Juan Goytisolo facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Juan Goytisolo
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Juan Goytisolo in 2008
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| Born | Juan Goytisolo Gay 6 January 1931 Barcelona, Spain |
| Died | 4 June 2017 (aged 86) Marrakesh, Morocco |
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| Nationality | Spanish |
| Period | 1954–2017 |
| Literary movement | Post-Modernism |
| Notable works | Count Julian |
| Notable awards | Miguel de Cervantes Prize 2014 |
| Spouse | Monique Lange |
| Relatives | Luis Goytisolo, José Agustín |
Juan Goytisolo Gay (born January 6, 1931 – died June 4, 2017) was a famous Spanish writer. He wrote poems, essays, and novels. He lived in the city of Marrakesh, Morocco, from 1997 until he passed away in 2017.
Many people thought Juan Goytisolo was the greatest living Spanish writer in the early 2000s. Even though he was Spanish, he lived outside of Spain for most of his life, starting in the 1950s. In 2014, he received the Cervantes Prize. This is the most important award for writers in the Spanish-speaking world.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Juan Goytisolo was born into a wealthy family. He later said that his family's high social status and some difficult family stories made him want to join the Communist party when he was young. This party wanted to change society and how it was organized.
During the Spanish Civil War, his father was put in prison. His mother, Julia Gay, sadly died in 1938 during an air raid in Barcelona. After the war, Juan went to a Jesuit school in Barcelona. He started writing stories there when he was a teenager. He later studied law at two universities but left before finishing his degree.
Writing Career and Exile
Juan Goytisolo published his first novel, The Young Assassins, in 1954. In 1956, he served in the military for six months. This experience gave him ideas for some of his early stories.
He strongly disagreed with the ruler of Spain at the time, Francisco Franco. Because of this, he moved to Paris, France, in 1956. There, he worked for a publishing company called Gallimard. In the 1960s, he became friends with a writer named Guy Debord.
From 1969 to 1975, Juan Goytisolo taught literature at universities in California, Boston, and New York. During this time, he wrote novels that were different from his earlier, more realistic ones. These included Marks of Identity (1966), Count Julian (1970), and Juan the Landless (1975).
He also translated the works of José María Blanco White into Spanish. He used these translations to criticize the government of Francoist Spain. Like all his own books, these translations were not allowed in Spain until after Franco died.
In 2012, Goytisolo announced that he would no longer write novels. He felt he had said all he wanted to say. However, he continued to write essays and some poetry.
About Count Julian
His novel Count Julian (published in 1970) is a very bold book. It tells the story from the side of Julian, count of Ceuta. In Spanish history, Count Julian is usually seen as a great traitor.
But Goytisolo wanted to imagine "the destruction of Spanish mythology." He wanted to challenge traditional Spanish ideas about Catholicism and nationalism. He said he felt like the "great traitor who opened the door to Arab invasion." The main character in the novel is an exile in North Africa. He is very angry at Spain and dreams of destroying the old Spanish myths.
Family Life
Juan Goytisolo was married to Monique Lange. She was a publisher, novelist, and screenwriter. They met in Paris in the 1950s and got married in 1978. They lived together until she passed away in 1996. After her death, Juan said their apartment in Paris felt like a tomb. In 1997, he moved to Marrakesh, Morocco, where he lived until his death in 2017.
Juan Goytisolo had two brothers who were also writers. They were José Agustín Goytisolo (1928–1999) and Luis Goytisolo (born 1935).
Major Works
Fiction
- The Young Assassins (Juegos de manos) (1954)
- Duelo en el Paraíso (1955)
- El mañana efímero (trilogy)
- El circo (1957)
- Fiestas (1958)
- La Resaca (1958)
- Para vivir aquí (1960)
- La isla (1961)
- La Chanca (1962)
- Fin de fiesta. Tentativas de interpretación de una historia amorosa (1962)
- Álvaro Mendiola (trilogy)
- Marks of Identity (Señas de identidad, 1966)
- Count Julian (Reivindicación del conde don Julián, 1970)
- Juan the Landless (Juan sin Tierra, 1975)
- Makbara (1980)
- Paisajes después de la batalla (1985)
- Las virtudes del pájaro solitario (1988)
- La cuarentena (1991)
- El sitio de los sitios (1995)
- Las semanas del jardín (1997)
- The Marx Family Saga (1999), (La saga de los Marx, 1993)
- State of Siege (2002)
- Telón de boca (2003)
- A Cock-Eyed Comedy (2005) (Carajicomedia, 2000)
- Exiled from Almost Everywhere (El exiliado de aquí y allá, 2008)
Essays
- Problemas de la novela (1959). About literature.
- Furgón de cola (1967).
- España y los españoles (1979). About history and politics.
- Crónicas sarracinas (1982).
- El bosque de las letras (1995). About literature.
- Disidencias (1996). About literature.
- De la Ceca a la Meca. Aproximaciones al mundo islámico (1997).
- Cogitus interruptus (1999).
- El peaje de la vida (2000). With Sami Nair.
- Landscapes of War: From Sarajevo to Chechnya (2000).
- El Lucernario: la pasión crítica de Manuel Azaña (2004).
Other Writings
- Campos de Níjar (1954). Travel writing and journalism.
- Pueblo en marcha. Tierras de Manzanillo. Instantáneas de un viaje a Cuba (1962). Travel writing and journalism.
- Obra inglesa de Blanco White (1972). Editor.
- Coto vedado (1985). Memoir (a book about his own life).
- En los reinos de taifa (1986). Memoir.
- Alquibla (1988). TV script for TVE.
- Estambul otomano (1989). Travel writing.
- Aproximaciones a Gaudí en Capadocia (1990). Travel writing.
- Cuaderno de Sarajevo (1993). Travel writing and journalism.
- Argelia en el vendaval (1994). Travel writing and journalism.
- Paisajes de guerra con Chechenia al fondo (1996). Travel writing and journalism.
- Lectura del espacio en Xemaá-El-Fná (1997). Illustrated by Hans Werner Geerdts.
- El universo imaginario (1997).
- Diálogo sobre la desmemoria, los tabúes y el olvido (2000). A conversation with Günter Grass.
- Paisajes de guerra: Sarajevo, Argelia, Palestina, Chechenia (2001).
- Pájaro que ensucia su propio nido (2001). Articles.
- Memorias (2002).
- España y sus Ejidos (2003).
- Cinema Eden: Essays from the Muslim Mediterranean (Eland, 2003) – an English translation of some of his essays.
Awards and Recognition
Juan Goytisolo received many important awards for his writing:
- 1985: Europalia Prize for Literature
- 1993: Nelly Sachs Prize
- 2002: Octavio Paz Prize
- 2004: Juan Rulfo Prize for Latin American and Caribbean Literature
- 2008: National Prize for Spanish Literature
- 2010: Premio Don Quijote
- 2012: Prix Formentor
- 2014: Miguel de Cervantes Prize
See also
In Spanish: Juan Goytisolo para niños
