josé Echegaray


Echegaray, josé

 

Born Apr. 19, 1832, in Madrid; died there Sept. 16, 1916. Spanish dramatist.

Echegaray was a professor of mathematics and physics from 1854 to 1868. His early plays, for example, In the Hilt of the Sword (1875) and In the Bosom of Death (1879), are original reinterpretations of romanticism in Spanish dramaturgy. His later works, realistic plays about contemporary life, portray the pettiness and hypocrisy of bourgeois society; they include Madman or Saint (1877; Russian translation, 1891) and The Great Galeoto (1881; Russian translation, 1889). In these works, Echegaray established the principles of naturalistic drama. The influence of Ibsen is evident in his psychological plays The Son of Don Juan (1892) and The Senseless God (1900; Russian translation, 1915).

Echegaray received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1904.

WORKS

Teatro escogido, 5th ed. Foreword by A. Z. Roz. Madrid, 1964.

REFERENCES

Antóndel Olmet, L., and A. García Carrafa. Los grandes españoles: Echegaray. Madrid, 1912.
Young, J. R. José Echegaray: A Study of His Dramatic Technique. Urbana, 111., 1936.
Martinez Olmedilla, A. José Echegaray. Madrid, 1964.