Ramon de Mesonero Romanos

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mesonero Romanos

Ramón de Mesonero Romanos (born July 19, 1803 in Madrid , † April 30, 1882 there ) was a Spanish writer and journalist.

He wrote under the pseudonym "El Curioso Parlante" (Eng. The Curious Speaker ) and is best known for his cuadros de costumbres , small sketches from everyday life in Spain at that time.

Life

Mesonero Romanos came from a very rich milieu and was rather disinterested in social policy; he acted as Madrid city clerk and city councilor. The renovation of Madrid's old town goes back to him. Most of the details of his life are known through his memoir , called Memorias de un setentón .

He was born on July 19, 1803 in Madrid, in what was then Calle Olivos, which would later bear his name. On January 5, 1820, his father, Matías Mesonero, died with whom he had a very close relationship and from whom he had learned many anecdotes about life in the city and in the palace. From then on, the seventeen year old had to take care of the family business. In the same year the so-called “Trienio Liberal” began in Spain, a three-year phase of liberal awakening that carried him along like many other young people of the time; therefore he volunteered for the “Milicia Nacional” when he was eighteen. During this time he was also enthusiastic about the Spanish literature of the Siglo de Oro as well as the newly emerging Italian opera ; at the same time he took part in the sessions of "El Parnasillo" and "La Partida del Trueno", a casual discussion group (Spanish tertulia ) in which many of the romantic authors came together.

From August 1833 to May 1834, Mesonero Romanos went on a trip to France , where he carefully observed the changes in lifestyle compared to his homeland. From 1842 he published numerous articles in various newspapers and magazines such as el Semanario Pintoresco Español, El Indicador de las Novedades, El Correo Literario y Mercantil, Cartas Españolas, Revista Española, Diario de Madrid etc. From 1845 to 1850 he was a member of the city council of Madrid, where he launched his Proyecto de mejoras generales in 1846 , a project for comprehensive urban renewal. In 1847 Mesonero Romanos became a full member of the Real Academia Española . In 1854 he published the Nuevo manual histórico-topográfico-estadístico, y descripción de Madrid . From 1864 he acted as the official chronicler of the city of Madrid.

For the price of 70,000 reales - probably a high price for the time - the city of Madrid acquired his private library in 1876, which was to become the basis of a city library and which he managed as “bibliotecario perpetuo de Madrid”. In 1881 Mesonero Romanos published his memoir. He died on April 30, 1882 in his hometown.

plant

In his writings, Mesonero Romanos describes the conditions and grievances in the capital, the types and characters of the middle class . His texts already speak of a certain big city awareness , a feeling of superiority over the backward provinces. He is “in love” with Madrid and describes it with great attention to detail, proves to be a good observer, even if he sometimes raises his index finger in a moralizing way. It is characterized by nostalgia for customs that are disappearing, shows a keen sense for the period of upheaval and criticizes “typically Spanish vices” such as craving for recognition, blindly imitating foreign (especially French) customs, building sins, housing problems, and the police. Azorín writes about him that Mesonero is a typical representative of bourgeois-practical society.

  • Mis ratos perdidos o ligero bosquejo de Madrid en 1820 y 1821 . Madrid, Imp. De Don Eusebio Álvarez, 1822.
  • Manual de Madrid. Descripción de la Corte y de la Villa (Madrid, 1831)
  • Panorama matritense: cuadros de costumbres de la capital observados y descritos por un curioso parlante . Madrid, Imprenta de Repullés, 1835.
  • Recuerdos de viaje por Francia y Bélgica en 1840 y 1841 . (Madrid, 1841)
  • Escenas y tipos matritenses (Madrid, 1851)
  • Nuevo manual histórico-topográfico-estadístico, y descripción de Madrid , (Madrid, 1854)
  • El antiguo Madrid , (Madrid, 1861).
  • Memorias de un Setentón, natural y vecino de Madrid (Madrid, 1881)
  • Obras jocosas y satíricas de El Curioso Parlante (1832-1842) (Madrid, 1881).
  • Tipos y caracteres: bocetos de cuadros de costumbres: (1843 a 1862) , Madrid, 1881.

literature

  • Juan Ignacio Ferreras: La novela española en el siglo XIX (hasta 1868) . Taurus, Madrid 1990, ISBN 84-306-2517-8 (Historia crítica de la literatura hispánica; 17).
  • Martin Franzbach: History of Spanish Literature at a Glance . New edition Reclam, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-15-008861-5 (Universal Library; No. 8861).
  • José García López: Historia de la literatura española. 20th edition Vicens-Vives, Barcelona 1991, ISBN 84-316-0597-9 .
  • Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht : A History of Spanish Literature . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt / M. 1998, ISBN 3-518-58062-0 .
  • Hans-Jörg Neuschäfer (Ed.): Spanish literary history . 3. Edition. Metzler, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-476-02168-7 .
  • Christoph Strosetzki: History of Spanish Literature . 2., unchanged. Edition Niemeyer, Tübingen 1996, ISBN 3-484-50307-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Neuschäfer: 262
  2. ↑ A selection has appeared in German under the title: Selection from Memorias de un setentón : Scenes from the Spanish liberation struggle . Edited by Angela Hämel. Vienna: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1923; Freytag's collection of foreign language written works; 3.
  3. ↑ (quoted in García López, p. 438)

Web links

Commons : Ramón de Mesonero Romanos  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Mesonero Romanos, Ramón de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES El Curioso Parlante (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish writer and journalist
DATE OF BIRTH July 19, 1803
PLACE OF BIRTH Madrid
DATE OF DEATH April 30, 1882
Place of death Madrid