Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
Encyclopedia : V : VI : VIC : Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez (January 29, 1867 - January 28, 1928) was a Spanish novelist in Spanish, a screenwriter and sometime film director.
Born in Valencia, today he is best known for his World War I novel Los Cuatro Jinetes del Apocalipsis. Filmed in 1921 as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, it was filmed again in 1962, reset in World War II. However, in his time he was a best-selling author in and out of Spain, also known by his controversial political activities. While "Sangre y arena" and "Los cuatro Jinetes del Apocalipsis" are his most esteemed novels among the general public, particularly outside of Spain, his Valencian novels such as "La barraca" and "Canas y barro" are the ones most valued by scholars.
He finished studying law, but hardly practised. He divided his life into politics, literature and his love for women of whom he was a deep admirer. He wrote with uncanny speed and energy. He was a fan of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.
His life can be said to be the better novel. He was a militant republican partisan in his youth and founded a newspaper, El Pueblo (Can be translated as either The Town or The People) in his home town. The newspaper aroused so much controversy and disputes that it was brought to court many times and censored. He was shot and almost killed for its notoriety in one dispute. The bullet was caught in the clasp of his belt. He had stormy love affairs. He was a proofreader for the novel Noli Me Tangere, in which the Filipino patriot José Rizal expressed his contempt of the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. He travelled to Argentina in 1909 where two new cities, Nueva Valencia and Cervantes, were created. He gave conferences on historical events and Spanish literature. Tired of failures beyond his control, Vicente Blasco Ibañez went to Paris, coinciding with the beginning of World War I. He was a supporter of the Allies in the World War.
His themes include his land of Valencia.
Novels
- A los pies de Venus
- Argentina y sus grandezas
- [Free eBook: Arroz y tartana] at Project Gutenberg
- Cañas y barro [link], about life among the fishermen-peasants of the Albufera marshes in Valencia. Also a Spanish TV series.
- Cuentos valencianos
- El caballero de la virgen
- El intruso, about immigration to the Basque Country
- El oriente
- El papa del mar, about the antipope Benedict XIII, who established his court at Peñíscola.
- [Free eBook: El paraiso de las mujeres] at Project Gutenberg
- [Free eBook: El préstamo de la difunta] at Project Gutenberg
- En busca del Gran Khan
- Entre naranjos [link], another Valencian piece. Also a Spanish TV series.
- Fantasma de las alas de oro
- Flor de mayo
- La araña negra
- [Free eBook: La Barraca] at Project Gutenberg, another Valencian piece.
- La bodega
- [Free eBook: La Catedral] at Project Gutenberg
- La horda
- La maja desnuda, about Goya's Naked Maja.
- [Free eBook: La Tierra de Todos] at Project Gutenberg
- Los argonautas
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Los Cuatro Jinetes del Apocalipsis) [link], about Argentina and the First World War. Several times filmed. [Free eBook: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse] at Project GutenbergBest seller in the United States in 1919.
- Los muertos mandan
- Luna Benamor
- Mare Nostrum, a spy novel in the Mediterranean. Filmed in 1926.
- Novelas de la costa azul
- Blood and Sand (Sangre y arena), about a matador in a love triangle. Several times filmed.
- Vistas sudamericanas
- Voluntad de vivir
- Vuelta del mundo de un novelista, a travelogue.
External link
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.