ALEJANDRO CASONA: BIOGRAPHY, STYLES, WORKS AND PHRASES - LITERATURE - 2024

Alejandro Casona, real name Alejandro Rodríguez Álvarez (1903-1965) and also known as The Solitary, was a Spanish writer, playwright and teacher. His literary work was framed within the Generation of 27, with a poetic type theater product of his life experiences.

Alejandro Casona's work was characterized by being unique and different. He had the ability to create characters from the fictional and psychological; This allowed him to innovate and began to give the audience an artistic style different from the one that already existed in his time.

Bust of Alejandro Casona, in the Paseo de los Poetas, El Robledal, Buenos Aires. Source: Gabriel Sozzi, via Wikimedia Commons Casona's literary work was abundant, distributed in various genres, such as drama, theater, essay, and poetry. Like many of his contemporaries, much of his work was produced in exile, due to the Spanish Civil War of 1936.

Biography

Birth and family

Alejandro was born on March 23, 1903, in the town of Besullo, in Asturias, in a family of teachers with limited economic resources. His parents were Gabino Rodríguez Álvarez and Faustina Álvarez García. His early childhood years were spent under the shade of a chestnut tree and between some moves.

Casona Education

Casona lived in her hometown until she was five years old, then, together with her parents, she went to Villaviciosa, a town where she studied primary school. Some time later she moved to Gijón, where she attended high school. Upon completion, he studied philosophy and letters at the University of Oviedo.

Within his training there was also an apprenticeship at the Conservatory of Music and Declamation. In 1922 he went to Madrid and began studies at the School of Higher Education for Teaching. In 1926 he became an inspector of primary education.

Theater and marriage

In 1928 he began to work as a teacher in the Aran Valley, there he took advantage of the opportunity to teach children theater for children, starting up the group The Pinto Bird. That was also the year in which he married an old schoolmate named Rosalía Martín Bravo.

The couple went to live in the town of Lés, where Alejandro carried out his profession. At that time she made the adaptation for the theater of a play by Oscar Wilde entitled The Crime of Lord Arturo, which premiered in Zaragoza. It was the first time that his signature as Alejandro Casona appeared in public.

Moving to Madrid

In 1930 Casona experienced the happiness of the birth of her daughter Marta Isabel, who was born in Lés, Lérida province, where they stayed until the following year. In 1931 she moved with her family to Madrid, after having won a position in the Provincial Inspection.

View of the town of Lés, where the writer lived for a time. Source: Père Igor, via Wikimedia Commons That stage in the capital of Spain led him to be director together with the musician and concert performer Eduardo Martínez Torner, of the Traveling Theater or the Town, as part of the cultural project of the Pedagogical Missions created by the historian Manuel Cossío during the Second Republic.

Theater for Spain

Casona's experience in the traveling theater kept him on a tour of the Spanish territory between 1932 and 1935, taking theatrical pieces to the most remote places. In addition, his talent led him to write some versioned works, such as Sancho Panza en la insula.

Casona's work in literature earned him, in 1932, the National Prize for Literature for the prose text of readings for young people entitled Flor de leyendas. In 1934, for the comedy La sirena varada, he won the Lope de Vega Prize.

Large house in times of the Civil War

When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, Casona remained invariable to the republican government. However, he realized that his future would be cut short because the fight would not be short. But the writer presented some plays in hospitals for the wounded and then decided to go into exile.

25 years of exile

Alejandro Casona left Spain in 1937 as a result of the war. In the first instance he arrived in Mexico, then he made several trips through Venezuela, Peru, Costa Rica, Colombia and Cuba. Finally, in 1939, he decided to settle in the capital city of Argentina, Buenos Aires.

During those twenty-five years in exile, Casona produced a good part of his work. The experience of living far from "home" led him to be deeper and more intense. At that time he wrote Forbidden to commit suicide in spring, The lady of the dawn and The house of the seven balconies, among other works.

Return to the homeland

Alejandro Casona returned to Spain in 1962, upon arrival he produced different plays. Although the critics and the general public welcomed them, the new generations rejected it as boring and traditional. The theater specialist magazine, Primer Acto, was its main judge.

Casona was not overwhelmed, and continued doing what he liked. So, in 1964, she brought to the stage what was her last work: The Knight with the Golden Spurs, inspired by the playwright Francisco de Quevedo. The writer died the following year, on September 17 in the city of Madrid.

Style

Casona's literary style was based on the use of simple, precise and humorous language. Along with Federico García Lorca, he was one of the innovators of comic theater, and his main intention was to make the audience keep their imagination alive.

Alejandro Casona combined reality with the fantastic, where surprises and tricks were constant. In his stagings it was common to see clear and exciting arguments, as well as skillful, in addition to few actors. His works were generally structured in three acts.

Plays

Dramas

Poetry

Collections

- Complete works of Alejandro Casona (1969).

- Select theater (1973).

Phrases

- "There is no serious thing that cannot be said with a smile."

- "Better to apply crying whenever possible, as ancient medicine applied bleeding."

- "Novels have never been written by more than those who are incapable of living them."

- “It is not enough to be young. It is necessary to be drunk of youth. With all its consequences ”.

- “In true love no one commands; they both obey ”.

- “Cry, yes; but cry standing up, working; it is better to sow a harvest than to cry over what was lost ”.

- "If you are happy, hide. You can't walk around a beggar's neighborhood laden with jewels. You cannot walk a happiness like yours through a world of wretches ”.

- "To speak little, but badly, it is already a lot to speak".

- "The reason is not stronger because it is said out loud."

- "Beauty is the other form of truth."

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