Early life

Benet was born in 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...

. At the start of the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

, his father died, and he left for San Sebastian with his family to find refuge. They stayed there until 1939, when they returned to the capital. In 1944, he completed his high school education and in 1948 he entered into the School of Civil Engineering

Civil engineering

Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...

 in Madrid. He frequented the discussion group at Café Gijón, where he met the man who would become his best friend, Luis Martín Santos

Luis Martín Santos

Luis Martín-Santos Ribera was a Spanish psychiatrist and author of Tiempo de silencio , considered one of the greatest Spanish novels of the twentieth century.-Biography:...

, among other authors of that time.

In 1953, still a student, he started an engineering internship in Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 and published his first play, Max, in which one can see the beginnings of a singular literary style that distances itself from the popular themes of Spanish literature

Spanish literature

Spanish literature generally refers to literature written in the Spanish language within the territory that presently constitutes the state of Spain...

 of that era. Theatrical director Carlos Nuevo said that Max is "a dream, a nightmare. It is the projection of all the fears, contradictions, conditionings, meannesses, nobilities of all those of that in one way we aspire to realize in a work of art."

In 1954, Benet finished his engineering degree, and in the following year he married. After completing several works in Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, he moved to Ponferrada

Ponferrada

Ponferrada is a city in the province of León, Castile and León, Spain. It lies on the Sil River, a tributary of the river Miño, in the El Bierzo valley, completely surrounded by mountains. It is the last major town along the French route of the Way of St. James before it reaches its destination...

 in Léon

León (province)

León is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León.About one quarter of its population of 500,200 lives in the capital, León. The weather is cold and dry during the winter....

, and after to Oviedo

Oviedo

Oviedo is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city....

, for work-related reasons.

First stage

In 1961, Benet published You Will Never Amount to Anything (Nunca llegarás a nada), his first novel.

In 1966, he returned to Madrid, and in 1968 he published Return to Región (Volverás a Región), at the same time that he built the reservoir of Porma. There were already those qualifying the work of Benet as "incorrect literature," and only a few contemporary authors, such as Pere Gimferrer, who realized that one of the great authors of the Spanish narrative had been born. In 1967, Benet obtained the Biblioteca Breve Prize for his work, A meditation (Una meditación).

He wrote Inspiration and style (La inspiración y el estilo), an essay where he expounded his strong beliefs on art and literature, an art that is fundamentally about style more than about telling stories or making arguments.

His literary output increased between 1970 and 1973, as he published A meditation, A Winter Journey (Un viaje de invierno, completing the trilogy that began with Return to Región), Puerta de tierra, Teatro, and Una tumba, La otra casa de Mazón and Sub rosa.

Second stage

In 1974, his wife, Nuria Jordana, died, causing an involuntary break in Benet's works and in his personal relationships. More introverted than ever, Benet didn't publish another work until 1976's What Was the Civil War (Qué fue la guerra civil). Until the 1980s he would travel extensively, including trips to China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 and to various conferences in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

In 1980, he published one of his greatest works, Saul Before Samuel (Saúl ante Samuel), a complex work that critics called brilliant. He was a finalist for the Planeta Prize in 1980 with his work El aire de un crimen, losing to Volaverunt by Antonio Larreta. Three years after, the first volume of Rusty lances (Herrumbrosas lanzas), which he continued in 1985 and 1986.

While he was building his own engineering firm, he published the novel In the Penumbra (En la penumbra) in 1989. In 1990 and 1991, he published his final two works, the essay The Construction of the Tower of Babel (La construcción de la torre de Babel) and The Knight of Saxony (El caballero de Sajonia). He left the fourth volume of Rusty Lances unfinished at his death on January 5, 1993.

Legacy

In the 1980s, there began a very intense debate on his works that would continue after his death. The singular character of his works set his style apart from the narrativism of Spanish authors of the second half of the 20th century. The influence of William Faulkner

William Faulkner

William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...

 is evident in all of his works.

Recognized today as one of the greatest Spanish writers of the 20th century, the Times on January 18, 1993, compared him with France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

's Marcel Proust

Marcel Proust

Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

's James Joyce

James Joyce

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...

, and the U.S. writer Faulkner.

External links

• James Kirkup. Obituary: Juan Benet, The Independent
  The Independent
  The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
  
  , 8 January 1993; consulted: 9 September 2011