Jacinto Grau Explained

Jacinto Grau
Birth Date:1877
Death Date:14 August 1958
Birth Place:Barcelona, Spain
Death Place:Buenos Aires, Argentina
Nationality:Catalan

Jacinto Grau Delgado (1877  - 14 August 1958) was a Spanish writer. Best known for his plays, and his theoretical approach to theater, he also wrote essays, short stories, and criticism.

Life

Grau was born in Barcelona. He served as the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Loyalist Spain to Panama during the Spanish Civil War.[1] Following the war he emigrated to Argentina, where he died in exile in 1958.[2]

Career

Grau published twenty-five plays over the course of fifty-five years.[3] His most celebrated work is El señor de Pigmalión (1921), which remained relatively unknown in Spain during his lifetime, though it was successful in Europe and Latin America.[4] Grau has stated that he writes plays 'with the greatest intensity possible within the limits of classical harmony'.:23-24

His work is 'anti-realistic', and heavily influenced by George Bernard Shaw, as well as Henrik Ibsen, Jean Anouihl and Buero Vallejo.:269-70 His contemporary critics 'universally' identified his theatre as avant-garde, though Grau 'scorned avant-garde theatre'.[5] Modern scholars have identified him as a 'psychological idealist'.[6] :23

He was nominated for a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949.[7]

Plays

PlayYear PublishedYear PremieredLocation Premiered
El Conde Alarcos1917
El hijo pródigo19181918
El Mismo daño1921
El señor de Pigmalión19211923 Charles Dullin's L'Atelier (Paris)[8] :135
La Casa del Diablo1933
En Ildaria
Entre Llamas
El Caballero Varona

References

  1. News: TIMES. Special Cable to THE NEW YORK. 1937-11-20. PANAMA RECEIVES GRAU; Minister of Loyalist Spain Is Presented to Arosemena (Published 1937). en-US. The New York Times. 2021-02-21. 0362-4331.
  2. Web site: Grau, Jacinto Encyclopedia.com. 2021-02-21. www.encyclopedia.com.
  3. Kronik. John W.. 1969. Art and Ideology in the Theater of Jacinto Grau. Kentucky Romance Quarterly. en. 16. 3. 261–276. 10.1080/03648664.1969.9932985. 0364-8664.
  4. DÍAZ, JANET WINECOFF, 'Jacinto Grau and His Concept of the Theater', in Revista de Estudios Hispánicos; University, Alabama Vol. 5, Iss. 2,  (May 1, 1971): 203.
  5. Book: Ezell, Richard Lee. The Theatre of Jacinto Grau: A Depiction of Man. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Oklahoma. 1971.
  6. Book: Peers, Edgar Allison. A History of the Romantic Movement in Spain. 1964. CUP Archive. 978-1-001-40971-9. en.
  7. Web site: Nobel Prize. 2020-04-01. Nomination Archive. 2021-02-21. NobelPrize.org. en-US.
  8. Giuliano. William. 1950. Jacinto Grau's "El señor de Pigmalión". The Modern Language Journal. 34. 2. 135–143. 10.2307/318839. 318839. 0026-7902.