Emilio García Gómez
Encyclopedia
Emilio García Gómez, 1st Count of Alixares (4 June 1905 – 31 May 1995) was a Spanish
Arabist, literary historian and critic, whose talent as a poet enriched his many translations from Arabic
.
classes taught by Prof. Miguel Asín Palacios at the Complutense University of Madrid
. He had been a student of law. In his Arabic studies he was mentored by the professors Julián Ribera y Tarragó, and by Asín.
Recipient of a scholarship to Cairo
he studied there under Prof. Ahmad Zaki Pasha
and the Egyptian writer Taha Husayn. His doctoral thesis on the Alexander legend
in the Maghrib
won the Fastenrath Prize. In 1930 he became Professor of Arabic at the University of Granada
, until he returned to Madrid
in 1944.
While living in Granada
he had become friends with Manuel de Falla
the classical music composer and with Federico García Lorca
the poet, both aficionados of Flamenco
. Inspired by the translations of Gómez, García Lorca wrote his Diván de Tamarit. Here, the poet was not following in imitation of a traditional Arabic verse but rather paying it contemporary homage, García Gómez favorably observed.
He was again in Egypt
during 1947. The following year García Gómez spent in Damascus
, Syria
, where he was appointed to the Arabic Academy [Al-Majma' Al-Ilmi Al-Arabi], a notable distinction for a westerner. He gave lectures at the University of Cairo in 1951 during celebrations on its silver jubilee.
Later, he served as the Spanish
Ambassador
to various States in the Middle East, namely, Iraq
(Baghdad
), Lebanon
(Beirut
), and Turkey
(Ankara
), as well as to Afghanistan
, during the years 1958 to 1969.
Throughout his career, Emilio García Gómez was widely admired. He would receive several prestigious academic and literary awards. He lived until he reached the age of ninety.
On 7 October 1994 García Gómez was raised into the Spanish nobility
by King Juan Carlos I
and received the hereditary title conde de los Alixares (English: Count of Alixares). García Gómez died in 1995, and since he had no successors his title became extinct.
, acting as a literary historian
and critic
as well as translator
. As a Spanish Arabist, of course, he interpret Muslim culture generally. A. J. Arberry
praised the "wide scholarship and literary judgement that has characterized Prof. Gómez's numerous contributions to Islamic studies
." In a series of articles published over many years, he developed a theory of the origin and development of the Andaluz Arabic muwashshahat
genre of popular strophic verse, which is often sung. It is said to be related to the mozarabic jarchas (Arabic kharja
) poetic form.
His many translations of Arabic poetry were received with acclaim by the literary public, as well as by many Spanish poets
, including Federico García Lorca
, and artists, e.g., Manuel de Falla
. Particular mention may be made of his translation of Ibn Said al-Maghribi's 1243 anthology of poetry, the Pennants of the Champions, and of later translation of and commentary on the Andalusian poet and scholar Ibn Hazm
(994-1064). García Gómez also published a collection of his literary essays, Silla del Moro y nuevas escenas andaluzas, which drew on his experiences while living in Granada
during the early thirties.
Assisting two of his mentor professors, García Gómez edited shorter, more popular versions (though still rigorous) of the well-known tomes by Julián Ribera y Tarragó and Miguel Asín Palacios Later, he and Prof. Rafael Lapesa
produced several articles on their teacher and elder Miguel Asín Palacios.
After returning from his travels to the Middle East in the late 1940s and early 1950s, he published (under the title Los Días) his translation of the Egyptian writer Taha Husayn's recent autobiographical work Al-Ayyam. In 1955 he translated another modern work of Arabic literature, about an Egyptian rural prosecutor.
Though his main academic work was in Arabic poetry, he also approached the social issues involved in understanding the Islamic presence in medieval Spain. García Gómez collaborated with the French historian Évariste Lévi-Provençal
in editing and translating an anonymous chronicle written in medieval Córdoba
when under the rule of the Caliph 'Abd al-Rahman III. He also translated into Spanish Lévi-Provençal's well known history of Muslim Spain. For the first volume he wrote a prologue commenting on the significance of the Muslim period
in Spanish history, where he refers approvingly to the work of Américo Castro
.
In his later years García Gómez labored on the various facets of the literary events surrounding the Alhambra
, an architectural gem, site of the government offices and the residence of the Muslim rulers of Granada
, where the Islamic presence lingered the longest.
Collaborations
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
Arabist, literary historian and critic, whose talent as a poet enriched his many translations from Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
.
Life
Emilio García Gómez decided to pursue Arabic as a career after attending Arabic languageArabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
classes taught by Prof. Miguel Asín Palacios at the Complutense University of Madrid
Complutense University of Madrid
The Complutense University of Madrid is a university in Madrid, and one of the oldest universities in the world. It is located on a sprawling campus that occupies the entirety of the Ciudad Universitaria district of Madrid, with annexes in the district of Somosaguas in the neighboring city of...
. He had been a student of law. In his Arabic studies he was mentored by the professors Julián Ribera y Tarragó, and by Asín.
Recipient of a scholarship to Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
he studied there under Prof. Ahmad Zaki Pasha
Ahmad Zaki Pasha
Ahmad Zaki Pasha was an Egyptian philologist, sometimes called the Dean of Arabism , and longtime secretary of the Egyptian Cabinet.-Civil service:...
and the Egyptian writer Taha Husayn. His doctoral thesis on the Alexander legend
Alexander Romance
Alexander romance is any of several collections of legends concerning the mythical exploits of Alexander the Great. The earliest version is in Greek, dating to the 3rd century. Several late manuscripts attribute the work to Alexander's court historian Callisthenes, but the historical figure died...
in the Maghrib
Maghreb
The Maghreb is the region of Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. It includes five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara...
won the Fastenrath Prize. In 1930 he became Professor of Arabic at the University of Granada
University of Granada
The University of Granada is a public university located in Granada, Spain that enrolls approximately 80,000 students. The university also has campuses in Ceuta and Melilla. Every year, over 2,000 European students enroll in the UGR through the Erasmus Programme, making it the most popular...
, until he returned to Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
in 1944.
While living in Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
he had become friends with Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish Andalusian composer of classical music. With Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century....
the classical music composer and with Federico García Lorca
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
the poet, both aficionados of Flamenco
Flamenco
Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....
. Inspired by the translations of Gómez, García Lorca wrote his Diván de Tamarit. Here, the poet was not following in imitation of a traditional Arabic verse but rather paying it contemporary homage, García Gómez favorably observed.
He was again in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
during 1947. The following year García Gómez spent in Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, where he was appointed to the Arabic Academy [Al-Majma' Al-Ilmi Al-Arabi], a notable distinction for a westerner. He gave lectures at the University of Cairo in 1951 during celebrations on its silver jubilee.
Later, he served as the Spanish
Diplomatic missions of Spain
This is a list of diplomatic missions of Spain, excluding honorary consulates. Spain has a large global diplomatic presence, with a netwok of 118 embassies.- Europe :** Tirana ** Andorra la Vella ** Vienna...
Ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to various States in the Middle East, namely, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
(Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
), Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
(Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
), and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
(Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
), as well as to Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, during the years 1958 to 1969.
Throughout his career, Emilio García Gómez was widely admired. He would receive several prestigious academic and literary awards. He lived until he reached the age of ninety.
On 7 October 1994 García Gómez was raised into the Spanish nobility
Spanish nobility
Spanish nobles are persons who possess the legal status of hereditary nobility according to the laws and traditions of the Spanish monarchy. A system of titles and honours of Spain and of the former kingdoms that constitute it comprise the Spanish nobility...
by King Juan Carlos I
Juan Carlos I of Spain
Juan Carlos I |Italy]]) is the reigning King of Spain.On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated king according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. Spain had no monarch for 38 years in 1969 when Franco named Juan Carlos as the...
and received the hereditary title conde de los Alixares (English: Count of Alixares). García Gómez died in 1995, and since he had no successors his title became extinct.
Works
A major focus of his academic work was Arabic poetryArabic poetry
Arabic poetry is the earliest form of Arabic literature. Present knowledge of poetry in Arabic dates from the 6th century, but oral poetry is believed to predate that. Arabic poetry is categorized into two main types, rhymed, or measured, and prose, with the former greatly preceding the latter...
, acting as a literary historian
History of literature
The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry which attempts to provide entertainment, enlightenment, or instruction to the reader/hearer/observer, as well as the development of the literary techniques used in the communication of these pieces. Not all...
and critic
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
as well as translator
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
. As a Spanish Arabist, of course, he interpret Muslim culture generally. A. J. Arberry
Arthur John Arberry
Arthur John Arberry was a respected British orientalist. A most prolific scholar of Arabic, Persian, and Islamic studies, he was educated at Portsmouth Grammar School and Pembroke College, Cambridge...
praised the "wide scholarship and literary judgement that has characterized Prof. Gómez's numerous contributions to Islamic studies
Islamic studies
In a Muslim context, Islamic studies can be an umbrella term for all virtually all of academia, both originally researched and as defined by the Islamization of knowledge...
." In a series of articles published over many years, he developed a theory of the origin and development of the Andaluz Arabic muwashshahat
Muwashshah
Muwashshah or muwaššaḥ can mean:...
genre of popular strophic verse, which is often sung. It is said to be related to the mozarabic jarchas (Arabic kharja
Kharja
The kharja , also known as jarcha in Spanish, is the final refrain of a muwashshah, a lyric genre of Al-Andalus written in Classical Arabic or Hebrew....
) poetic form.
His many translations of Arabic poetry were received with acclaim by the literary public, as well as by many Spanish poets
Spanish poetry
Spanish poetry is the poetic tradition of Spain. It may include elements of Spanish literature, and literatures written in languages of Spain other than Castilian, such as Catalan literature....
, including Federico García Lorca
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
, and artists, e.g., Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish Andalusian composer of classical music. With Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century....
. Particular mention may be made of his translation of Ibn Said al-Maghribi's 1243 anthology of poetry, the Pennants of the Champions, and of later translation of and commentary on the Andalusian poet and scholar Ibn Hazm
Ibn Hazm
Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm ) was an Andalusian philosopher, litterateur, psychologist, historian, jurist and theologian born in Córdoba, present-day Spain...
(994-1064). García Gómez also published a collection of his literary essays, Silla del Moro y nuevas escenas andaluzas, which drew on his experiences while living in Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
during the early thirties.
Assisting two of his mentor professors, García Gómez edited shorter, more popular versions (though still rigorous) of the well-known tomes by Julián Ribera y Tarragó and Miguel Asín Palacios Later, he and Prof. Rafael Lapesa
Rafael Lapesa
Rafael Lapesa Melgar was a Spanish philologist, a historian of language and of Spanish literature.-Biography:Born in Valencia, Spain, February 8, 1908, his family moved to Madrid when he was eight. By 1930 he had earned his professorship for his work on the medieval dialect of western Asturias...
produced several articles on their teacher and elder Miguel Asín Palacios.
After returning from his travels to the Middle East in the late 1940s and early 1950s, he published (under the title Los Días) his translation of the Egyptian writer Taha Husayn's recent autobiographical work Al-Ayyam. In 1955 he translated another modern work of Arabic literature, about an Egyptian rural prosecutor.
Though his main academic work was in Arabic poetry, he also approached the social issues involved in understanding the Islamic presence in medieval Spain. García Gómez collaborated with the French historian Évariste Lévi-Provençal
Évariste Lévi-Provençal
Évariste Lévi-Provençal was a French medievalist, orientalist, Arabist, and historian of Islam.Born 4 January 1894 in Constantine, French Algeria, as Makhlóuf Evariste Levi, his name already revealing Gallicized tendencies in his North-African Jewish family...
in editing and translating an anonymous chronicle written in medieval Córdoba
Caliphate of Córdoba
The Caliphate of Córdoba ruled the Iberian peninsula and part of North Africa, from the city of Córdoba, from 929 to 1031. This period was characterized by remarkable success in trade and culture; many of the masterpieces of Islamic Iberia were constructed in this period, including the famous...
when under the rule of the Caliph 'Abd al-Rahman III. He also translated into Spanish Lévi-Provençal's well known history of Muslim Spain. For the first volume he wrote a prologue commenting on the significance of the Muslim period
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
in Spanish history, where he refers approvingly to the work of Américo Castro
Americo Castro
Américo Castro y Quesada was a Spanish cultural historian, philologist, and literary critic who challenged some of the prevailing notions of Spanish identity, raising heated controversy with his conclusions that Spaniards didn't become the distinct group they are today until after the Islamic...
.
In his later years García Gómez labored on the various facets of the literary events surrounding the Alhambra
Alhambra
The Alhambra , the complete form of which was Calat Alhambra , is a palace and fortress complex located in the Granada, Andalusia, Spain...
, an architectural gem, site of the government offices and the residence of the Muslim rulers of Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
, where the Islamic presence lingered the longest.
Selected publications
- Un texto árabe occidental de la leyenda de Alejandro (Madrid 1929).
- Poemas arábigoandaluces (Madrid 1930): a translation of Ibn Said's 13th century Pennants of the Champions. Translated into English by Translated into Arabic by Hussein Mones as Ash-Shi'r al-Andalusi (Cairo 2nd ed. 1956).
- Qasidas de Andalucía, puestas en verso castellano (Madrid 1940).
- Cinco poetas musulmanes (Madrid 1945).
- El collar de la poloma, tratado sobre el amor y los amantes de Ibn Hazm de Cordoba (Madrid 1952), prologue by José Ortega y GassetJosé Ortega y GassetJosé Ortega y Gasset was a Spanish liberal philosopher and essayist working during the first half of the 20th century while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism and dictatorship. He was, along with Nietzsche, a proponent of the idea of perspectivism.-Biography:José Ortega y Gasset was...
. - Poesía arábigoandaluza, breve síntesis histórica (Madrid 1952).
- Silla del moro y nuevas escenas andaluzas (Madrid 1948, reprint Buenos Aires, Espasa-Calpe, 1954).
- Las jarchas romances de la serie árabe en su marco (Madrid 1965).
- Poemas árabes en los muros y fuentes de la Alhambra (Madrid 1985).
- Poesías / Ibn Al-ZaqqāqIbn al-ZaqqaqFor the Maliki scholar see Ali ibn Qasim al-Zaqqaq.Ali ibn Attiya ibn al-Zaqqaq was one of the great poets of Al-Andalus during the reign of the Almoravids...
; edición y traducción en verso [del árabe] (Madrid 1986). - (Madrid 1988).
Collaborations
- Una crónica anónima de 'Abd al-Rahman III al-Nasir (Madrid-Granada 1950), co-authored with Évariste Lévi-ProvençalÉvariste Lévi-ProvençalÉvariste Lévi-Provençal was a French medievalist, orientalist, Arabist, and historian of Islam.Born 4 January 1894 in Constantine, French Algeria, as Makhlóuf Evariste Levi, his name already revealing Gallicized tendencies in his North-African Jewish family...
. - En el centario del nacimiento de don Miguel Asín (Madrid: CSIC 1969), with Rafael LapesaRafael LapesaRafael Lapesa Melgar was a Spanish philologist, a historian of language and of Spanish literature.-Biography:Born in Valencia, Spain, February 8, 1908, his family moved to Madrid when he was eight. By 1930 he had earned his professorship for his work on the medieval dialect of western Asturias...
; also in the journal Al Andalus (1969).
See also
- Arabic PoetryArabic poetryArabic poetry is the earliest form of Arabic literature. Present knowledge of poetry in Arabic dates from the 6th century, but oral poetry is believed to predate that. Arabic poetry is categorized into two main types, rhymed, or measured, and prose, with the former greatly preceding the latter...
- Miguel Asín Palacios
- Ramón Menéndez PidalRamón Menéndez PidalRamón Menéndez Pidal was a Spanish philologist and historian. He worked extensively on the history of the Spanish language and Spanish folklore and folk poetry. One of his main topics was the history and legend of The Cid....
- Federico García LorcaFederico García LorcaFederico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
- Manuel de FallaManuel de FallaManuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish Andalusian composer of classical music. With Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century....
- James T. MonroeJames T. MonroeJames T. Monroe is an American scholar. He is emeritus professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Berkeley, focusing on Classical Arabic Literature and Hispano-Arabic Literature...