WENCESLAO FERNÁNDEZ FLÓREZ: BIOGRAPHY AND WORKS - LITERATURE - 2025

Wenceslao Fernández Flórez (1885-1964) was a Spanish writer and journalist whose work was based on the development of novels and newspaper articles. His particular style of writing allowed many scholars to consider him the greatest humorist of the last century.

At first, Fernández's narrative work was characterized by elements typical of life in Galicia, with feelings charged with melancholy. In newspaper articles, social criticism was the order of the day, always with a good dose of humor. This particularity made him stand out from the rest of the writers of his time.

Wenceslao Fernández Fórez. Source: Vida Gallega, 15-5-1923, p. 28, via Wikimedia Commons

The personal traits of the author can be seen in his work. This is how pessimism, hopelessness, distrust, and concern for moral issues are present in most of his novels. Irony and humor were his anchors, his way of exposing the disillusionment he felt for society.

Biography

Birth and family

Wenceslao was born on February 11, 1885 in La Coruña, Galicia. His parents were Antonio Luís Fernández Lago and Florentina Flórez Núñez. Ironically, it was misfortune that led him to become a writer, since he was a child he showed an interest in medicine.

Fernández Flórez's first contacts with journalism

Until the age of fifteen, Fernández Flórez had an academic training typical of any child his age, and he wanted to be a doctor. In 1900, when his father died, he had to drop out of school, and began working to help the family. Already there he began to see his dreams shatter, although later this would change.

The first job he got was as a journalist, in a newspaper in his hometown called La Mañana. His talent quickly became noticeable, and other newspapers in the region opened their doors to him, such as Tierra Gallega.

In 1902, at the age of seventeen, Wenceslao had the great task of directing La Defensa, a weekly published by the city of Betanzos. The editorial line of the printed medium was against capitalism, and in favor of agrarian society. Since then his journalistic activity has been increasing.

The following year the now journalist went to Madrid to hold a position in the Customs Directorate, but resigned to accept a job in journalism. So he began to work at the newspaper El Parlamentarian, then at ABC, in which he published his chronicles Acotaciones de un listener.

Wenceslas writer

The fact that Wenceslao came to journalism out of necessity, meant a lot in his life, because he became one of the best known writers of his time. His first steps were taken with Alfonso Rodríguez Castelao and with Manuel María Puga alias Picadillo.

His talent for letters made him worthy of several awards, including the one from the Círculo de Bellas Artes, for his work Volvoreta. This was a novel that told stories of forbidden loves, in the context of a Galicia of the agrarian age that, therefore, was not prepared for what was out of the ordinary.

Exile and return to the writer's homeland

Wenceslao Fernández Flórez, like many intellectuals of his time, began to be persecuted and threatened when the Civil War began in 1936. He took refuge first in the Argentine embassy, ​​and then in the Netherlands, after an invitation that the government gave him. did.

In 1937 he tried to leave the country, but the Government refused, from then on a dispute began between the Dutch and Spanish governments, until the Low Country got their way. In July of that same year he left his country. From that period are The Novel Number 13 and An Island in the Red Sea.

Some time after having lived in Holland, he returned to Spain. He caught up with his work again, and became a member of the Royal Spanish Academy in 1945. Furthermore, as a social critic, he agreed to write Camarote de lujo, a film about the dictator Francisco Franco.

Death of the writer

Tomb of Wenceslao Fernández Flórez. Source: Jglamela, from Wikimedia Commons

The writer had already established himself in his career, and with that the honors and recognitions did not stop. The city where he was born honored him in 1950 as an Illustrious Son, and he also received the Cross of Alfonso X in 1959. The writer died in Madrid on April 29, 1964.

Plays

Wenceslao's work was prolific; In addition to his hundreds of newspaper articles, he wrote forty novels and as many books of humorous narration.

His ironically shrewd style was what made him famous, even though the outlines of his writing were not particularly transformative. Humor led him to the pinnacle of success.

His personality was reflected in many of his literary works; apart from criticizing Spanish society, his message was one of disbelief in a world that did not care about morals or spirituality. Here are their most relevant titles:

- The sadness of peace (1910).

- The Gomar family (1914).

- Moonlight (1915).

- Annotations of a listener (1916).

- Volvoreta (1917).

- The devil's glasses (1918).

- A thief has entered (1922).

- Tragedies of vulgar life (1922).

- The secret of Bluebeard (1923).

- Visions of neurasthenia (1924).

- A few steps of a woman (1924).

- The seven columns (1926).

- Immoral story (1927).

- The one who wanted to kill himself (1929).

- Artificial ghosts (1930).

- Those of us who did not go to war (1930).

- The evil Carabel (1931).

- The man who bought a car (1932).

- Adventures of the knight Rogelio de Amaral (1933).

- The house of the rain (1935).

- An island in the Red Sea (1938).

- Why is your husband cheating on you (1939).

- The novel number 13 (1941).

- The animated forest (1943).

- Me and the thief (1944).

- The bull, the bullfighter and the cat (1946).

- The Caged Cloud (1947).

- The Pelegrín system (1949).

- Fireworks (1954).

- From goal to goal (1957).

Several of his writings were brought to the big screen, such as The Animated Forest and Volvoreta.

Brief description of one of his most significant works

Volvoreta

It is a forbidden love story between Sergio, a wealthy young man, and Federica, who worked as a maid in his house. They call her "Volvoreta", which is butterfly in Galician. The author set it in Galicia, under a rural description and customs typical of that time.

The writer describes in a very open and satirical way all the experiences that occurred between the protagonists, at the same time that he exposes the characteristics of the time, the population and its inhabitants.

References

1. Wenceslao Fernández Flórez. (2019). Spain: Royal Spanish Academy. Recovered from: rae.es.
2. Tamaro, E. (2019). Wenceslao Fernández Flórez. (N / a): Biographies and Lives. Recovered from: biografiasyvidas.com.
3. Wenceslao Fernández Flórez. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: wikipedia.org
4. Wenceslao Fernández Flórez (2019). Spain: Lecturalia. Recovered from: lecturalia.com.
5. Wenceslao Fernández Flórez. (Sf). Spain: Spain is culture. Recovered from: españaescultura.es.