Francisco de Quevedo
Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Villegas (born September 17, 1580 - September 8, 1645) was a Spanish writer during the Siglo de Oro, the Golden Era of Spanish Literature. The son of noble parents, he was born in Madrid. He is Spain's supreme baroque poet.
Life and Work
Quevedo's poetry first appeared in an anthology by Pedro de Espinosa, Flores de poetas ilustres ("Flower of Illustrious Poets") (1605); his complete works were not published until after his death. Espinosa's anthology was mainly interested in Quevedo's metaphysical and love poems, and his mocking sonnets.
Quevedo was a master of conceptismo, from concepto (conceit), an elaborate, fanciful and witty metaphor would be extended across great length within a poem; the style is quite similar to the near-contemporaneous Metaphysical poetry of English poets such as John Donne. Quevedo was strongly opposed to culteranismo, a style of Spanish poetry that involved using extremely complicated metaphors and difficult syntax to conceal meaning as much as possible. Luis de Góngora, the champion of culteranismo, was Quevedo's sworn enemy and the two men often bickered throughout the career,
Besides his literary activity, Quevedo was an operative in the service of an important Spanish politician, Pedro Téllez-Girón, 3rd Duke of Osuna. Osuna was the Spanish viceroy in Naples and involved in a notorious (and top-secret) attempt to subvert the republican government of Venice. The failure of the conspiracy, and the Spanish government's pursuit of "plausible deniability", brought about the spectacular fall of Osuna and deeply compromised Quevedo, who had been Osuna's go-between in Venice. In an attempt to vindicate Osuna, Quevedo prepared an anonymous verse memorial which materialized under King Philip IV's napkin at breakfast, blasting the policies of Philip's all-powerful favourite, Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, Count-Duke of Olivares. Quevedo's famous wit, however, was impossible to disguise, and his act landed the poet under house arrest which lasted until Olivares' fall in 1643.
Quevedo also carried on an interminable and Dickensian lawsuit with the town of which he was hereditary Lord of the Manor, La Torre de Juan Abad in Castile, from whose feudal duties he derived his livelihood and where his ancestral seat, today a fascinating musum, is situated.
Homely Quevedo was famously lame and wore pince-nez spectacles clipped on his nose (to this day called quevedos in Spanish). That didn't stop him from being a notorious ladies' man and accomplished swordsman and duellist, ready to cross swords in matters of honor, literature or politics at the drop of a hat.
As a prose-writer Quevedo was noted for his pessimistic stoicism wrapped in an inimitably ironic style. Quevedo was also known for his strident Anti-Semitism and misogyny. He is Spain's most famous literary satirist and a peak of the Spanish language.
Bibliography
- Picaresque novel: Historia de la vida del Buscón llamado don Pablos (The Life Story of the Sharper, called Don Pablos) (1626; there are several early English translations)
- Satire: Los sueños (Dreams) (1627), La cuna y la sepultura (The Crib and the Grave) (1635); La culta latiniparla ("The Latin-prattling blue-stocking", mocking a female culteranist, 1631)
- Against Luis de Góngora and Culteranismo: Aguja de navegar cultos ("A Compass-needle to navigate culteranos'")
- Political works: Política de Dios, gobierno de Cristo ("The Polity of God and Government of Christ") (1626); Vida de Marco Bruto (The Life of Marcus Brutus) (1632-1644); Execración contra los judíos ("Execration Against the Jews") (1633).
- Biography: "Life of St. Thomas of Villanova
Credits
New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:
The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:
Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.
