Fernán Pérez de Oliva

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Fernán Pérez de Oliva (* around 1497 in Córdoba , † around 1533) was a Spanish playwright and moral philosopher .

Life

Fernán Pérez de Oliva, who came from a noble Andalusian family, was carefully brought up by his father, who himself studied humanities. He studied philosophy and fine sciences in Salamanca and Alcalá , then mathematics and physics in Paris . Thereupon he accompanied his uncle, who was respected at the court of Leo X. , to Rome , where he eagerly continued to study the ancient languages. After the death of his uncle he went back to Paris and gave lectures on Humaniora for three years with much applause. Pope Hadrian VI informed about Oliva's university success . tried to bring him back to Rome, but Oliva returned to his fatherland and in 1528 was one of the founders of the archbishop's college in Salamanca. He also gave lectures on moral philosophy, theology, and mathematics in the same city. In 1529 he became rector of the University of Salamanca. Emperor Charles V appointed him the teacher of his little son, who would later become King Philip II , but Oliva died at a young age before he could take up this position.

As a writer, Oliva has made significant contributions to the literature of his fatherland by trying to form and refine the Spanish language after the old classical one. His fame is preferably based on his moral philosophical writings, among which be in the spirit of Cicero written Diálogo de la dignidad del hombre ( dialogue on human dignity ; reprinted in Volume 65 of the. Biblioteca de autores españoles ) taught for the first classic pattern prose Spanish literature applies. Oliva left this work unfinished, but it was continued by Francisco Cervantes de Salazar in 1546 .

Oliva is also an imitator of ancient authors in his dramas, which are among the oldest tragedies written in Spanish. In somewhat dry prose, he worked on the Amphitruo des Plautus (as Comedia de Anfitrión , around 1525; edited by K. von Reinhardstöttner, Munich 1886), the Elektra des Sophocles (as La venganza de Agamenón , 1528) and the Hecabe of Euripides ( as Hécuba triste , 1528; printed in Sedanos Parnaso , vol. 6).

Oliva's works were first edited by his pupil and nephew Ambrosio de Morales (Córdoba 1585–86) and only reprinted after they had been on the index of forbidden books for 200 years (2 vols., Madrid 1787).

literature
personal data
SURNAME Pérez de Oliva, Fernán
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish playwright and moral philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH around 1497
PLACE OF BIRTH Cordoba
DATE OF DEATH around 1533