Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer

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Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1862)

Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (born February 17, 1836 in Seville as Gustavo Adolfo Domínguez Bastida, † December 22, 1870 in Madrid ) was one of the most famous authors of Spanish Romanticism .

Life

At the age of five, Bécquer lost his mother, Joaquina de la Bastida y Vargas, who left eight orphans. Less than five years later, his father, José Domínguez Bécquer, a well-known and respected painter in Seville who, like his son later, had used the stage name Bécquer (allegedly of Flemish origin), also died. He was accepted by his godmother and lived in Seville until 1854.

He decided to study literature and tried his luck in the capital Madrid. During this time he published articles in local newspapers and magazines, but was not successful. To make money, he wrote for the Dirección de Bienes Nacionales, but was soon fired when his supervisor caught him drawing some scenes from Shakespeare's works. In 1858 he stayed again in Seville, where he was unable to do his work due to tuberculosis or syphilis . During this time his relationship with his brother Valeriano, who like his father had become a painter, was strengthened. Bécquer married in 1861; however, the marriage, which resulted in two children, became unhappy and they separated. From 1864 to 1868 he worked as a romance tensor , but acted carelessly and therefore came under criticism. He died of an unknown disease in Madrid at the age of 34.

plant

Although Bécquer lived at a time when realism had prevailed in Spain , his works can still be classified as romantic. Most of his work was only published posthumously by friends, so Bécquer was little known throughout his life. With him, romantic poetry reached its late climax at a time when it was already passé in the rest of Europe. In his poems, which are influenced by Heinrich Heine , Bécquer turns to a reflected emotional language; It was he who made the development of modern Spanish poetry to Juan Ramón Jiménez or Antonio Machado possible in the first place.

His most famous works are Rimas ("rhymes") and Leyendas ("legends"). Often both parts are published in collective editions.

Rimas

Of Bécquer's poems simply called “rhymes”, only 15 appeared during his lifetime, in various newspapers such as El Contemporáneo, El Museo Universal and La Ilustración de Madrid. The manuscript was lost in the unrest of the September Revolution of 1868 and had to be reconstructed by the author with the help of friends. But this second manuscript, called Libro de los gorriones (Book of Sparrows), was lost and was not found again until 1914. Today it is kept in the National Library of Madrid . Friends of the deceased only published the two volumes of Rimas y Leyendas posthumously, mainly to help the widow out of economic difficulties. The original poems were added to over time; the edition of Colección Austral is 76.

The poems exude simplicity and lightness and focus on the love theme, but they are "overworked feelings," ideas about feelings. The lyrical ego seeks the absolute and the impossible, which is why Bécquer is also called “poeta del amor desesperado” (poet of impossible love). The underlying mood is consistently melancholy . Contrary to the title, it is not a matter of consistently rhyming lyrics, but rather the assonance increasingly replaces the end rhyme. The language of Bécquer is free from rhetoric and pathos , contrary to the tendency towards exuberance that otherwise predominates in Spanish romanticism. This is what distinguishes his poetry from that of José de Espronceda .

The Rimas were set to music by composers such as Isaac Albéniz and Joaquín Turina .

Leyendas

The 18 to 22 prose legends (depending on the edition) radiate a spooky atmosphere and are reminiscent of ETA Hoffmann ; Bécquer proves to be an excellent novelist and a forerunner of fantastic literature . It is all about "unheard of incidents", often with horror effects; The theme is the mysterious, the inexplicable. The author shows a psychological interest in phenomena of madness, fear, and neurotic obsessions. The texts are written in poetic prose , in a dreamlike ambience, in the tradition of gruesome romance. Often they are also embedded in framework narratives .

The Leyendas contain the following legends:

  • El caudillo de las manos rojas, 1858.
  • La vuelta del combate, 1858 (continued: El caudillo de las manos rojas ).
  • La cruz del diablo, 1860.
  • La ajorca de oro, 1861.
  • El monte de las ánimas, 1861.
  • Los ojos verdes , 1861.
  • Maese Pérez, el organista, 1861.
  • Creed en Dios, 1862.
  • El rayo de luna, 1862.
  • El Miserere, 1862.
  • Tres fechas, 1862.
  • El Cristo de la Calavera, 1862.
  • El gnomo, 1863.
  • La cueva de la mora, 1863.
  • La promesa, 1863.
  • La corza blanca, 1863.
  • El beso , 1863.
  • La Rosa de Pasión, 1864.
  • La creación, 1861.
  • ¡Es raro !, 1861.
  • El aderezo de las esmeraldas, 1862.
  • La venta de los gatos, 1862.
  • Apólogo, 1863.
  • Un boceto del natural, 1863.
  • Un lance pesado.
  • Memorias de un pavo, 1865.
  • Las hojas secas.
  • Historia de una mariposa y una araña.
  • La voz del silencio, 1923. Released by Fernando Iglesias Figueroa.
  • La fe salva, 1923. Released by Fernando Iglesias Figueroa.
  • La mujer de piedra. Unfinished.
  • Amores prohibidos.
  • El rey Alberto.

German editions

Volume 8 from the Gallery of Fantastics by Hanns Heinz Ewers , 1922. Illustrated by Paul Haase
  • The poet, love, loneliness, death: poems ; Spanish and German = El poeta, el amor, la soledad, la muerte. Introduction and broadcast by Peter Becker. 2., revised. Edition. Düsseldorf: Ahorn-Verlag, 2006. ISBN 978-3-00-018984-5 , ISBN 3-00-018984-X .
  • The Devil's Cross: Eerie Legends . [From the chip. by Kristina Hering. Ed. By Rainer Schlesier] Leipzig: Dieterich, 1990 ( Dieterich Collection ; Vol. 411) ISBN 3-7350-0057-6 .
  • La ajorca de oro. / The gold bracelet. Legends. Reclam, 1987 (Spanish / German). ISBN 978-3-1500-8398-7 .
  • The green eyes: fantasy pieces . Translated from the Spanish by Fritz Vogelsang. Frankfurt / Main; Berlin; Vienna: Ullstein, 1984 (Ullstein book; No. 39086: Klett-Cotta in the Ullstein paperback). ISBN 3-548-39086-2 .

literature

  • Braschi, Giannina: La poesía de Bécquer: El tiempo de los objetos o los espacios de la luz, Costa Amic, Mexico City, 1982. Spanish
  • Breidenbach, Michael: Seville in the prose work of Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer. Cologne; Vienna: Böhlau, 1991 (Forum Ibero-Americanum; Vol. 5). ISBN 3-412-01391-9 .
  • Kreimendahl, Ilka: Analysis of the Leyenda El Rayo de Luna by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer. Grin Verlag 1999. ISBN 978-3-6382-1448-3 .
  • Behrendt, Birgit: Spain pictures with Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer and Washington Irving: comparative studies on motifs of romanticism. Frankfurt am Main; Berlin; Bern; Bruxelles; New York; Oxford; Vienna: Peter Lang, 2003 (Studies and documents on the history of Romance literatures; Vol. 52) ISBN 3-631-51818-8 .
  • Neumann, Sina: Aspects of the uncanny, fantastic and wonderful in Gustavo Adolfo Becquer's "Leyenda Creed en Dios". Grin Verlag 2007. ISBN 978-3-6387-8748-2 .
  • Artz, Bettina: Experiences of War in Literature - Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, La Promesa. Grin Verlag 2008. ISBN 978-3-6389-1711-7 .
  • Freyda, Simone: Subversive Romanticism in Gustavo Adolfo Bécquers poetry on poetry. Königshausen & Neumann, 2010. ISBN 978-3-8260-4384-0 .

Web links

Commons : Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Bécquer, Gustavo Adolfo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gustavo Adolfo Domínguez Bastida
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish lyric poet
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1836
PLACE OF BIRTH Seville
DATE OF DEATH December 22, 1870
Place of death Madrid