Miguel Delibes
Encyclopedia
Miguel Delibes Setién was a Spanish novelist, journalist and newspaper editor. From 1975 until his death, he was a member of the Royal Spanish Academy, where he occupied chair "e". He studied commerce and law and began his career as a columnist
and later journalist
at the El Norte de Castilla. He would later head this newspaper before gradually devoting himself exclusively to the novel.
As a connoisseur of the fauna
and flora
of his geographical region and someone passionate about hunting
and the rural
world, he could give form in his works to all matters relating to Castile
and hunting from the perspective of an urban person who had not lost touch with that world.
He was one of the leading figures of post-Civil War
Spanish literature
, for which he was recognized through many awards. However, his influence extends even further, since several of his works have been adapted for the theater or have been made into movies, which won awards at competitions such as the Cannes Film Festival
, and television shows.
He was marked deeply by the death of his wife in 1974. In 1998 he was diagnosed with colon cancer, an illness from which he would never fully recover. As a result his literary career came almost entirely to a halt. He fell into apathy and became virtually isolated until his death in 2010.
on October 17, 1920 as the third of eight children from the marriage between María Setién and Adolfo Delibes. His father was born and died in the Cantabria
n town Molledo, where Miguel spent many summers. The writer was named an adopted son of Valladolid in 2009. The name Delibes was of French
origin and came from Toulouse
. Miguel's grandfather was a brother of French composer Léo Delibes
and had moved to Spain
to participate in the construction of the railway in Cantabria
. His father was a professor of law at the School of Business of Valladolid. Miguel attended the College of Our Lady of Lourdes in Valladolid, where he finished high school in 1936. After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War
, he enlisted in 1938 as a volunteer in the Navy
of the nationalist forces. As a volunteer, he served on the cruiser
Canarias, which operated in the Mallorca
n region. In 1939, at the end of the war, he returned to his hometown and enrolled at the School of Commerce. After finishing his course, he started law studies. He further enrolled at the Escuela de Artes y Oficios (School of Arts and Crafts) of Valladolid. This helped to improve his artistic skills and to get in 1941 a contract as caricaturist of El Norte de Castilla, the leading newspaper of Valladolid and dean of the Spanish daily press.
From that moment the doors to journalism opened for the only 21-year old Delibes. He published his first newspaper article in El Norte de Castilla, entitled El deporte de la caza mayor (The sport of big game hunting) and obtained a professional journalist permit in 1943, following an intensive course in Madrid
. The newspaper appointed him to the post of editor of the film criticism section while he continued to make caricatures. Two years later, he became professor of Business Law, teaching at the School of Commerce. On April 23, 1946 he married Ángeles de Castro, who later became one of his greatest literary inspirations. They honeymooned in Molledo, Cantabria
.
for La sombra del ciprés es alargada which marked the beginning of his emergence on the Spanish literary scene. Shortly after, his daughter Ángeles was born. She would also become a known biologist and researcher. 1949 saw the publication of a new book Aún es de día (It is still daytime), that was subject to censorship. As professor of history at the College of Commerce he also had to face Francisco Franco
's censors when dealing in his classes with the victory of the "nationalists" in the Spanish Civil War (on whose side he himself had fought for three years as a volunteer). Half way through the year Germán, his third child was born. He would become professor of prehistory
at the University of Valladolid
.
In 1950 a new stage in the writer's literary career commenced: after suffering a bout of tuberculosis
, he published El camino (The road], his third novel. The novel tells the discovery of life and the experiences of a boy who moves from the countryside to the city. The work constituted his final consecration in the Spanish post-war narrative. That year saw the birth of his daughter Elisa, who became a graduate in Hispanic Studies and French.
In 1952 he was appointed deputy director of the newspaper El Norte de Castilla, so that his battles with the censors became increasingly direct and frequent. The writer entered a new phase in his life in which he would publish a new work virtually every year, namely: Mi idolatrado hijo Sisí (My adored son Sissi)'(1953), La partida (The Party) (1954), Diario de un cazador (Diary of a hunter) (1955) - Premio Nacional de Narrativa (National Prize for Fiction) - Un novelista descubre América (A novelist discovers America) (1956), Siestas con viento sur (Siestas with southern wind) 1957) - Premio Fastenrath (Fastenrath Award) -, Diario de un emigrante (Diary of an emigrant) (1958) and La hoja roja (The red leaf) (1959). This last novel was existentialist in content and deals with a photographer who recalls his life on the brink of his retirement. In 1956 his son Juan Delibes was born. He would become a biologist and fan of hunting and fishing like his father. In 1958 the writer was appointed director of El Norte de Castilla.
, where he visited several universities. The literary period opened with the publication of Viejas historias de Castilla la Vieja (Old tales of Old Castile) (1960) and Por esos mundos (In these worlds) (1961). In 1962, Delibes published Las ratas (The rats), one of his masterpieces. It constructs a story from a series of autobiographical anecdotes which evoke the rural environment of a Castilian village that has disappeared. The book won the Premio de la Crítica (Critics Award for Castilian fiction). In the same year Camino, the last of his seven children, would be born. Camino later graduated in Philosophy and Letters. Also in that year, the film version of El camino, directed by Ana Mariscal
, was shot. 1963 was a turbulent year: Delibes resigned on 8 June as director of El Norte de Castilla after several disagreements with Manuel Fraga, Minister of Information and Tourism. In 1964, he spent six months in the United States
as a visiting professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature of the University of Maryland
. After his return, he wrote and published Cinco horas con Mario (Five hours with Mario), which is considered his masterpiece. The novel is the monologue of a woman who holds a wake at her husband's body while she recounts the memories of her dead husband. Other books published upon his return from the US included USA y yo (The USA and I) and La milana. In the following years he visited Czechoslovakia
and published Parábola del náufrago (literally: The parable of the shipwreck, translated into English as The hedge by Frances M. Lopez-Morillas). Later in the 1970s, he followed up with several books about hunting, an activity about which he was passionate, and stories. Subsequently he published Un año de mi vida (A year of my life), a personal diary.
On February 1, 1973, Miguel Delibes was elected to the Royal Spanish Academy, occupying chair "e", vacant after the death of Julio Guillén. That same year, in December, he was also elected to the Hispanic Society of America. Before the end of the year, he published El príncipe destronado (The dethroned prince), his eleventh novel. On November 22, 1974 his wife, Angela de Castro, died at the age of 50. Her death profoundly marked the writer for the rest of his life.
Finally, on May 25, 1975 he delivered his inaugural address to the Royal Spanish Academy. Damaso Alonso
, one of the leading members of the Generation of '27
and then president of the Royal Spanish Academy handed the academic medal to Miguel Delibes His induction speech which dealt with The meaning of progress from my work was later edited by him as a book entitled Un mundo que agoniza (A world that is dying). That same year, his twelfth novel Las guerras de nuestros antepasados (The wars of our ancestors ) saw the light. In the next three years, he published several books on hunting and his only book about fishing, Mis amigas las truchas (My friends the trouts). The period closed with the publication of El disputado voto del señor Cayo (The contested vote of Mr Cayo), his thirteenth novel. In 1979, the stage adaptation of Five hours with Mario premiered in Spain starring the leading actress of Valladolid Herrera Lola. Due to its success, the play was revived several times. That year, he released Castilla, lo castellano, los castellanos (Castile, Castilian, the Castilians), a narrative anthology.
. In 1982 he received the Prince of Asturias Award
for Literature, sharing it with Gonzalo Torrente Ballester
; and he participated in the Congress "A literature for man", held in Reggio Emilia
, Italy
. During this decade he published books on hunting, stories, and collections of newspaper articles. In 1983 he was inducted as Doctor honoris causa by the University of Valladolid
. The following year, the Junta of Castile and León
awarded him the Literature Prize . In the same year, Miguel Delibes was named 'author of the year' by the Spanish booksellers who bestowed the Golden Book award on him in recognition. At the end of the year, The holy innocents was adapted into a film. The actors Alfredo Landa
and Francisco Rabal
received the actor's award at the Cannes Film Festival
for their roles in the movie. In 1985 he published El tesoro (The treasure) and received the Knight of Arts and Letters of the French Republic
. In the following years he was named a favorite son of Valladolid, he published Castilla habla (Castile speaks), got an honorary doctorate of the Complutense University of Madrid
and attended the theatrical adaptation of works like The red leaf and The wars of our ancestors. His 1987 book Madera de héroe (The stuff of heroes ) deals with the notion of heroism during the Spanish Civil War. It won the Premio Ciudad de Barcelona.
On May 7, 1990 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Saarland University
, (Germany). A year later, on May 30, 1991, the Ministry of Culture awarded him the National Prize for Spanish Literature. The University of Málaga
paid homage to him at the V Contemporary Spanish Literature Congress, under the title Miguel Delibes: the writer, his work and readers." That year, he published Señora de rojo sobre fondo gris (Lady in Red On a Grey Background), a clear evocation of his wife. In the following year the "Meeting with Miguel Delibes" was held in Madrid
. It was organized on the occasion of the National Prize for Spanish Literature and included a total of seven conferences and four round tables that dealt with the works of Miguel Delibes.
and Valladolid
and has as its objectives to promote the study of contemporary Spanish literature, make this literature known in the United States and disseminate it through new technologies.
Following the publication of The heretic his writing career came virtually to a halt, mainly because of the colon cancer that affected the writer during the final phase of writing his last great novel. He was largely incapacitated and fell victim to an ever greater apathy. His last book, La Tierra Herida (The wounded earth) published in 2005, takes the form of a dialogue between him and his eldest son, Miguel Delibes, the former head of Doñana national park. The book is a moving account of climate change. In 2007 he received the Quijote Prize for Spanish Literature, although in later years his literary production was practically nil, with just a few titles, such as De Valladolid (About Valladolid). Since he was incapacitated, Juan Carlos I and Sofia of Greece, the king and queen of Spain, personally visited the writer at his home in Valladolid after he was awarded the Vocento Prize for Human Values. He was recognized by his city with the creation of the Route of the Heretic based on his novel and the construction of the Centro Cultural Miguel Delibes, which is both a conservatory
and auditorium
as well as a convention center
.
The president of the autonomous community of Castile and León
gave him in November 2009 the Gold Medal of Castile and León in recognition of "his defense of Castilian" and described the author as a "master storyteller".
Similarly, the Junta of Castile and León
as well as numerous Spanish and international cultural and intellectual institutions proposed him repeatedly as a candidate for the Nobel Prize
, the last time by the Society of Authors and Publishers in 2010 along with Ernesto Cardenal
and Ernesto Sabato
.
, the Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega
, the President of Castile and León
Juan Vicente Herrera
and the Minister of Culture Ángeles González-Sinde, among others, as well as over 18,000 people.
His funeral was held in the morning of the following day March 13 in the Cathedral of Valladolid. His remains were cremated and buried in the Pantheon of Illustrious Men of Valladolid among personalities such as José Zorrilla and Rosa Chacel
. Valladolid City Council granted the privilege of moving to that cemetery and bury with Delibes the cremated remains of Angels, the wife of the writer, thus honouring his long-expressed wish.
|-
Column (newspaper)
A column is a recurring piece or article in a newspaper, magazine or other publication. Columns are written by columnists.What differentiates a column from other forms of journalism is that it meets each of the following criteria:...
and later journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
at the El Norte de Castilla. He would later head this newspaper before gradually devoting himself exclusively to the novel.
As a connoisseur of the fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
and flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
of his geographical region and someone passionate about hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
and the rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
world, he could give form in his works to all matters relating to Castile
Castile (historical region)
A former kingdom, Castile gradually merged with its neighbours to become the Crown of Castile and later the Kingdom of Spain when united with the Crown of Aragon and the Kingdom of Navarre...
and hunting from the perspective of an urban person who had not lost touch with that world.
He was one of the leading figures of post-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...
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...
, for which he was recognized through many awards. However, his influence extends even further, since several of his works have been adapted for the theater or have been made into movies, which won awards at competitions such as the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, and television shows.
He was marked deeply by the death of his wife in 1974. In 1998 he was diagnosed with colon cancer, an illness from which he would never fully recover. As a result his literary career came almost entirely to a halt. He fell into apathy and became virtually isolated until his death in 2010.
Early life and training
Miguel Delibes was born in ValladolidValladolid
Valladolid is a historic city and municipality in north-central Spain, situated at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers, and located within three wine-making regions: Ribera del Duero, Rueda and Cigales...
on October 17, 1920 as the third of eight children from the marriage between María Setién and Adolfo Delibes. His father was born and died in the Cantabria
Cantabria
Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...
n town Molledo, where Miguel spent many summers. The writer was named an adopted son of Valladolid in 2009. The name Delibes was of French
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...
origin and came from Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
. Miguel's grandfather was a brother of French composer Léo Delibes
Léo Delibes
Clément Philibert Léo Delibes was a French composer of ballets, operas, and other works for the stage...
and had moved to Spain
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...
to participate in the construction of the railway in Cantabria
Cantabria
Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...
. His father was a professor of law at the School of Business of Valladolid. Miguel attended the College of Our Lady of Lourdes in Valladolid, where he finished high school in 1936. After the outbreak 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...
, he enlisted in 1938 as a volunteer in the Navy
Spanish Navy
The Spanish Navy is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces, one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Armada is responsible for notable achievements in world history such as the discovery of Americas, the first world circumnavigation, and the discovery of a maritime path...
of the nationalist forces. As a volunteer, he served on the cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
Canarias, which operated in the Mallorca
Mallorca
Majorca or Mallorca is an island located in the Mediterranean Sea, one of the Balearic Islands.The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Cabrera Archipelago is administratively grouped with Majorca...
n region. In 1939, at the end of the war, he returned to his hometown and enrolled at the School of Commerce. After finishing his course, he started law studies. He further enrolled at the Escuela de Artes y Oficios (School of Arts and Crafts) of Valladolid. This helped to improve his artistic skills and to get in 1941 a contract as caricaturist of El Norte de Castilla, the leading newspaper of Valladolid and dean of the Spanish daily press.
From that moment the doors to journalism opened for the only 21-year old Delibes. He published his first newspaper article in El Norte de Castilla, entitled El deporte de la caza mayor (The sport of big game hunting) and obtained a professional journalist permit in 1943, following an intensive course 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...
. The newspaper appointed him to the post of editor of the film criticism section while he continued to make caricatures. Two years later, he became professor of Business Law, teaching at the School of Commerce. On April 23, 1946 he married Ángeles de Castro, who later became one of his greatest literary inspirations. They honeymooned in Molledo, Cantabria
Cantabria
Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...
.
Early literary career
After his marriage the literary career of Miguel Delibes really started to take off. It was the beginning of a three-year period that marked his career: in 1947 he began writing his first play, La sombra del ciprés es alargada (The Cypress Casts a Long Shadow) and his son Miguel was born. Miguel would later become a famous biologist. In 1948, he received the Premio NadalPremio Nadal
Premio Nadal is a Spanish literary prize awarded annually by the publishing house Ediciones Destino, part of Planeta. It has been awarded every year on January 6 since 1944...
for La sombra del ciprés es alargada which marked the beginning of his emergence on the Spanish literary scene. Shortly after, his daughter Ángeles was born. She would also become a known biologist and researcher. 1949 saw the publication of a new book Aún es de día (It is still daytime), that was subject to censorship. As professor of history at the College of Commerce he also had to face Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
's censors when dealing in his classes with the victory of the "nationalists" in the Spanish Civil War (on whose side he himself had fought for three years as a volunteer). Half way through the year Germán, his third child was born. He would become professor of prehistory
Prehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
at the University of Valladolid
University of Valladolid
The University of Valladolid is a public university in the city of Valladolid, province of Valladolid, in the autonomous region of Castile-Leon, Spain...
.
In 1950 a new stage in the writer's literary career commenced: after suffering a bout of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, he published El camino (The road], his third novel. The novel tells the discovery of life and the experiences of a boy who moves from the countryside to the city. The work constituted his final consecration in the Spanish post-war narrative. That year saw the birth of his daughter Elisa, who became a graduate in Hispanic Studies and French.
In 1952 he was appointed deputy director of the newspaper El Norte de Castilla, so that his battles with the censors became increasingly direct and frequent. The writer entered a new phase in his life in which he would publish a new work virtually every year, namely: Mi idolatrado hijo Sisí (My adored son Sissi)'(1953), La partida (The Party) (1954), Diario de un cazador (Diary of a hunter) (1955) - Premio Nacional de Narrativa (National Prize for Fiction) - Un novelista descubre América (A novelist discovers America) (1956), Siestas con viento sur (Siestas with southern wind) 1957) - Premio Fastenrath (Fastenrath Award) -, Diario de un emigrante (Diary of an emigrant) (1958) and La hoja roja (The red leaf) (1959). This last novel was existentialist in content and deals with a photographer who recalls his life on the brink of his retirement. In 1956 his son Juan Delibes was born. He would become a biologist and fan of hunting and fishing like his father. In 1958 the writer was appointed director of El Norte de Castilla.
Literary apogee
The 1960s represented the heyday of Delibes literary career. The period was marked by the birth of his sixth son, Adolfo (later a graduate in biology) and a visit by the writer to GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, where he visited several universities. The literary period opened with the publication of Viejas historias de Castilla la Vieja (Old tales of Old Castile) (1960) and Por esos mundos (In these worlds) (1961). In 1962, Delibes published Las ratas (The rats), one of his masterpieces. It constructs a story from a series of autobiographical anecdotes which evoke the rural environment of a Castilian village that has disappeared. The book won the Premio de la Crítica (Critics Award for Castilian fiction). In the same year Camino, the last of his seven children, would be born. Camino later graduated in Philosophy and Letters. Also in that year, the film version of El camino, directed by Ana Mariscal
Ana Mariscal
Ana Mariscal was a classic Spanish film actress, director, screenwriter and film producer.She was involved in well over 50 films between 1940 and 1968.Her brother Luis Arroyo was also an actor and film director....
, was shot. 1963 was a turbulent year: Delibes resigned on 8 June as director of El Norte de Castilla after several disagreements with Manuel Fraga, Minister of Information and Tourism. In 1964, he spent six months in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as a visiting professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature of the University of Maryland
University of Maryland
When the term "University of Maryland" is used without any qualification, it generally refers to the University of Maryland, College Park.University of Maryland may refer to the following:...
. After his return, he wrote and published Cinco horas con Mario (Five hours with Mario), which is considered his masterpiece. The novel is the monologue of a woman who holds a wake at her husband's body while she recounts the memories of her dead husband. Other books published upon his return from the US included USA y yo (The USA and I) and La milana. In the following years he visited Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
and published Parábola del náufrago (literally: The parable of the shipwreck, translated into English as The hedge by Frances M. Lopez-Morillas). Later in the 1970s, he followed up with several books about hunting, an activity about which he was passionate, and stories. Subsequently he published Un año de mi vida (A year of my life), a personal diary.
On February 1, 1973, Miguel Delibes was elected to the Royal Spanish Academy, occupying chair "e", vacant after the death of Julio Guillén. That same year, in December, he was also elected to the Hispanic Society of America. Before the end of the year, he published El príncipe destronado (The dethroned prince), his eleventh novel. On November 22, 1974 his wife, Angela de Castro, died at the age of 50. Her death profoundly marked the writer for the rest of his life.
Finally, on May 25, 1975 he delivered his inaugural address to the Royal Spanish Academy. Damaso Alonso
Dámaso Alonso
Dámaso Alonso y Fernández de las Redondas was a Spanish poet, philologist and literary critic. Though a member of the Generation of '27, his best-known work dates from the 1940s onwards. -Early life and education:...
, one of the leading members of the Generation of '27
Generation of '27
The Generation of '27 was an influential group of poets that arose in Spanish literary circles between 1923 and 1927, essentially out of a shared desire to experience and work with avant-garde forms of art and poetry. Their first formal meeting took place in Seville in 1927 to mark the 300th...
and then president of the Royal Spanish Academy handed the academic medal to Miguel Delibes His induction speech which dealt with The meaning of progress from my work was later edited by him as a book entitled Un mundo que agoniza (A world that is dying). That same year, his twelfth novel Las guerras de nuestros antepasados (The wars of our ancestors ) saw the light. In the next three years, he published several books on hunting and his only book about fishing, Mis amigas las truchas (My friends the trouts). The period closed with the publication of El disputado voto del señor Cayo (The contested vote of Mr Cayo), his thirteenth novel. In 1979, the stage adaptation of Five hours with Mario premiered in Spain starring the leading actress of Valladolid Herrera Lola. Due to its success, the play was revived several times. That year, he released Castilla, lo castellano, los castellanos (Castile, Castilian, the Castilians), a narrative anthology.
Years 1980 and 1990: awards
In 1980, the International Booksellers Seventh Congress that was held in Valladolid paid tribute to the writer. The big title of this period was Los santos inocentes (The holy innocents), published in 1981. The book is a form of social radiography that recounts the degradation of a rural family through the actions of the caciques of rural ExtremaduraExtremadura
Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...
. In 1982 he received the Prince of Asturias Award
Prince of Asturias Awards
The Prince of Asturias Awards are a series of annual prizes awarded in Spain by the Prince of Asturias Foundation to individuals, entities or organizations from around the world who make notable achievements in the sciences, humanities, and public affairs....
for Literature, sharing it with Gonzalo Torrente Ballester
Gonzalo Torrente Ballester
Gonzalo Torrente Ballester was a Spanish Galician writer in Spanish language. He was born in Serantes, Ferrol, Galicia, and received his first education there, subsequently attending the universities of Santiago de Compostela and Oviedo.Although primarily a novelist, he also published journalism,...
; and he participated in the Congress "A literature for man", held in Reggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia is an affluent city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 170,000 inhabitants and is the main comune of the Province of Reggio Emilia....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. During this decade he published books on hunting, stories, and collections of newspaper articles. In 1983 he was inducted as Doctor honoris causa by the University of Valladolid
University of Valladolid
The University of Valladolid is a public university in the city of Valladolid, province of Valladolid, in the autonomous region of Castile-Leon, Spain...
. The following year, the Junta of Castile and León
Castile and León
Castile and León is an autonomous community in north-western Spain. It was so constituted in 1983 and it comprises the historical regions of León and Old Castile...
awarded him the Literature Prize . In the same year, Miguel Delibes was named 'author of the year' by the Spanish booksellers who bestowed the Golden Book award on him in recognition. At the end of the year, The holy innocents was adapted into a film. The actors Alfredo Landa
Alfredo Landa
Alfredo Landa Areitio is a Spanish actor.- Biography :He was born in Pamplona, Navarra, Spain. He finished his pre-university studies in San Sebastián. He then began university studies on Law, where he began to work with university school groups...
and Francisco Rabal
Francisco Rabal
Francisco Rabal , perhaps better known as Paco Rabal, was a Spanish actor born in Águilas, a small town in the province of Murcia, Spain....
received the actor's award at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
for their roles in the movie. In 1985 he published El tesoro (The treasure) and received the Knight of Arts and Letters of the French Republic
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...
. In the following years he was named a favorite son of Valladolid, he published Castilla habla (Castile speaks), got an honorary doctorate of 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...
and attended the theatrical adaptation of works like The red leaf and The wars of our ancestors. His 1987 book Madera de héroe (The stuff of heroes ) deals with the notion of heroism during the Spanish Civil War. It won the Premio Ciudad de Barcelona.
On May 7, 1990 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Saarland University
Saarland University
Saarland University is a university located in Saarbrücken, the capital of the German state of Saarland, and Homburg. It was founded in 1948 in Homburg in co-operation with France and is organized in 8 faculties that cover all major fields of science...
, (Germany). A year later, on May 30, 1991, the Ministry of Culture awarded him the National Prize for Spanish Literature. The University of Málaga
University of Málaga
The University of Málaga is a public university established in 1972. UMA's campus is situated in the city of Málaga, on the south coast of Spain...
paid homage to him at the V Contemporary Spanish Literature Congress, under the title Miguel Delibes: the writer, his work and readers." That year, he published Señora de rojo sobre fondo gris (Lady in Red On a Grey Background), a clear evocation of his wife. In the following year the "Meeting with Miguel Delibes" was held 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...
. It was organized on the occasion of the National Prize for Spanish Literature and included a total of seven conferences and four round tables that dealt with the works of Miguel Delibes.
Literary halt and final years
His last major work, El hereje (The heretic), a tribute to Valladolid, was published in 1998 and was awarded the National Fiction Prize. When receiving the award, the author stated that at 79 years of age he "had hung up his writing tackle." At the beginning of the millennium, the Miguel Delibes Chair was founded. The Chair has its seat at the universities of New YorkCity University of New York
The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
and Valladolid
University of Valladolid
The University of Valladolid is a public university in the city of Valladolid, province of Valladolid, in the autonomous region of Castile-Leon, Spain...
and has as its objectives to promote the study of contemporary Spanish literature, make this literature known in the United States and disseminate it through new technologies.
Following the publication of The heretic his writing career came virtually to a halt, mainly because of the colon cancer that affected the writer during the final phase of writing his last great novel. He was largely incapacitated and fell victim to an ever greater apathy. His last book, La Tierra Herida (The wounded earth) published in 2005, takes the form of a dialogue between him and his eldest son, Miguel Delibes, the former head of Doñana national park. The book is a moving account of climate change. In 2007 he received the Quijote Prize for Spanish Literature, although in later years his literary production was practically nil, with just a few titles, such as De Valladolid (About Valladolid). Since he was incapacitated, Juan Carlos I and Sofia of Greece, the king and queen of Spain, personally visited the writer at his home in Valladolid after he was awarded the Vocento Prize for Human Values. He was recognized by his city with the creation of the Route of the Heretic based on his novel and the construction of the Centro Cultural Miguel Delibes, which is both a conservatory
Music school
The term music school refers to an educational institution specialized in the study, training and research of music.Different terms refer to this concept such as school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department or conservatory.Music instruction can be provided...
and auditorium
Auditorium
An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances at venues such as theatres. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens.- Etymology :...
as well as a convention center
Convention center
A convention center is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typically offer sufficient floor area to accommodate several thousand attendees...
.
The president of the autonomous community of Castile and León
Castile and León
Castile and León is an autonomous community in north-western Spain. It was so constituted in 1983 and it comprises the historical regions of León and Old Castile...
gave him in November 2009 the Gold Medal of Castile and León in recognition of "his defense of Castilian" and described the author as a "master storyteller".
Similarly, the Junta of Castile and León
Castile and León
Castile and León is an autonomous community in north-western Spain. It was so constituted in 1983 and it comprises the historical regions of León and Old Castile...
as well as numerous Spanish and international cultural and intellectual institutions proposed him repeatedly as a candidate for the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
, the last time by the Society of Authors and Publishers in 2010 along with Ernesto Cardenal
Ernesto Cardenal
Reverend Father Ernesto Cardenal Martínez is a Nicaraguan Catholic priest and was one of the most famous liberation theologians of the Nicaraguan Sandinistas, a party he has since left. From 1979 to 1987 he served as Nicaragua's first culture minister. He is also famous as a poet...
and Ernesto Sabato
Ernesto Sabato
Ernesto Sabato , was an Argentine writer, painter and physicist. According to the BBC he "won some of the most prestigious prizes in Hispanic literature" and "became very influential in the literary world throughout Latin America"...
.
Death
During the early days of March 2010 his health worsened, and on 11 March, the writer was already in critical condition, conscious but heavily sedated, and his family expected his death within hours. Miguel Delibes finally died at his home in Valladolid early in the morning of March 12, 2010, at the age of 89 years as a result of the colon cancer that was first diagnosed in 1998 and from which he had never fully recovered. His funeral chapel was installed that morning in the reception room of the Town Hall of Valladolid. It was visited by such personalities as Lola Herrera, Concha VelascoConcha Velasco
Concepción Velasco Varona, known as Concha Velasco or Conchita Velasco, is a Spanish film actress, theatre actress, singer, and TV conductor. She was born at Valladolid November 29, 1939...
, the Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega
María Teresa Fernández de la Vega
María Teresa Fernández de la Vega Sanz, LLD is a Spanish Valencian Socialist politician. From 18 April 2004 to 20 October 2010, she was the First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Presidency and Cabinet Spokesperson in the government of Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero...
, the President of Castile and León
Castile and León
Castile and León is an autonomous community in north-western Spain. It was so constituted in 1983 and it comprises the historical regions of León and Old Castile...
Juan Vicente Herrera
Juan Vicente Herrera Campo
Juan Vicente Herrera Campo , Spanish politician, President of the Community of Castile and León since 2001 and member of the conservative People's Party....
and the Minister of Culture Ángeles González-Sinde, among others, as well as over 18,000 people.
His funeral was held in the morning of the following day March 13 in the Cathedral of Valladolid. His remains were cremated and buried in the Pantheon of Illustrious Men of Valladolid among personalities such as José Zorrilla and Rosa Chacel
Rosa Chacel
Rosa Chacel was a famous and sometimes controversial writer from Spain. She was a native of Valladolid.- Early life :...
. Valladolid City Council granted the privilege of moving to that cemetery and bury with Delibes the cremated remains of Angels, the wife of the writer, thus honouring his long-expressed wish.
Awards
- Premio NadalPremio NadalPremio Nadal is a Spanish literary prize awarded annually by the publishing house Ediciones Destino, part of Planeta. It has been awarded every year on January 6 since 1944...
, for "La sombra del ciprés es alargada (1947). - Premio Nacional de Narrativa, for "Diario de un cazador (1955).
- Premio Fastenrath of the Royal Spanish Academy, for "Siestas con viento sur (1957).
- Prince of Asturias AwardPrince of Asturias AwardsThe Prince of Asturias Awards are a series of annual prizes awarded in Spain by the Prince of Asturias Foundation to individuals, entities or organizations from around the world who make notable achievements in the sciences, humanities, and public affairs....
for Literature (1982). - Awarded title of doctor honoris causa by the University of ValladolidUniversity of ValladolidThe University of Valladolid is a public university in the city of Valladolid, province of Valladolid, in the autonomous region of Castile-Leon, Spain...
(1983). - Premio de las Letras de Castilla y León (1984).
- Knight of Arts and Letters of the French RepublicFranceThe 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...
(1985). - Named favorite son of Valladolid (1986).
- Awarded title of doctor honoris causa by the Complutense University of MadridComplutense University of MadridThe 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...
(June 1987). - Premio Ciudad de Barcelona, for "Madera de héroe.
- Investido doctor honoris causa por la Universidad de El Sarre (1990).
- Premio Nacional de las Letras Españolas (1991).
- Premio Miguel de Cervantes (1993).
- Medalla de Oro de la provincia de Valladolid (1993).
- Awarded title of doctor honoris causa by the Universidad de Alcalá de Henares (1996).
- Premio Luka Brajnovic for Communication, awarded by the University of NavarraUniversity of NavarraThe University of Navarra is a private pontifical university based at the southeast border of Pamplona, Spain. It was founded in 1952 by St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei as a corporate work of the apostolate of Opus Dei....
(1997). - Premio Nacional de Narrativa, for "El hereje (1999).
- Medalla de Oro al Mérito en el Trabajo (1999).
- Medalla de Oro al Mérito Turístico of the Government of Cantabria (2006).
- Awarded title of honoris causa by the University of SalamancaUniversity of SalamancaThe University of Salamanca is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the town of Salamanca, west of Madrid. It was founded in 1134 and given the Royal charter of foundation by King Alfonso IX in 1218. It is the oldest founded university in Spain and the third oldest European...
(2008). - Named adopted son of Molledo (2009).
- Medalla de Oro de Castilla y León by the President of the Junta of Castilla y León (2009).
- Medalla de Oro al Mérito Turístico of the Government of Cantabria (2009).
Works
- La sombra del ciprés es alargadaLa sombra del ciprés es alargadaLa sombra del ciprés es alargada is a 1990 Mexican film. It was directed by Luis Alcoriza....
(1947). Premio NadalPremio NadalPremio Nadal is a Spanish literary prize awarded annually by the publishing house Ediciones Destino, part of Planeta. It has been awarded every year on January 6 since 1944... - Aún es de día (1949)
- El camino (1950)
- La barbería
- El locoEl LocoEl Loco is the seventh studio album by American blues rock band ZZ Top, released in 1981 . The title means "The Crazy One" in Spanish. Guitarist/singer Billy Gibbons has stated that the recordings of this album was the first time the three members of the band were isolated from one another in the...
(1953) - Mi idolatrado hijo Sisí (1953)
- La partida (1954)
- Envidia (1955)
- Diario de un cazador (1955). Premio Nacional de Literatura.
- Siestas con viento sur (1957). Premio Fastenrath.
- Diario de un emigrante (1958)
- La hoja roja (1959). Premio de la Fundación Juan March.
- Las ratasLas RatasLas Ratas is a 1963 Argentine film....
(1962). Premio de la Crítica - Europa: parada y fonda (1963)
- La caza de la perdiz roja (1963)
- Viejas historias de Castilla la Vieja (1964)
- USA y yo (1966)
- El libro de la caza menor (1966)
- Cinco horas con Mario (1966)
- Parábola del náufrago (1969)
- Por esos mundos : Sudamérica con escala en las Canarias (1970)
- Con la escopeta al hombro (1970)
- La mortaja (1970)
- La primavera de Praga (1970)
- Castilla en mi obra (1972)
- La caza de España (1972)
- El príncipe destronado (1973)
- Las guerras de nuestros antepasados (1975)
- Vivir al día (1975)
- Un año de mi vida (1975)
- SOS : el sentido del progreso desde mi obra (1976)
- Alegrías de la Caza (1977)
- El disputado voto del señor Cayo (1978).
- Aventuras, venturas y desventuras de un cazador a rabo (1978)
- Un mundo que agoniza (1979)
- Las perdices del domingo (1981)
- Los santos inocentes (1982)
- El otro fútbol (1982)
- Dos viajes en automóvil: Suecia y Países Bajos (1982)
- Cartas de amor de un sexagenario voluptuoso (1983)
- La censura en los años cuarenta (1984)
- El tesoroEl TesoroEl Tesoro is a resort in the Maldonado Department of southeastern Uruguay. It is located on Ruta Interbalnearia, on the east bank of Arroyo Maldonado, just across San Rafael - El Placer, with which it is connected by a bridge famous for its architecture, the Puente de Barra de Maldonado...
(1985) - Castilla habla (1986)
- Tres pájaros de cuenta (1987)
- Mis amigas las truchas (1987)
- 377A, Madera de héroe (1987)
- Mi querida bicicleta (1988)
- Dos días de caza (1988)
- Castilla, lo castellano y los castellanos (1988)
- Mi vida al aire libre (1989)
- Nacho, el mago (1990)
- Pegar la hebra (1991)
- El conejo (1991)
- Señora de rojo sobre fondo gris (1991)
- La vida sobre ruedas (1992)
- El último coto (1992)
- Un deporte de caballeros (1993)
- 25 años de escopeta y pluma (1995)
- Los niños (1995)
- Diario de un jubilado (1996)
- He dicho (1997)
- El hereje (1998). Premio Nacional de Literatura.
- Los estragos del tiempo (1999)
- Castilla como problema (2001)
- Delibes-Vergés. Correspondencia, 1948-1986 (2002)
- España 1939-1950: Muerte y resurrección de la novela (2004)
- La tierra herida: ¿qué mundo heredarán nuestros hijos? (2005). Written together with his son Miguel Delibes de Castro.
Television adaptations
- El camino, five episodes directed by Josefina MolinaJosefina MolinaJosefina Molina is a Spanish film director and screenwriter. Her 1989 film Esquilache was entered into the 39th Berlin International Film Festival...
and broadcast on Spanish television in April 1978.
Movie adaptations
The following novels of Miguel Delibes have been adapted for the cinema:- El camino, Ana MariscalAna MariscalAna Mariscal was a classic Spanish film actress, director, screenwriter and film producer.She was involved in well over 50 films between 1940 and 1968.Her brother Luis Arroyo was also an actor and film director....
(1964), Cast: Julia Caba Alba, Joaquín Roa, Mary Delgado and Maruchi Fresno - Mi idolatrado hijo Sisí, adapted as Retrato de familia, Antonio Giménez-RicoAntonio Giménez-RicoAntonio Giménez-Rico , is a Spanish film director and screenwriter.-Career:Antonio Giménez-Rico obtained a law degree from the university of Valladolid. He also studied journalism and piano and worked on radio. He directed the film club at the university of Burgos and went to write movie...
(1976). Cast: Antonio FerrandisAntonio FerrandisAntonio Ferrandis Monrabal was an Spanish actor, remembered especially for his character Chanquete.- Biography :Born February 28, 1921 in Paterna, province of Valencia...
, Amparo Soler LealAmparo Soler LealAmparo Soler Leal is a Spanish film actress.She was married to Adolfo Marsillach from 1954 to 1956, and to film producer Alfredo Matas from 1969 until his death in 1996.She has worked specially with Luis García Berlanga....
, Mónica RandallMónica RandallMónica Randall is a Spanish film actress.Randall has made some 110 appearances in film and TV since 1963. She appeared in numerous western films in the 1960s in films such as One Hundred Thousand Dollars for Ringo and has made regular TV appearances since the 1970s.- External links and sources :...
o Miguel BoséMiguel BoséMiguel Dominguín Bosé is a Latin Grammy-winning Spanish/Italian musician and actor.-Early life:Bosé was born in San Fernando Hospital in Panama City, Panama, the son of the famous Italian actress Lucia Bosé and the legendary bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín. He is also a cousin of Carmen...
. - El príncipe destronado, adapted as La guerra de papá, Antonio MerceroAntonio MerceroAntonio Mercero is a Spanish director of the series Verano azul and later Farmacia de guardia. He is best known as the director of a 1972 surrealist short horror film titled La cabina, that won an Emmy Award...
(1977). - Los santos inocentes, Mario Camus (1984). Cannes prize for Francisco RabalFrancisco RabalFrancisco Rabal , perhaps better known as Paco Rabal, was a Spanish actor born in Águilas, a small town in the province of Murcia, Spain....
and Alfredo LandaAlfredo LandaAlfredo Landa Areitio is a Spanish actor.- Biography :He was born in Pamplona, Navarra, Spain. He finished his pre-university studies in San Sebastián. He then began university studies on Law, where he began to work with university school groups...
. - El disputado voto del señor Cayo, Antonio Giménez-RicoAntonio Giménez-RicoAntonio Giménez-Rico , is a Spanish film director and screenwriter.-Career:Antonio Giménez-Rico obtained a law degree from the university of Valladolid. He also studied journalism and piano and worked on radio. He directed the film club at the university of Burgos and went to write movie...
(1986). With Francisco Rabal and Juan Luis GaliardoJuan Luis GaliardoJuan Luis Galiardo is a Spanish television and film actor.-Selected filmography:* Le tre spade di Zorro * The Call of the Wild * Pasodoble * The Girl of Your Dreams * El coronel Macià...
. - El tesoro, Antonio MerceroAntonio MerceroAntonio Mercero is a Spanish director of the series Verano azul and later Farmacia de guardia. He is best known as the director of a 1972 surrealist short horror film titled La cabina, that won an Emmy Award...
(1988). One of the first movies with José CoronadoJosé CoronadoJosé Coronado García is a Spanish film and television actor.He is also known for his romantic life, with affairs with Isabel Pantoja, Paola Dominguín, Esther Cañadas and Mónica Molina.-Cinema:...
. - La sombra del ciprés es alargada, Luis AlcorizaLuis AlcorizaLuis Alcoriza de la Vega was a respected Mexican screenwriter, film director, and actor. His 1962 film Tlayucan was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.- Screenwriter :...
(1990). - Las ratas, Antonio Giménez-RicoAntonio Giménez-RicoAntonio Giménez-Rico , is a Spanish film director and screenwriter.-Career:Antonio Giménez-Rico obtained a law degree from the university of Valladolid. He also studied journalism and piano and worked on radio. He directed the film club at the university of Burgos and went to write movie...
(1996). - Diario de un jubilado, adapted as Una pareja perfecta, Francesc Betriú (1998). With José Sazatornil "Saza" and Antonio ResinesAntonio ResinesAntonio Fernández Resines is an award-winning Spanish film and television actor.- Selected filmography :*La dama boba .*Otros días vendrán ....
.
External links
- Video: Entrevista a Miguel Delibes: "De pequeño me turbaba la idea de que mi padre muriera" El escritor explica por qué la muerte siempre ha estado tan presente en toda su obra
- Video: Entrevista a Miguel Delibes: "La televisión ha sustituido a la figura de el abuelo como contador de historias"
- Watch the series "El camino", a close adaptation of the novel of Miguel Delibes directed by Josefina Molina
- A biography of the author in El Norte de Castilla
- Cátedra Miguel Delibes
- Miguel Delibes at the Centro Virtual Cervantes
- Special edition of Diario ABC.es on Miguel Delibes
- Special edition of ELMUNDO.es on Miguel Delibes
- Interview with Miguel Delibes in El País Semanal 2007
- Royal Decree 753/1999, of 30 Abril, according the Gold Medal for Merit in Work to Miguel Delibes Setién.
- Miguel Delibes E-bookE-bookAn electronic book is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book, e-books can also be born digital...
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