安东尼奥·加莫内达

Antonio Gamoneda Lobón (born 30 May 1931) is a Spanish poet, winner of the Cervantes Prize in 2006.

Biography

Antonio Gamoneda was born in Oviedo, Asturias, on 30 May 1931. His father, also named Antonio, was a modernist poet who published only one book, Otra más alta vida (Another higher life) in 1919. In 1934, already an orphan, he moved with his mother, Amelia Lobon, to León. The presence of his mother as a refuge from the horror and misery of war is seen in all his poetry. In 1936, with schools closed due to the Spanish Civil War, he became literate by reading, on his own, his father's book.

The poet lived originally in the main working-class district of León. This place was a privileged post to observe the repression carried out during the war and postwar years.

In 1941, he joined the religious school of the Augustinian Fathers and in 1943 dropped out.

The day he turned fourteen he started working as a messenger in the Banco de Comercio. He completed his pre-university studies on his own and remained in the condition of bank employee for twenty-four years until 1969.

While working at the bank he became part of the intellectual resistance to the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. He published his first book in 1960, Sublevación inmóvil (Motionless revolt), a work that was a runner-up for the Adonais prize. The book was a break from the traditional realistic rules of the time in Spain. In 1969 he started running the cultural services of the Diputación Provincial de León, and from 1970, the León State collection of poetry, trying to promote a progressive culture with the money of the dictatorship. He was deprived of his official status, and subsequently readmitted, by court order. During these years he began working regularly in different cultural magazines.

This first stage was followed by eight years absence from the poetry world, years strongly marked by the death of the dictator Francisco Franco and the beginning of the so-called "transición". The ideological and existential crisis of the poet is felt in his next book Descripción de la mentira (A description of the lie), León 1977, a long poem that marked a shift towards a total maturity. Later publications are Lápidas (Tombstones) (Madrid, 1987) and Edad (Age), a volume collecting all his poetry until 1987, revised by the author, and that won the National Prize for Literature in Spain.

In 1992, Libro del frío (Book of the cold) was published, making him one of the most important poets in Spanish. In the year 2000 the final version of this work came out, which included Frío de límites (Cold of Limits), a work in collaboration with Antoni Tàpies.

Arden las pérdidas (Losses are burning) was published in 2003, a book that crowns the period started in Descripción de la mentira. After that he published Cecilia (2004), named after his granddaughter, and La luz: Collected Poetry: (1947–2004), (2004).

In 2005, he was award the inaugural European Prize for Literature. In 2006, he was awarded the Reina Sofia Award, and the Cervantes Prize, the highest honor in Spanish literature.

He has also been awarded the Gold Medal of the city of Pau, the Silver Medal of Asturias, the "Lete" Gold Medal of the Province of León and the Gold Medal of the Círculo de Bellas Artes. He is Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of León.

The documentary Antonio Gamoneda: Escritura y alquimia premiered in March 2009. It was directed by Enrique and Cesar Rendueles Corti, with script by Amalia Iglesias and Julia Piera.

Books of poems in Spanish

Sublevación inmóvil [Motionless revolt]. Madrid, Rialp 1960

Descripción de la mentira [A description of the lie]. 1st ed. León, Diputación Provincial, col. County, 1977. 2nd ed. Salamanca, col. Barrio de Maravillas, 1986. 3rd ed. with a text by Julián Jiménez Heffernan Madrid, Abada Editores, 2003. 4th ed. with a text by Julián Jiménez Heffernan Madrid, Abada Editores, 2003.

León de la mirada [León of the sight]. 1st ed. León, Espadaña 1979. 2nd ed. León, Diputación Provincial, col. Breviarios de la Calle del Pez, 1990.

Tauromaquia y destino [Tauromachy and destination]. [with drawings by Juan Barjola] León, Retablo, 1980.

Blues castellano [Castilian Blues] (1961–1966). 1st ed. Gijón Noega, 1982. 2nd ed. Barcelona, Plaza y Janes, 1999. 3rd ed. Madrid, Bartleby, 2007.

Lápidas [Gravestones]. Madrid, Trieste, 1986. 2nd ed. Madrid, Abada, 2006 [with an epilogue by Julián Jiménez Heffernan].

Edad [Age] Poetry 1947–1986. 1st ed. Miguel Casado (editor and foreword). Madrid, chair, 1987 [REIMP. 1988 1988 1989 2000].

Libro del frío [Book of the cold]. 1st ed. Madrid, Siruela 1992. 2nd ed. [foreword by Jacques Ancet] Valencia, Germany 2000 [ed. Revised and expanded]. 3rd ed. Madrid, Siruela 2003 [ed. revised]. 4th ed. Madrid, Siruela 2006 [ed. revised].

Mortal 1936. Mérida, Asamblea de Extremadura 1994.

El vigilante de la nieve [The snow-watcher]. Lanzarote, Fundación César Manrique, col. Penola White, 1995.

Libro de los venenos: corrupción y fábula del Libro Sexto de Pedacio Dioscórides y Andrés de Laguna, acerca de los venenos mortíferos y de las fieras que arrojan de sí ponzoña [Book of Poisons: corruption and the fable of Book Six Pedacio Dioscorides and Andres de Laguna, about deadly poisons and the beasts that throw them]. 1st ed. Madrid, Ediciones Siruela, 1995. 2nd ed. Madrid, Siruela 1997. 3rd ed. Madrid, Siruela 2006.

Arden las pérdidas [Losses are burning]. 1st ed. Barcelona, Tusquets, 2003. 2nd ed. Barcelona, Tusquets, 2004.

Cecilia. Lanzarote, Fundación César Manrique, col. Penola White, 2004.

Reescritura [Rewriting]. Madrid, Abada, 2004.

Esta luz [This light]. Collected poetry (1947–2004). Epilogue by Miguel Casado Barcelona, Galaxia Gutenberg / Círculo de Lectores, 2004 [REIMP. 2005 2006]

Extravío en la luz [Lost in the light], Madrid, Casariego, 2009 edition of six previously unpublished poems, with engravings by Juan Carlos Mestre.

Books of poems translated

Pierres gravées [Gravestones]. Jacques Ancet (translator and foreword), Paris, France, Lettres Vives, 1996.