista nacional de Falange Española Tradicionalista ...

'', subsequently becoming the Editor of the dailies, ' from

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

and ', from

Tangiers Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Morocco. Many c ...

. He also held several minor political positions. In 1953, he was named the Cronista Oficial de la Villa de Madrid (Official Chronicler of Madrid). He was also awarded the Premio Nacional de Periodismo and the . Shortly after his death, the street where he had lived for much of his life was renamed for him. The

Círculo de Bellas Artes The Círculo de Bellas Artes is a private, non-profit, cultural organization that was founded in 1880. Its building, located in Madrid, Spain, was declared ''Bien de Interés Cultural'' in 1981. The CBA is a major multidisciplinary centre with one ...

placed a commemorative plaque at the corner.

Works

He was very prolific; producing numerous novels and plays in addition to his journalistic work. He also had a fondness for verses and biographies. Most of his work is in the

Modernismo ''Modernismo'' is a literary movement that took place primarily during the end of the nineteenth and early 20th century in the Spanish-speaking world, best exemplified by Rubén Darío, who is known as the father of ''modernismo''. The term ''m ...

style and he was deeply involved in one of the most innovative theatrical companies of the time, the , under the direction of

Gregorio Martínez Sierra Gregorio Martínez Sierra (6 May 1881 – 1 October 1947) was a Spanish writer, poet, dramatist, and theatre director, a key figure in the revival of the Spanish theatrical avant-garde in the early twentieth century. Biography Firstborn son o ...

. Of particular note was ''El sapo enamorado'' (The Frog in Love), which preimiered in 1916, with music by

Pablo Luna Pablo Luna Carné (May 21, 1879 Alhama de Aragón – January 28, 1942 Madrid) was a Spanish composer.Vincent J. Cincotta Zarzuela, the Spanish lyric theatre: a complete reference 2003 "Along with Amadeo Vives, Jose Serrano, Francisco Alonso and ...

and decorations by . His literary works include a collection of 203 very short stories (what would now be called "

flash fiction Flash fiction is a brief fictional narrative that still offers character and plot development. Identified varieties, many of them defined by word count, include the For sale: baby shoes, never worn, six-word story; the 280-character story (also kn ...

") entitled ''Cuentos gnómicos'' ( Gnomic Tales), which were published in thirteen volumes between 1940 and 1969. Sixty-four of the tales were selected for a later edition, published in 2013. His radio drama, ''Todos los ruidos de aquel día'' (All the Noises of that Day), was broadcast on on April 24, 1931, ten days after the proclamation of the Second Republic. It is considered to be one of the first radio plays in which sound effects served as a fundamental presence.Pedro Barea
''70 años de “Todos los ruidos de aquel día” de Tomás Borrás''
2001.

References

External links

* Enrique Domínguez Millán, , ''La Tribuna de Cuenca'', 24 April 2009.
''El 200 de Beumarchais''
artícle in ''ABC'', 5 February 1932.

artícle in ''ABC'', 22 January 1936. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tomas Borras 1891 births 1976 deaths Spanish novelists Spanish dramatists and playwrights Spanish Falangists Writers from Madrid Journalists from Madrid 20th-century Spanish journalists People educated at Instituto San Isidro