Come September and loosen the heat of summer, the cool morning air is a good and loyal friend. At this time advertising and the decline of summer and the end of the holiday, like rereading first hour, when the rest of the house are still sleeping, some of my favorite books of all life readings that do not age and the that each review, as with the classics I discover new nuances and niceties by unnoticed.
This is the case of a small book, " The San Saturio santero " by Juan Antonio Gaya Nuño whose appointment faithful reader I go every year at this time. This work appeared first published in the Editorial Castalia in Valencia in 1953, in his collection "Contemporary prose" (directed by Antonio Rodriguez Monino) 1, which also appeared Cela Diaz Cañabate and Alonso Zamora Vicente, among others, but its dissemination is due to the issue that caused Espasa Calpe in your collection Austral, first edition 1965, which is the management.
Speaking to A. Nuñez, in the journal "Insula" the author remembers " was a book written with a raging spontaneity. What I wrote in 1951, and wrote many days a chapter in the morning and one in the afternoon all this because it took fifteen years without appearing in Soria (1936-1951) of the events that separated me very serious, yet not I subtracted a city where I lived all my childhood and all my youth . "
serious personal events, referred to by the author, are the execution without trial his father, Dr. Juan Antonio Gaya Tovar by the rebels on the night from 16 to 17 August 1936, at age 60, and the court-martial and conviction to the penalty of twenty years and one day imprisonment for having belonged to the Popular Army of the Republic, the young Juan Antonio (will open in February 1943 "good conduct").
Juan Antonio Gaya Nuño (1913-1976) was an internal exile, "lone wolf" Camon Aznar called him a man of integrity, shaken, like many other war-uncivil, not never yielded to compromise with the personal dictatorship Franco (university professor refused to swear not to "principles of the movement" and was traveler and lecturer for various universities and institutions in Europe and America that he gave the welcome and hospitality in Spain official then denied. Recognized as one of the most important critics and historians of English art, its literature is massive and systematic collection of materials by José María Martínez Ignacio del Río Laseca e Chicote .
Less abundant, but also Interestingly, his literary production that includes, along with " The San Saturio santero " (1953), his "begging Treaty" Theatre or apologetic and real show of life, parties and differences beggars of these and other realms of Europe, with intelligence of his manners, speeches, papers and other accidents, which contains no little doctrine, useful for discrete and best exemplar of begging "(1962), a novel Little known "History of the captive " (1966), a collection of stories Feral cats and other stories "(1968), another little volume of stories prodigious monsters" and some more loose in magazines. Enough to prove to Gaya Nuño as a great storyteller, concerned with good writing.
back to "The santero , work distribution in Soria assembled a considerable stir among local reactionary clergy, becoming the author publicly censured by the bishop of Osma-Soria, Rubio Montiel, which paradoxically, contributed to the wider dissemination of the book.
To whom is no yet read this book, you should not miss in Nigun library that boasts, I think the best praise is that of the aforementioned authors and Rio Martinez Laseca Chicote " each page of the book, the description is so rewarding, and human as he describes the look that will captivate the senses of the reader who wants to deepen in the spirit and the idiosyncrasies of Soria. Such merit is that his prose acahacárselo castellanísima seasoned, properly concocted, with smooth, with simplicity, with relevance to each topic and we love it for its natural freshness and flavor without convoluted classic archaisms. "
From my first reading of this work, which I consider superior, for example, " Journey to the Alcarria "de Cela, keep between the pages of the book a page with the paragraph that I liked then and perhaps now:
" The Numancia were high and dry these men are still in Renieblas and Castilfrío in Ausejo and Aldeaseñor, these gentlemen of the short, sharp word. No more defending than eternal bushels of wheat and barley, a few woods, a flock of sheep, a home furnishings in which the most precious were painted ceramic jugs. They lived in shacks, with two bedrooms and a den, all built in small stones. They had no wine. They had no oil. They knew where it was Rome. They defended themselves when they were attacked, as Castilfrío defend this man who has come to the fair, if you want to remove the ewe. All died, this was Numancia. "
© Manuel Martínez Bargueño
September, 2010
If you have interested in this entry and want to ask, comment or contribute something about it can leave a comment or write to my e dec OURIER e manuelblas222@gmail.com with confidence be promptly addressed.
Thanks. Manuelblas
NOTES
A copy of this first edition costs today in the ancient book market from 33 to 100 euros.
Art. Medieval. The Romanesque, Philosophy and Art Criticism, Painting, Drawing, Printmaking, Prints, Posters, Photography, Film, Sculpture, Fine Arts, Architecture, Urbanism, Pottery, Stamps and Art, Biographies. Memories; Picasso Encyclopedia of Arts, Great Encyclopedia Rialp, Great Encyclopedia of Art, Stelzer Bilzen-Eyssen; Encyclopedia Ciesa theme, Chronicle exhibitions. Insula magazine (1952-1963). Prefaces and translations. Comments on books; Studies bibliography. Brief review.
José María Martínez and Ignacio del Río Laseca Chicote. " Gaya Nuño and his time" . Villalar collection. Junta de Castilla y León. Ministry of Culture and Welfare. 1987.
