RAMON J. SENDER: BIOGRAPHY, STYLE AND WORKS - LITERATURE - 2024

Ramón J. Sender (1901-1982) was a renowned Spanish writer and novelist who stood out for the themes developed in his works, as well as for how prolific he was. His ability to cultivate different literary genres was admirable. His rebellious and radical spirit was clearly reflected in his work.

Given his radical, libertarian and anarchist affinity position, his first works had a social character, with the intention of denouncing a society at war and divided. He was always a writer of realities, observation and nostalgia were present elements.

Ramón J. Sender, pencil portrait. Source: Alexandrapociello, from Wikimedia Commons

Sender has been considered one of the most widely read Spanish writers in postwar times. His fame is such that he is almost on a par with Miguel de Cervantes when it comes to translating his works into various languages. His philosophy of existence allowed him to have a language full of life and frankness.

Biography

Ramón J. Sender was born on February 3, 1901 in Aragón, specifically in the Chalamera municipality, in the province of Huesca. He came from a well-off family. His father, José Sender Chavanel, served as city clerk, and his mother, Andrea Garcés, was a teacher.

Sender's academic background

Sender's first years of education were spent in the town of Alcolea de Cinca. Later, in 1911, when he was ten years old, he began to attend high school in Tauste, where the family had moved. In addition, he spent years of his childhood boarding in the schools of the friars of Reus.

As a teenager he moved to Zaragoza with his relatives, and there he studied the last two years of high school. At that time there were student riots and they blamed him for being part of them, so they suspended him, and he had to finish studying in the city of Alcañiz. There he worked to support himself.

Sender always disagreed with the authoritarian and imposing character of his father. That was why he worked from a young age to survive, because for a time his father withdrew his support. At the age of seventeen, he decided to go to the capital of Spain to seek new directions.

His stay in Madrid was a difficult time. He left without money and without family support, for which he had to sleep in the open. Later he began to make small publications in some newspapers. He tried to start studies in philosophy and letters at the university, but dropped out and did it himself.

Sender, rebel and fighter

Ramón J. Sender's time in Madrid did not last a year, the authority of the father was felt, and he went to look for him under the legal protection of being a minor, forcing him to return to Huesca. There he was director of the newspaper La Tierra, because of his age, a lawyer friend of his took the regulatory part.

Sender entered the military when he was twenty-one years old, as part of his mandatory military service. This is how he participated in the Moroccan War, for two years, between 1922 and 1924. Time in combat provided him with material to write Imán, an emblematic novel in his career.

At the end of the war he worked as an editor and editor at the newspaper El Sol for about six years. By 1930 he was already a renowned and established journalist, and he collaborated in the editions of various printed media. His anarchist ideals were still alive.

Sender's marriage and misery

When Sender was already a renowned journalist and writer, he met the pianist and feminist activist Amparo Barayón Miguel, who in a short time became his wife. The lovers met in Madrid, during the gatherings, conferences and talks that took place in the city's athenaeum.

Scholars affirm that the couple married in 1935, and that two children were subsequently born: Ramón and Andrea. Amparo was also a militant or defender of the anarchist philosophy, and this was the cause of many political problems.

The young couple were on vacation in a town in Segovia when the Civil War began. The family had to separate in order to survive. However, for Amparo to go to the city of Zamora with the children and Sender to enlist as a soldier on the Republican front, it was not enough.

Imprisonment and death of Amparo

Amparo learned of her brothers' imprisonment when she arrived in Zamora. As she was a brave and courageous woman, she blamed the governor of the province for those acts, and that was reason for her to be taken to jail along with her little daughter. It was the time of the dictator Franco.

Francisco Franco

As of August 29, 1936, Sender's wife remained locked up with her daughter Andrea, until they were separated on October 10 of that same year. The girl ended up in an orphanage. Contact with the writer was impossible.

It was on October 11, 1936 when the dictatorship decided to take the pianist to the firing squad in the cemetery of the city where she was born, Zamora. For two years J. Sender did not know of her children, until in 1938 she was able to recover them. Later they went into exile in Mexico.

Exile in Mexico and foundation of Ediciones Quetzal

Sender spent a brief time with his children in Mexico, then, in 1939, he arrived in New York City, leaving the children with a familiar family. He returned to Mexico and founded Ediciones Quetzal, a publishing house that allowed him to publish several of his works.

Jobs in US universities and new marriage

The novelist returned to the United States in 1942, and worked as a professor at several universities such as Harvard, Colorado and Denver. He collaborated on research projects, remarried Florence Hall, and two more children were born as a result of the marriage.

Nationalization as an American

Spanish military in Blocao, during the Moroccan War. Source: UnknownUnknown author, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1946 the writer left his Spanish nationality behind and became a naturalized American. The following year, and for sixteen more, he was professor of the chair of Spanish Literature at the University of New Mexico. The years of exile were of much literary production for the writer.

After twenty years he got divorced, he was not able to be faithful. He traveled to Spain for the first time in 1968. Then he continued with his work as a professor, and also wanted to regain his Spanish nationality in 1980, but death came unsuccessfully on January 16, 1982.

Style

The literary style of Ramón J. Sender was characterized by being crude and real regarding the treatment he gave to the themes he developed, this was due to his rebellious and radical personality in the face of social problems. Originality and observation were his hallmarks of success.

The writer and journalist had the ability to narrate and describe the events, he did it with an ability that few had. He also used a language that suggested vivacity, defense, freedom and at the same time was spontaneous and passionate, just like his position in life.

Much of his narrative work was expressed with imaginative qualities that caused it to be compared to elements of the Baroque. Sender was free to write, he did not adhere to literary movements, but his rich and complex personality gave him the basis to create.

Plays

The work of Ramón J. Sender was quite fertile and productive, he occupied several genres of literature, in addition to the various journalistic works he did. The essay, the narrative, the lyric and the theater were the writer's occupation. Here are his most important works:

Narrative

- Magnet (1930).

- The verb became sex: Teresa de Jesús (1931).

- Seven Red Sundays (1932).

- Journey to the crime village (1934).

- Mister Witt in the canton (1935).

- Counterattack (1938).

- The place of a man (1939).

- Mexicayotl (1940).

- Chronicle of the dawn (1942-1966).

- The King and the Queen (1948).

- Mosén Millán (1953).

- Byzantium (1956).

- The five books of Ariadna (1957).

- The laurels of Anselmo (1958).

- The moon of the dogs (1962).

- Jubilee in the Zócalo (1964).

- The equinoctial adventure of Lope de Aguirre (1964).

- Cervantes's chickens and other parabolic narratives (1967).

- Nancy's thesis (1962).

- Border stories (1970).

- The fugitive (1972).

- A virgin knocks at your door (1973).

- The gold fish (1976).

- Adela and I (1978).

- Ramú and the auspicious animals (1980).

- Chandrío in the Plaza de los Cortes (1981).

- The rider and the night mare (1982).

Test

The most important essays by J. Sander were:

- The religious problem in Mexico: Catholics and Christians (1928).

- Madrid-Moscow narrations of a trip (1934).

- Unamuno, Valle-Inclán, Baroja and Santayana (1955).

- Essays on Christian infringement (1967).

- America before Columbus (1930).

Theater

The following were Sender's most renowned plays:

- Hernán Cortes (1940).

- Los antofagastas: where marijuana grows (1967).

- Don Juan in the mancebía (1968).

- The laurels of Anselmo (1958).

- Jubilee in the Zócalo (1966).

Lyric

Within this literary genre, two titles by the Spanish writer and novelist Ramón J. Sender predominated: Migratory Images (1960) and Armillary Book of Poetry and Leap Memories (1973). Without a doubt, the author's work was prodigious and extensive.

Brief description of the most important works

Magnet

It has been considered the first Sender novel. The novel is based on ideas in favor of peace and against military actions. The author was inspired by the Moroccan War, therefore he placed the actions between 1921 and 1924.

The development of the work has both real and imaginary events to enrich it. Sender structured it into three parts, which in turn divided them into five, six, and five chapters respectively. Antonio, as narrator, and Viance, as a soldier, are the main protagonists.

Mister Witt in the canton

This historical novel by Ramón J. Sender earned him the National Narrative Prize, awarded by the Ministry of Culture of Spain. It is about a love and jealousy story between the married couple formed by the engineer Jorge Witt and Milagritos Rueda. The story takes place in the Canton of Cartagena.

The writer structured it into three chapters or books, and each of them was subdivided in chronological order of the months of the year, beginning with March and ending in December. As Sender claimed, he wrote it twenty-three days before the award he won.

A man's place

This title is one of the first works of the writer published during the exile. In this work he made an evocative journey to his childhood, inspired by the true story of a peasant who was blamed for a crime he did not commit, and who had to flee to maintain his freedom.

This work was the reflection of a J. Sender who cared about his neighbor, and who through the crudeness of his pen managed to expose a social and moral theme: justice and freedom, in the most accurate way possible. In addition, with history, he exposed some problems of rural life.

Mosén Millán or Requiem for a Spanish Peasant

This was a narrative work conceived in exile, in Mexico specifically, and it was known at first with the title Mosén Millán. Already by 1960 it was given the name Requiem by a Spanish peasant, and that is how it is known to this day. It was censored in Spain.

The play tells the story of Paco “el del molino”, a man appreciated in his town for his human qualities, to whom Mosén Millán, the priest, and the entire community, celebrate a mass for the anniversary of his death. It is narrated from the perspective of the parish priest.

The novel is not a simple story of admiration and death, it is also the author's denunciation of the position of the church in times of war in Spain. This work by Sender was included in the list of the hundred best novels in Spanish of the 20th century.

The equinoctial adventure of Lope de Aguirre

It was a historical novel, set in the Amazon, where Sender narrated the actions of the Spanish conqueror Pedro de Ursúa in search of the legendary city known as El Dorado, as well as the rebellion of the explorer Lope de Aguirre, El tirano.

In the novel there are many characters and detailed descriptions. It is a story of ambition and unbridled passions. Hopelessly destined for tragedy, suspicion and betrayal are the order of the day. The monologues of The Tyrant abound.

References

1. Fernández, J. (2019). Ramón José Sender. Spain: Hispanoteca. Recovered from: hispanoteca.eu.
2. Ramón J. Sender. (1918). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: wikipedia.org.
3. Barreiro, J. (2011). Ramón José Sender. (N / a): Javier Barreiro. Recovered from: javierbarreiro.wordpress.com.
4. Ramón J. Sender. (S. f.). (N / a): Ramón J. Sender. Recovered from: ramonjsender.com.
5. Tamaro, E. (2019). Ramón J. Sender. Spain: Biographies and Lives: the online biographical encyclopedia. Recovered from: biografiasyvidas.com.