José María Hinojosa Lasarte Explained

José María Hinojosa Lasarte
Birth Name:José María Hinojosa Lasarte
Birth Date:17 September 1904
Birth Place:Campillos, Spain
Death Date:22 August 1936 (aged 31)
Death Place:Málaga, Spain
Nationality:Spanish
Known For:Poetry
Occupation:Landowner, publisher and writer
Party:Carlism, Agrarism

José María Hinojosa Lasarte (17 September 1904 – 22 August 1936) was a Spanish writer and political militant. As a man of letters he is considered one of the first if not the very first and the only genuinely surrealist poet in Spain, counted also among members of Generation ‘27. Following an alleged visit to the Soviet Union, he shifted, to the shock and horror of his surrealist colleagues, from Stalinism towards Carlism, the Catholic Church in Spain, and the Agrarian Party. These beliefs made him highly sceptical of the Second Spanish Republic when it was declared in 1931 and ultimately caused him to fall victim to the Red Terror by the Republican faction during the subsequent Spanish Civil War.

Following more than half a century of oblivion, his memory and especially the circumstances of his abduction and murder have become a counter-reference in politically-charged discussions about the similar murder of fellow poet Federico García Lorca during the White Terror.

Family and youth

According to the family legend the forefathers of José María[1] descended from Moctezuma; according to historical records the Carvajals were first noted in Málaga province in the 16th century, having founded the town of Campillos.[2] Along the strictly male paternal line the Hinojosas, another local family, throughout the centuries as wealthy landholders ensured their dominant position in the county. The list of Campillos’ mayors reads like the Hinojosa genealogical tree; also José María's father Salvador Hinojosa Carvajal (1869-1936)[3] and his uncle[4] held the alcaldia post in the late Restoration period; Salvador, influential within the local conservative realm,[5] served also as diputado provincial.[6] In 1893[7] he married Asunción Lasarte Xuarez (1872-1932),[8] descendant to another affluent landholder family from the nearby Estepa.[9] The couple lived on family estates in Campillos and Alameda;[10] they had 6 children,[11] José María born as the second oldest son.

Hinojosa and his siblings were brought up in luxury[12] and under heavy religious influence,[13] the latter mostly due to their mother. Certain scholars suggest that Asunción's strong Catholic conviction bordered on tyranny.[14] From infancy, José María was described as serious, withdrawn, addicted to reading, and having a penchant for extravagance.[15] In 1915[16] he entered the Colegio de San Fernando in Málaga and possibly also the Jesuit college of San Estanislao; he graduated in 1920.[17] In 1921–1922 he attended preparatory law courses at the Universidad de Granada[18] before moving to Madrid in 1923, where he enrolled at the Facultad de Derecho. After a 1925–1926 spell in Paris – either to improve his French or to prepare for diplomatic service[19] – Hinojosa returned to Spain[20] and completed his curriculum in 1926.[21] He spent most of 1927 serving in the military[22] as a soldier in the capital.[23] He completed his service in 1928.[24] The years of 1928–1930 were mostly bohemian in Málaga, combined with journeys across Andalusia and abroad. Apart from trips to France and England, Hinojosa visited Nordic countries and toured the USSR, perhaps the first of this sort permitted by the Soviet authorities.[25] Partly living with his family, he also began to engage in the family business, which apart from landholdings also includes industrial exploration activities.[26] Around that time, he fell in love with Ana Freüller Valls, an aristocrat, granddaughter to Juan Valera and a local aviation pioneer. Their relationship proved to be a complex and erratic one. Hinojoisa hoped for marriage and indeed Freüller later admitted that at one point they were about to marry; however, she also claimed that they were simply close friends.[27] The affair went on until Hinojosa's death; he was never married and had no children.

Literary career

In the early 1920s, Hinojosa began his career in Málaga with Emilio Prados as his literary mentor.[28] In 1923, he co-founded[29] Ambos, a literary review. Vaguely anchored in Andalusian rural myths it embraced aspects of the eclectic avant-garde, including dadaism, futurism and expressionism;[30] apart from juvenile poems contributed by its founders, the periodical also printed works of García Lorca, Laffón Zambrano and Salazar Chapela. With circulation limited mostly to acquaintances, Ambos stopped after just 4 issues.[31] Hinojosa's writing matured in Paris, where he joined the circle of young Spanish artists: apart from already befriended Prados and Lorca the group included Buñuel, Dalí and a number of later famous writers and painters.[32] Though styled after Rimbaud,[33] in terms of poetry Hinojosa was described as a surrealist;[34] the poems he contributed to reviews like La Verdad or Verso y prosa,[35] but especially the volumes he published in 1925–1927, are considered a stepping stone towards full literary maturity.[36]

Hinojosa's writings climaxed in 1928 with the publication of further two volumes, considered the peak embodiment of his surrealism. In the late 1920s, he got involved in Imprenta Sur, a friendly Málaga publishing house[37] and especially in the launch of Litoral, another Málaga-based avant-gardist literary review. He contributed as editor and poet, specifically involved in the 1929 commemorative issue dedicated to Góngora; at that time he also engaged financially[38] and entered the board;[39] later Hinojosa intended to launch a strictly surrealist periodical.[40] Due to his poetry and bohemian lifestyle but also because of somewhat anti-religious if not nearly blasphemous motives of his writings, in the local Málaga milieu he was already enjoying the reputation of an extravagant iconoclast. Hinojosa reinforced this image by staging social provocations scandalizing both iconic intellectuals like Valle-Inclan[41] and plain rural Andalusians; he was willingly assisted by acquaintances like Dalí and his new female partner Gala.[42] Hinojosa's relations with his avant-garde group of companions remained ambiguous. Though admitted to their inner circle,[43] behind his back and to some extent also up front he was ridiculed as a wealthy señorito[44] and mocked as a poor author who fathered disastrous poetry, never really a genuine member of the group;[45] Diego, Lorca, Dalí or Buñuel used to denigrate him.[46] Many treated him as a sponsor rather than as a fellow writer;[47] they stayed at his premises, travelled with him and dined at his cost,[48] considering it useful to be on close terms with "bohemian with the current account"; some re-paid with own works, and this is how Hinojosa gathered a collection of paintings of Miró, Picasso, Gris, Dalí and Bores.[49] Literary critique either ignored him or belittled him.[50] It is not clear whether the complex setting contributed to the violent and apocalyptic tone of Hinojosa's last poetic volume, to be published in 1930, withdrawn from print and issued in early 1931. It turned out to be his farewell to belles-letres; according to some the poet decided to dump literature,[51] "commit literary suicide" and not to look back.[52]

Works

Hinojosa penned around 200 poems, mostly short and some very short ones; short prose is down to 14 texts evading typical categorization, while theatrical and novelist attempts did not survive until today.[53] All works were written between 1923 and 1930; during his lifetime they were published in 6 limited-circulation volumes and few periodicals. His literary production is considered a curve, from early juvenile works to surrealist climax and a final descent.[54] Another scholar singles out 4 phases: descriptive, transitory, autobiographical and catastrophic.[55]

Early poems, from these printed in Ambos to Poema del Campo (1925),[56] are anchored in rural myths and set in capacity perceptive of an unspecified territory, largely bucolic and lyrical. In terms of style due to folk ambience some refer to "neopopulism",[57] others mention also "purismo" and "cubismo".[58] Scholars flag a synthesis of tradition and modernity, the latter represented by innovative if not already extravagant metaphor.[59] Poesía de perfil (1926),[60] published in Paris,[61] offered poems inspecting an interior of the fantastic mixed with a real setting. The largely descriptive tone gave way to dominant lyrical expression and the monothematic perspective was replaced with a variety of themes, often organized around the motive of exploration. "Estética purista" was partially substituted by oneiric and surrealist approach, not clear yet already visible, and the entire volume was distinctively more expressive.[62] La Rosa de los Vientos (1927),[63] published again in Málaga, was a small collection of just 19 poems; they focused upon imaginary journeys to exotic locations[64] and to the inner self. Providing a discourse on space, mystery, and wilderness the volume offered frequent references to ancient as well as popular culture and introduced heterodox erotic motives. Stylistically at times very sophisticated, blending various rhyme orders and syllable types, it is described as a mix of Hispanic Ultra, French surrealism and Chilean creationism.[65] Two volumes from 1928 are thought to be the most mature of Hinojosa's works. Orillas de la luz[66] contained mostly poems saturated with eroticism, its main theme.[67] They were, to a large extent, within the surrealist framework, featuring its trademark motives like mutilations and fragmented body parts; the fact that this poetry retained classic metrum is thought to be demonstrative of Hinojosa's synthetic ambitions.[68] La Flor de Californía,[69] considered the first surrealist work in Spain,[70] is his sole prosaic volume; it contains seven dream narratives and seven oneiric texts; the former retain some bizarre linear coherence, while the latter come close to so-called automatic writing.[71] The prose explores typical surrealist imagery:[72] antireligious motives,[73] black humor, objective chance and subterranean dream-worlds, containing also a series of apocalyptic visions.[74] Strictly auto-biographical in terms of perspective, it is viewed as an expression of his own identity in an increasingly desperate pursuit of fulfillment.[75] La Sangre en Libertad (1931)[76] was very much a repetition of La Flor but brought to extremes, with new levels of anti-religious ridicule,[77] sexual references, motives of violence and apocalyptic scenery.[78] Autobiographic features were embroiled in catastrophic premonitions;[79] stylistically the volume shows an evolution towards free verse[80] and far-reaching formal linguistic experiments.[81]

From Stalinist to Carlist

Until the early 1930s Hinojosa did not engage in politics, though his literary stand – especially anti-religious threads, but also social provocations aimed against perceived bourgeoisie mentality – was clearly suggesting left-wing preferences;[82] reportedly he also considered collectivization of family estates and might have visited the USSR to gain familiarity with the Soviet scheme.[83] His later about-face and engagement in right-wing politics remain a mystery and have not been satisfactorily explained. Some scholars speculate that the USSR journey commenced the change.[84] Others note that getting engaged in family business, for decades plagued by rural strikes and social tension,[85] might have also led to his transformation. It is underlined that a love affair with Ana Freüller, apart from being an aviation pioneer a fairly typical wealthy girl who loathed his poetry, might have contributed to this shift in political preference.[86] It is not clear whether the ambiguous stance of Hinojosa's artistic companions convinced him that he belonged to another world and caused him to overreact.[87] Finally, some claimed that his surrealism was merely the caprice of a bourgeoisie señorito,[88] opinion shared also by a few scholars.[89] Hinojosa's biographers either claim that he started to embrace a right-wing mindset after 1928[90] or that the rupture took place sometime between 1925 and 1930.[91] He was already highly skeptical – though not militantly averse yet – when the Republic was declared in 1931.[92] In unclear circumstances he assumed the post of juez municipal in Campillos,[93] the job which might have exposed him to cases of social violence. Starting July he was recorded as engaged in the establishment of a provincial landholders’ organization; later that year he became secretary of the newly emergent Federación Provincial de Sindicatos Agrícolas de Málaga[94] and started to write agriculture-centred and conservatism-flavored articles in the local La Unión Mercantil.[95] At that time Hinojosa demonstrated interest in Partido Nacionalista Español of José Albiñana[96] and his former surrealist colleagues agonized that he was about to found a provincial branch of "partido fascista".[97]

Hinojosa finally decided to opt for another right-wing organization. José María Lamamié de Clairac, a landholder and a friend of his father, was at the time combining syndicate activity in agrarian groupings with political engagement in Carlism; it was him who convinced Hinojosa to follow suit.[98] Since January 1932 he was taking part in Comunión Tradicionalista gatherings;[99] in July 1932 he was already recorded delivering a lecture which hailed Catholic virtues of patriotic women, who bravely confronted renegade liberalism,[100] and in early August he organized Carlist meetings in Málaga himself.[101] He resigned the juez municipal post.[102] Gaining recognition in nationwide Traditionalist press[103] Hinojosa was getting identified as a belligerent "derechista” by the authorities; though he had nothing to do with Sanjurjada, in its aftermath he was detained and spent 2 weeks in a local prison, locked up with other Andalusian Carlists genuinely involved in the coup.[104] The experience has only exacerbated his militancy.[105]

Between Carlism and Agrarism

After his release from jail in late 1932, Hinojosa continued organizing Carlist gatherings across the province.[106] In early 1933, he emerged among the most active Traditionalists in the area together with Arauz de Robles.[107] In March he rose to the jefe of the local organization; in numerous addresses he saluted Carlist heroes, pledged to liberate Spain from a Liberal-Marxist revolution, and paid homage to Sanjurjo, who gallantly sacrificed himself for Spain; some addresses contained thinly veiled anti-Republican tones.[108] In parallel Hinojosa hectically worked to build agrarian syndicates through meetings, speeches, and writings,[109] and as a Carlist representative he animated the Málaga branch of Acción Popular.[110] He represented all 3 groupings standing on broad right-wing alliance ticket during the 1933 electoral campaign; some papers referred to him as a Carlist,[111] some as Agrarian[112] and some as a candidate of AP; scholars name him a Carlist.[113] With 21,662 votes he failed to make it to the Cortes during the inconclusive first round and withdrew shortly before the second one.[114] He commenced the year of 1934 as a freshly appointed member of the board of Editorial Tradicionalista,[115] a new publishing house intended as an engine of Carlist propaganda.[116]

Assassination

From early 1934, there is no more information on Hinojosa's Carlist engagements. Instead, most sources point to his relations with Partido Agrario Español and its syndicates.[117] He kept writing to La Unión Mercantil on average 3 times a month,[118] kept co-administering family estates,[119] and commenced the career of a lawyer. Some sources claim he defended Campillos peasants charged with assault and robbery[120] yet the press noted that he called Guardia Civil against those who occupied his estates, an intervention which resulted in bloody confrontation.[121] In late 1934 the Agrarian minister José María Cid appointed Hinojosa delegado del gobierno en los Servicios Hidráulicos del Sur de España;[122] quoting new political circumstances, he resigned in April 1935, once the Agrarians withdrew from the government.[123] At that time he was already the provincial jefe of Partido Agrario[124] and as its candidate[125] unsuccessfully stood in the 1936 elections.[126] Following triumph of Frente Popular Hinojosa was hectically involved in agrarian syndicates, demanding re-introduction of public order and a revision of rural labor contracts.[127] In May – still active as a lawyer[128] - he was detained following disturbances in Campillos.[129] During the July 18 coup in Málaga he might have been involved in assisting the military[130] and together with his father and brother went into hiding the following day. They considered an escape to Gibraltar, but before taking action the three were captured on July 24. They spent the next month in provincial prison;[131] on August 22 the workers’ militia stormed the building, dragged 43 prisoners out, shot them at the local cemetery and buried the bodies in the mass grave.[132] Hinojosa's corpse has never been positively identified. Following the Nationalist conquest of Málaga the remnants were exhumed and Salvador Hinojosa was recognized thanks to a handkerchief in his pocket; it was assumed that two mostly decomposed corpses of young males next to his body were these of Francisco and José María.[133]

Reception and legacy

Hinojosa's writings went unnoticed, save for a limited avant-garde audience.[134] Critics remained mostly indifferent;[135] only few noted "excessive originality".[136] A handful of reviews following the 1928 volumes denigrated the author; some dubbed his poetry "entelequia", others ridiculed "señorito andaluz" and noted that "having two cars does not allow too much".[137] Following his death his works were almost completely forgotten,[138] as to both sides of the war he was an "inconvenient dead".[139] For the Republicans, his life and death made a dangerously symmetrical parallelism to those of Lorca and might have harmed the propaganda exploitation of Lorca's fate as an anti-Francoist cause célèbre.[140] Hinojosa was denied surrealist credentials[141] and patronized;[142] his former companions like Alberti floated stories of a greedy bourgeoisie landowner killed by his own peasants[143] and some denied knowing him.[144] For the Nationalists, who consistently denied the existence of Spanish surrealism,[145] his iconoclastic poetry made him ineligible for a Nationalist martyr.[146] The exiled and Spain-based historians of literature alike either ignored Hinojosa[147] or relegated him to footnotes,[148] though very sporadically some poems appeared in anthologies[149] and his name was mentioned in the press a few times.[150]

In 1974, Hinojosa's cousin Baltasar Peña took advantage of his position in the Diputación de Málaga to finance a re-edition of selected works;[151] some press notes followed up noting a "deformación" of contemporary literature[152] yet others insisted not to "desorbitar la importancia".[153] In 1977 Julio Neira launched a campaign to revindicate Hinojosa, crowned with a 1981 PhD dissertation;[154] a 1983 re-edition of 2 volumes of Litoral contributed to the process. In the 1980s Hinojosa was gradually making his way into encyclopedias, periodicals, textbooks etc.[155] and 1995 brought another PhD thesis.[156] Since then his presence in history of literature is considered obligatory,[157] based mostly on his presumed status of the first Spanish surrealist;[158] However, in some cases he is denied membership in Generación del 27.[159] In 1998 he was declared hijo predilecto by Málaga province,[160] the 2004 birth centenary produced several publications and events,[161] and a 2012 study (instead of the typical "forgotten poet")[162] referred already to "a well-known Spanish poet".[163] In 2014 he was dedicated a literary work.[164] A Málaga school has been named after him.

Hinojosa's memory remains politically charged.[165] Some tackle the Hinojosa-Lorca parallelism[166] by declaring that both poets fell victim in differing ways to the "irrational hatred" of an "absurd war",[167] yet among countless books discussing the Spanish Civil War terrors, almost all mention Lorca and almost none mention Hinojosa.[168] Both right-wing and left-wing groups started to claim Hinojosa's legacy. Some Traditionalist sites honor him as "their man",[169] while certain progressive authors present Hinojosa as a martyr who dedicated his life to fighting imperialism, nationalism and the Church;[170] others imply his homosexuality.[171] The Málaga San Rafael cemetery, where Hinojosa was executed, was doted in 2014 with a monument-mausoleum to honor "those who gave their life in defense of freedom and democracy and whose remains rest here or in other sites".[172] Hinojosa has never been mentioned in a spate of press notes related,[173] some of which noted a construction recording "la barbarie de la represión franquista".[174]

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. full name José, Salvadór, Francisco, Javier, Rafael del Corazón de Jesús
  2. Julio Neira, Introducción, [in:] José María Hinojosa, La Flor de Californía, Santander 1979, p. 15
  3. Alfonso Sánchez Rodríguez, La poesía de José María Hinojosa [PhD thesis Universitat de Lleida], Lérida 1995, p. 2-5, La Correspondencia de España 30.12.11, available here
  4. La Correspondencia de España 19.04.19, available here
  5. Julio Francisco Neira Jiménez, De musas, aeroplanos y trincheras (poesía española contemporánea), Madrid 2015,, p. 79
  6. Diario de Córdoba 12.02.22, available here
  7. see Asunción Hinojosa Carvajal entry, [in:] myheritage service, available here, Rosa Ruiz Gisbert, José María Hinojosa, el gran olvidado, [in:] Isla de Arriarán XXIX (2007), p. 181
  8. El Siglo Futuro 13.02.33, available here
  9. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-5. Asunción Lasarte was daughter to José Lasarte Andrés and Asunción Xuárez de Sanabria, Jaime de Salazar y Acha, Estudio histórico sobre una familia extremeña, los Sánchez Arjona, Ciudad Rodrigo 2001,, p. 478
  10. Alfonso Sánchez Rodriguez, Casas de familia Hinojosa, [in:] Luna de Hipnos service, available here
  11. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 181
  12. Hinojosa spent his infancy and adolescent years between Campillos, Alameda and Málaga, Geo Constantinescu, José María Hinojosa y el surrealismo español, [in:] Diacronia 6 (2010), pp. 445-449
  13. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 181
  14. A case usually often quoted to demonstrate Hinojosa’s mother's zealous Catholicism and its impact on him is her insistence that the young José María did not reside in the Residencia de Estudiantes, which she considered a hotbed of atheism and blasphemy, Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-16. Also in the late 1920s the tension persisted; Hinojosa’s mother refused to enter his room while a surrealist act was hanging on the wall; acting on suggestion on Freullen Valls eventually Hinojosa removed the painting, Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-48
  15. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-7
  16. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. I2-8. Some authors claim he entered school in 1914, Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 182
  17. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 182
  18. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-12
  19. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-22 to 2-26
  20. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 186
  21. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 182
  22. when performing his military service in Madrid Hinojosa lived in Hotel Majestic and showed up on duty every morning, Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-30
  23. the service lasted from February to December 1927; Hinojosa was assigned to Brigada Obrera y Topográfica, Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 186
  24. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 188
  25. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-38
  26. El Financiero 19.08.21, available here
  27. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, pp. 195-196
  28. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-11
  29. with Emilio Prados and the two and José María Souvirón
  30. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 183
  31. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, pp. 2-13 to 2-16
  32. the group of Hinojosa’s acquaintances included also Juan Ramón Jiménez, José Moreno Villa, José Bergamín, Rafael Alberti, Juan Vicéns, José María Chacón, José Bello, José María Barnadas, René Crével, Pierre Unik, Joaquín Peinado, Hernando Viñes, Ismael de la Sema, Francisco Cossio, Francisco Bores, Benjamin Palencia, José María Ucelay and Gregorio Prieto; in 1926 he met Breton himself, Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-17
  33. Hinojose used to wear Rimbaud-style hat and smoked a pipe, Alfonso Sánchez Rodriguez, José María Hinojosa y la calavera de Rimbaud, [in:] Clarín 04.06.08, available here
  34. origins of Hinojosa's surrealism are disputed; some scholars claim it stemmed from Andalusian baroque esthetics combined with rural mythology, others reply that he clearly picked up surrealism in Paris, influenced by Aragon and Breton, Sánchez Rodríguez 2014, p. 185
  35. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 186
  36. his first surrealist work is considered to be a 1924 poem Sueños. 1925, 1926 and 1927 volumes are thought to be "preambulo" and "comienzo" to full literary maturity, Enrique Baena, El argumento de la Obra. Poética y sueño en José María Hinojosa, [in:] Julio Neira, Almoraima González (eds.), Escondido en la luz, Málaga 2005,, p. 174
  37. set up by his friends Altoaguirre and Chaves
  38. Víctor de Lama (ed.), Poesía de la generación del 27: Antología crítica recomendada, Madrid 1997,, p. 433
  39. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 183
  40. with provocative titles like Poesía y Destrucción, El Agua en la Boca or El Libertinaje, Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-46
  41. during a homage reception to Valle-Inclan Hinojosa was reading fake telegram messages urging to kill the writer; other ones were in scatological tone, e.g. claiming that "la condesa de Noailles menstrúa como una vaca", Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-29
  42. Dali and Gala, driven across Andalusia in Hinojosa’s Chrysler cabrio, paraded half-naked in the countryside, Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 187; see also Giovanni Allegra, Trent'anni di avanguardia spagnola: da Ramón Gómez de la Serna a Juan-Eduardo Cirlot, Jaca 1987,, p. 165
  43. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 182
  44. Joselú, José María Hinojosa, el poeta olvidado, [in:] Profesor en secundaria blog 20.08.14, available here
  45. according to Vicente Aleixandre "we poets of the Generation of 1927 never took him very seriously as a poet"; Buñuel in private letters used to launch "unmerciful comic attack on José María Hinojosa"; Altoaguirre fumed about his "disastrous poems", Derek Harris, The Spanish Avant-garde, Manchester 1996,, p. 82
  46. Alfonso Sánchez Rodríguez, Un temblor de olas rojas: Poesía y compromiso político en la España de 1936, Sevilla 2014,, p. 180, Gabriele Morelli, The ludic element in the Spanish avant-garde: Gerardo Diego’s jinojepa, [in:] Derek Harris, The Spanish Avant-garde, Manchester 1995,, p. 74
  47. de Lama 1997, p. 433
  48. Sánchez Rodríguez 2014, p. 175
  49. Jacqueline Rattray, A Delicious Imaginary Journey with Joan Miró and José María Hinojosa, [in:] Robert Havard (ed.), Companion to Spanish Surrealism, Woodbridge 2004,, p. 36, Jacqueline Rattray, Crossing the French–Spanish border with José Maria Hinojosa, [in:] Elza Adamowicz (ed.) Surrealism: Crossings/Frontiers, Bern 2006,, p. 153. All paintings collected by Hinojosa got burnt when his family estate was raided by Republican militia in 1936, Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 196. One painting could have been saved when Dalí, enraged about Hinojosa’s bourgeoisie turn, asked him to allow allegedly minor corrections to his portrait. Hinojosa returned the painting, never to see it back. The final fate of the painting (never reproduced) is not known; Dalí’s sketch of Hinojosa, often reproduced, is another work. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-52
  50. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 192
  51. final motives for his decision are not clear and there are different theories in circulation. One is that Hinojosa got embittered by indifference and mockery. Another is that he gave in to pressure of Ana Freüller. One more is that bored with his surrealist caprice he returned to his usual bourgeoisie habits, see e.g. Sánchez Rodríguez 2014, p. 188, Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 192
  52. Alfonso Sánchez Rodriguez, José María Hinojosa y la Calavera de Rimbaud, [in:] Clarín 04.06.08, available here
  53. they include a theatric piece El aviador y el buzo and a novel El Castillo de mi cuerpo
  54. Baena 2005, p. 174
  55. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 4-95
  56. detailed discussion in Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, pp. 4-5 to 4-22
  57. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 184
  58. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 4-9
  59. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 4-13
  60. detailed discussion in Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, pp. 4-22 to 4-43
  61. publication was financed by his father, Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 184-185
  62. Francisco Chica, José María Hinojosa en el horizonte renovador de los años 20: filias y fobias, [in:] Julio Neira, Almoraima González (eds.), Escondido en la luz, Málaga 2005,, p. 67
  63. detailed discussion in Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, pp. 4-44 to 4-64
  64. like the Amazon, Himalayas or Cape Horn
  65. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 4-51
  66. detailed discussion in Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, pp. 4-65 to 4-91
  67. according to scholars, his eroticism was flavored with disappointments, Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 190
  68. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 4-82
  69. the title was intentionally mis-spelled, reportedly to enforce the rhyme between "Californía” and the author’s name, José María, Rattray 2004, p. 35
  70. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 191; some consider it the only surrealist book published in Spain, Geoffrey Connell (ed.), Spanish Poetry of the Grupo Poético de 1927, Oxford 1977,, p. 18
  71. one author claims Hinojose wrote the same way as Miró painted, Rattray 2004, p. 38 and another note „Miróesque” style of writing, Matilde de Moreno Escobar, La sangre en libertad: una reelaboración surrealista del petrarquismo, [in:] Jaume Pont (ed.), Surrealismo y literatura en España, Lleida 2001,, pp. 171-180
  72. however, some scholars claim Hinojosa's surrealism contained also author-specific motives and threads, e.g. these of travelling, childlike antics and animals, Rattray 2004, p. 41
  73. anti-religious threads though not dominant or omnipresent, are fairly frequent in late Hinojosa volumes. In La Flor de Californía "there is an anti-religious presence, which takes a particularly Catholic slant", i.e. in paragraphs that "the Pope received me in his pyjamas and sanctified all the festivities, finding it somewhat strange to see my pink skin", Rattray 2004, p. 46. For Hinojosa "his depictions of eroticism tend to be framed within the context of explicit blasphemy, and unconsciously or not, point to his underlying Catholic guilt" - Rattray 2004, p. 47. Others note that in La Flor "phallic and masturbatory meaning of the fingers/doves in Hinojosa’s narration would commune better with Venus than with the Holy Ghost, and the narration denounces the anti-human demands religion puts upon the flesh, causing the split between the body and the spirit"; examples are "eroticized version of Christ", constant blend of religious themes in erotic and sensual mode, pope who "amused himself with a sexual toy" or bleeding bodies representing religion violating humans, Candelas Gala, Creative cognition and the cultural panorama of twentieth-century Spain, New York 2014,, especially the chapter Creative Convulsion: José María Hinojosa and La Flor de Californía. According to some scholars Hinojosa edited Manifiesto contra los instituciones del Dios, patria y familia, Lucie Personneaux-Conesa, Histoire et historiographie du surréalisme espagnol, [in:] Mélusine XI (1990), pp. 137, though others tend to doubt it, Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-24
  74. Rattray 2004, pp. 35-36
  75. detailed discussion in Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, pp. 4-92 to 4-120
  76. the volume contained poems written mostly in 1929; they were originally to be printed in early 1930, but Hinojosa withdrew the pre-prepared book from the publisher. He then changed his mind and opted for publication; the volume saw light in January 1931, Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 4-121
  77. reportedly the book was the expression of "fury against humanity for having invented religion", Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 193
  78. Rattray 2004, p. 35
  79. most poems are written in first person plural, for the first time used by Hinojosa
  80. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 4-138
  81. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 4-145
  82. some authors refer to him as "clearly the man of the left", Sánchez Rodríguez 2014, p. 187
  83. Neira Jiménez 2005, p. 79, Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-34. Reportedly Hinojosa has even convinced own father to collectivize one of the estates, but the experiment turned into a failure
  84. Hinojosa returned from the USSR entirely disappointed and claimed he had been offered nothing but lies, fakes, and pre-staged demonstrations, Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-39, also Ruiz Gisbert 2007, pp. 189-190
  85. already in 1919 Salvador Hinojosa was featured in the press as fighting the striking rural workers, La Unión Ilustrada 11.12.19, available here
  86. for their complex relationship see e.g. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, pp. 195-196
  87. however, Hinojosa did not break with his literary circle entirely, e.g. maintaining relations with Altoaguirre and Prados, Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 194
  88. Neira Jiménez 2005, p. 80
  89. one scholar, though very sympathetic towards Hinojosa and writing with no venom and disdain typical for his surrealist friends, sort of endorsed their view suggesting „let’s not assume a tight knot between life and literature” of Hinojosa, Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 194
  90. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, pp. 189-90
  91. Neira Jiménez 2005, p. 80
  92. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-55
  93. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-56
  94. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 195, Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-58
  95. between 1931 and 1936 Hinojose published 150 articles in La Unión Mercantil, Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 194. For details see Luis Teófilo Gil Cuadrado, La ideología política de José María Hinojosa: Sus artículos en "La Unión Mercantil", [in:] Matilde Moreno (ed.), José María Hinojosa: entre dos luces: 1904–1936, Málaga 2004,, pp. 152-162
  96. Javier Pérez Andújar, Salvador Dalí: a la conquista de lo irracional, Madrid 2003,, p. 150
  97. Neira Jiménez 2005, p. 80
  98. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-59
  99. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, pp. 2-59 to 2-60
  100. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-60
  101. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-61
  102. La Epoca 20.10.32, available here
  103. El Siglo Futuro 20.06.32, available here
  104. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-61, Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 194
  105. Neira 1979, pp. 33-34
  106. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-61
  107. ABC 23.03.33, available here
  108. e.g. he called to sustain "great Spanish race united in its ecumenic spirit and poised to triumph, when sun will shine dispersing the haze and mist of the Republic", El Siglo Futuro 22.03.33, available here
  109. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, pp. 2-63 to 2-66
  110. ABC 13.07.33, available here
  111. La Vanguardia 23.11.33, available here, ABC 23.11.33, available here
  112. ABC 22.11.33, available here
  113. Martin Blinkhorn, Carlism and Crisis in Spain 1931–1939, Cambridge 2008,, p. 50
  114. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 195, El Siglo Futuro 04.12.33, available here
  115. El Siglo Futuro 12.12.33, available here
  116. Blinkhorn 2008, p. 133
  117. Sánchez Rodríguez 2014, p. 180
  118. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 2-59
  119. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 195
  120. José María Hinojosa Lasarte: Tradición política y Vanguardia artística, [in:] El Matiner Carlí service 20.08.10, available here
  121. L’Humanité 02.04.36, available here
  122. Sánchez Rodríguez 2014, p. 176
  123. La Nación 04.04.35, available here. Perhaps due to his engagement in apparently technical projects some press notes referred to Hinojosa as "ingeniero", El Financiero 05.07.35, available here
  124. La Epoca 28.01.35, available here
  125. La Libertad 11.02.36, available here
  126. Hinojosa gathere 47,000 votes, more than double the number he gathered in 1933, Luis Teófilo Gil Cuadrado, El Partido Agrario Español (1934–1936): una alternativa conservadora y republicana [PhD dissertation Complutense], Madrid 2006, p. 512
  127. La Vanguardia 24.06.36, available hhere
  128. in 1936 Hinojose opened a law company with José María Barrionuevo, Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 195
  129. La Vanguardia 31.05.36, available here
  130. according to some scholars Hinojosa intended to assist the rebels, but they turned civilians down, Julio Neira, Introducción, [in:] José María Hinojosa, Poesias completas, vol. 1, Málaga 1983, p. 29. However, another study claims the military did prepare the rising jointly with civilian representatives; they note also that when rebel troops briefly took control of the city centre on late afternoon July 18, young civilians were distributing food and water to the soldiers, Antonio Nadal, Málaga, 18 de julio 1936, [in:] Jábega 21 (1978), pp. 28-39
  131. Sánchez Rodríguez 2014, pp. 181-182
  132. Sánchez Rodríguez 2014, p. 182
  133. Neira 1983, p. 29
  134. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 188
  135. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 184
  136. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 186
  137. Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 192
  138. Sánchez Rodríguez 2014, p. 181
  139. José María Hinojosa Lasarte: Tradición política y vanguardia artística, [in:] El Matiner Carlí service 20.08.10, available here
  140. Neira Jiménez 2005, p. 81. Another author notes that "si se hubiera tratado de un poeta exiliado, o caído en zona differente, no es aventurado afirmar que otro gallo le cantaría a su recuerco literario", opinion referred after Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. I-31
  141. Rattray 2006, p. 153
  142. Moreno Villa wrote in 1944 "pobre José María Hinojosa, que en verdad era un poeta pardillo deslumbrado por una larga instancia en París"; his patronising tone presented Hinojosa as señorito temporarily attracted to surrealism, Neira Jiménez 2005, p. 81
  143. for decades the most widespread versions of his death were incorrect. According to Alberti Hinojosa "caído bajo las balas de sus propios campesinos"; according to Manuel Altolaguirre at "uno de los mítines en que [Hinojosa] iba a contradecirse a sí mismo delante de los trabajadores explotados de sus propias tierras, [where] fue víctima de un sangriento motín que le costó la vida". Some scholars claim that the fact that both versions dominated for so long is itself indicative, Sánchez Rodríguez 2014, p. 181. Some authors claimed that Hinojosa joined Falange, Vittorio Bodini (ed.), I poeti surrealisti spagnoli, Torino 1963, p. CXXXVI
  144. the case of José Bergamín, Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 197
  145. Neira Jiménez 2005, p. 80
  146. Sánchez Rodríguez 2014, p. 184
  147. Angel del Río in chapter Ultraísmo, vanguardia, nueva poesía does not mention Hinojosa, Angel del Río, Historia de la literatura española, New York 1948
  148. Max Aub notes that Hinojosa "died too early for his surrealism to produce an important work", Max Aub, Manual de historia de la literatura española, Mexico 1966, p. 314
  149. single Hinojosa poems were published in a 1947 Santiago de Chile anthology and a 1962 Málaga anthology, referred after Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. I-12, Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 197
  150. in the Francoist press Hinojosa was noted not for his surrealist poetry but rather for his engagement in Litoral, compare La Vanguardia 20.01.60, available here or ABC 20.04.69, available here
  151. Neira Jiménez 2005, p. 82, Sánchez Rodríguez 2014, pp. 176, 178
  152. La Vanguardia 03.10.74, available here
  153. José María Diez Bourque, Historia de la literatura española, Madrid 1974, p. 51. Editor of a 1976 anthology was anxious about anticipated criticism and noted that Hinojosa can be excluded, referred after Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, pp. I-16, I-17
  154. Julio Neira Jiménez, José María Hinojosa. Vida y obra [PhD thesis Universidad de Extremadura], Cáceres 1981
  155. Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, pp. I-19 to I-22
  156. Alfonso Sánchez Rodríguez, La poesía de José María Hinojosa [PhD thesis Universitat de Lleida], Lérida 1995; the following one was Carmen Díaz Margarit, El surrealismo en "La flor de California" de José María Hinojosa, Madrid 2003,
  157. "no cabe enganarse sobre su importancia" of a "minor poet", referred after Sánchez Rodríguez 2014, p. 178. The 1993 work of Pedraza and Rodriguez is credited for transferring Hinojosa from footnotes to the main text of literature history books, Felipe B. Pedraza, Milagros Rodríguez Cáceres, Manual Manuel de historia de literatura espanola, vol. XI, Pamplona 1993, pp. 310-315
  158. de Lama 1997, p. 433, Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. 0-4; Neira claims that Hinojosa and not Larrea was the first Spanish surrealist and his 1924 Sueños was the first Spanish surrealist poem, Sánchez Rodríguez 1995, p. I-21
  159. in 1999 Centro Cultural Generación del 27 ignored Hinojosa during a conference commemorating the group, which in turn triggered protest letters, Ruiz Gisbert 2007, p. 197. Many manuals do not list Hinojosa as a member of Generation 27 or as a surrealist, compare e.g. a textbook La poesía surrealista en España. La Generación d 1927: características generales, available here
  160. José María Hinojosa Lasarte: Tradición política y vanguardia artística, [in:] El Matiner Carlí service 20.08.10, available here
  161. including streets and plazas named after him
  162. Sánchez Rodríguez 2014, p. 174
  163. cover text in Jose Maria Hinojosa, Black Tulips: The Selected Poems of Jose Maria Hinojosa, translated by Mark Statman, New Orleans 2012,
  164. Alfonso Sánchez Rodríguez, El buzo y la aviadora, Málaga 2014, . This theatrical piece is set up in prison, during the period preceding Hinojosa’s execution; he travels back in time, meeting his surrealist friends and re-enacting their common feasts; finally he meets Lorca, also incarcerated and also before his execution, both already at the doorstep of immortality, Cristobal G. Montilla, El vuelo imposible del poeta buzo y la aviadora, [in:] El Mundo 30.05.14, available here
  165. Hinojosa's life and death are related not only to political discussions about himself, but also to debates on political implications of surrealism in general, as „wider concerns of the surrealist revolt opens up further issues related to the political orientation of Surrealism and of the path that Surrealism followed (for a while) with the communist party”, Rattray 2004, p. 47
  166. both were almost peers, both were Andalusians, both formed the Málaga group of young writers, both in the early 1920s studied in Madrid, both joined the artistic avant-garde circle there, both were poets, both were scandalizers, both were surrealists, both demonstrated similar type of fragile sensitivity, both were considered members of Generación del 27, both were killed in August 1936 in close Andalusian locations
  167. Neira 1983, p. 29
  168. this is the case e.g. of a vastly popular and massively quoted study of Paul Preston, dedicated entirely to terror of the civil war; neither its English nor Spanish version mention Hinojosa while Lorca is discussed at length, Paul Preston, The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain, London 2012, and Paul Preston, El holocausto español: Odio y exterminio en la Guerra Civil y después, Madrid 2011, . Also works which discuss the longtime impact of civil war terror (with focus on historiography and culture) rather than the terror itself follow suit, see e.g. Peter Anderson, Miguel Ángel del Arco Blanco (eds.), Mass Killings and Violence in Spain, 1936–1952: Grappling with the Past, London 2015, . Exceptions are works focused on Málaga, see e.g. Francisco Chica (ed.), Arcadia en llamas: República y Guerra civil en Málaga 1931–1937, Málaga 2015,, p. 312. Some works dedicated to writers killed by the Republicans among tens of names do not list Hinojosa, see e.g. here
  169. see e.g. El Matiner Carlí service, available here, Santo Reino Tradicionalista service, available here, Carlismo Andaluz service, available here
  170. in one work Hinojosa is presented as "opposed to any ruling that imposes restrictions from above, like imperialism, or that restraints human desire, like the church, or that curtails the expansion of ideas, like nationalism, the poet offers the knowledge he achieves in his creative journey in the image of those open, wounded bodies palpitating and sharing with the outside world their vulnerable but vibrant humanity. It is uncanny that such an offering would become a reality when Hinojosa was killed in 1936", Candelas Gala, Creative cognition and the cultural panorama of twentieth-century Spain, New York 2014,, see especially the chapter Creative Convulsion: José María Hinojosa and La Flor de Californía
  171. Hinojosa’s poem is included in the anthology of Fredo Arias de la Canal, Primera Antología de la Poesía Homosexual, Mexico 1997, p. 27. No scholar notes homosexual preferences of Hinojosa, moreover, some note that he felt uncomfortable in company of homosexual companions in Paris or Madrid
  172. Inaugurado el Panteón de la Memoria Histórica de Málaga, [in:] La Opinion de Malaga 11.01.14, available here. Remains of all 3 Hinojosas were re-buried in a crypt of the Málaga cathedral, Neira 1983, p. 29
  173. compare La Nueva España 11.01.14, available here, Europapress 06.01.14, available here, El Mundo 11.01.14, available here, La Opinion de Malaga 11.01.14, available here, Diario Sur 11.01.14, available here, El País 12.01.14, available here
  174. El Mundo 11.01.14, available here

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