Juan Ramon Jimenez

One of the most recognized Spanish writers is without a doubt Juan Ramón Jiménez , a man who was also part of the group of writers who joined after the loss of the colonies of Spain to the United States . His work starred in a renaissance in the literary field. His great style of poetry, influenced mainly by German romanticism and French symbolism , led him to occupy an important field in world literature .

Biography of Juan Ramón Jiménez

Juan Ramon Jimenez was born on December 23 of the year 1881 in the city of Moguer , Huelva . His father Víctor Jiménez and his mother Purificación Mantecón were dedicated to the cultivation and export of wines. He studied at the Jesuit college located in Puerto de Santa María, where he finished his baccalaureate. Later, he entered to study law in Seville but did not finish his career. He dedicated himself to poetry and painting . After the death of his father and the financial ruin of his family, he was psychologically affected and he had to be admitted to the Le Bouscat sanatorium located in Bordeaux.

In 1911 he returned to Madrid and lived in the student residence where he met the woman of his life, Zenobia Camprubí , with her he married and together they traveled to the United States where one of his best books, the Diary of a Poet newly married had great success. He returned to Madrid and was one of the great poets of 27 . He left Spain when the war began in 1936 after he was appointed as a cultural attaché by the Spanish Embassy in Washington.

After the war ended, he decided to stay and live in Puerto Rico, a place where his wife, who was ill with cancer, had a great attachment. In 1956 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and then his wife passed away three days later. This was an event from which this famous writer could never recover.

Death

Juan Ramón Jiménez died on May 29, 1958 at the Mímiya clinic located in Santurce, Puerto Rico . Later, his remains were taken to the side of his wife’s in the Jesus cemetery , located in the city of Moguer , Spain .

Personal life of Juan Ramón Jiménez

As for his personal life, he was in love for the first time with Blanca Hernández Pinzón, whom he called ” the white bride ” and in her honor, he wrote several of her verses. In 1903 he meets Luisa Grimn , a cultured North American woman who was already married, he falls in love with her but is rejected. Finally, in 1913 he met Zenobia Camprubí Aymar with whom he married.

Style

His style included a total existence , he wrote poetry to show the total desire for spiritual beauty and aesthetics . He had the ability to transform the concrete , to make an impression on the ineffable to unite the beautiful with the emotion . In his writings it is also possible to see the influence that modernism and symbolism had on him . He sought beauty without leaving the metaphysical and abstract aspect aside

It can be located in the movement known as Noucentismo and in the generation of 27 . Full of versatility and aesthetics, his works were divided into three important stages . The first of her was the sensitive one where she was influenced by European poetry; the second stage was the intellectual one where he stuck to the American style and the last stage was the real one , where he dedicated himself to searching for the truth.

He also focused on finding the truth and working using a language that was more detached from reality and that was closer to the metaphysical philosophy in which beauty and eternity led him to create exquisite works. He also made several prose writings that were part of his great gallery.

Physical characteristics

He was a man of slim build and tall stature. His deep black eyes as well as his hair. He had a beard and mustache , his nose was a bit prominent, and he had little hair on the front of his head.

Personality

Regarding his personality, Juan Ramón Jiménez suffered from bipolarity . His nervous breakdowns disabled him to such an extent that he had to be admitted to mental health centers. In his works, you could see the great emotional instability in which he lived. He was a dreamer and it was difficult for him at times to live reality. It was also intense , especially in their relationships.

Acknowledgments

Among its main recognitions are the following:

• In his honor, several places that are linked to the author were inscribed in the General Catalog of the Historical Heritage of Andalusia as Assets of Cultural Interest.
• An institution known as the Juan Ramón Jiménez Foundation was created, which has its headquarters in the Zenobia and Juan Ramón House Museum.
• In 1956 he was the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature for his lyrical poetry.

Plays

There were many works written by Juan Ramón Jiménez, among the most recognized are the following:

• Platero y yo : a work that took him to the top, a story of poetry that tells the life of a donkey named Platero. A book that made several criticisms against Spanish society in a satirical way.
• Diary of a newly married poet : cataloged within the current of noucentismo.
• La soledad sonora de Juan Ramón Jiménez: a compilation of his poems which were written after a great family crisis. In this work, some poems such as Melancolía , La soledad sonora , Laberinto and Poemas magicos y mourientes stand out.
• Poems such as : Rhymes, Sad Arias, Olvidanzas, Pastorales, Eternidades, Spiritual Sonnets, Voices de mi copla, Sevilla, Desired and Desiring God, On the Other Side, Andalusian Elegies and many more.
• Prose : Spaniards of three worlds, First prose, Time and Space.
• Anthologies and selections : Background Animal, Selected Pages, Critical Prose, Brief Anthology, Three Hundred Poems, among others.
• Essays : among the most important we find The Infinite Current, Modernism, Parallel Criticism, Autobiography and Self-Criticism.

Phrases

Some of his most recognized and remembered phrases are mentioned below:

• In solitude there is only what solitude takes away.
• The poet is not a philosopher, he is a clairvoyant.
• What most outrages the charlatan is a silent and dignified person.
• The moon amazes my life as if it were an illusion.
• If they give you lined paper , write on the back.
• A permanent state of transition is the noblest condition of man.
• Love, you are eternal like spring .
• The biggest killer in life is haste , the desire to get to things before the right time.

Importance

Juan Ramón Jiménez was an author of great importance not only for the poetry of Spain but also for all contemporary western poetry . His incredible ethical and aesthetic proposals were responsible for marking a division between romanticism and modernism , as well as the avant-garde that emerged during the first years of the 20th century. He is also considered one of the greatest poets that have existed in contemporary Spanish lyric and became one of the most important transmitters of modernism .

Presence in popular culture of Juan Ramón Jiménez

In popular culture it is possible to find several film adaptations of the works of Juan Ramón Jiménez. This is the case of his work Platero y yo. Also his work The Light with Time Within was made into a film as a biographical film. Some books also narrate part of his story, such as Before Zenobia, First Loves of Juan R. Jiménez by Antonio Martín Infante.

Curiosities

This renowned author suffered from hyperesthesia , a condition that caused the simplest stimuli to be perceived intensely. For this reason, I had certain problems hearing because even the smallest sound could be transformed into a deafening noise. Throughout his life he also suffered from several nervous breakdowns as he suffered from bipolar disorder and was admitted to mental health clinics on several occasions .