José Manuel Caballero


José Manuel Caballero Bonald is a Spanish novelist, lecturer and poet.

Early life

He was born in calle Caballeros, Jerez, Spain. His father was Plácido Caballero, a Cuban whose mother was of European descent and whose father was from Cantabria. His mother was Julia Bonald, a descendant of Viscount Louis Gabriel Ambroise de Bonald, a traditional French philosopher who settled in Andalucia in the middle of the 19th century.

Education

Between 1936 and 1943, he studied at the Marianistas de Jerez School. During the Spanish Civil War, he spent some time in the Sierra de Cádiz and in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. He read the first books that were to influence him: Jack London, Emilio Salgari, Robert Louis Stevenson, and José de Espronceda.
Between 1944 and 1948, he undertook nautical studies in Cádiz, and he wrote his first poems. He made friends with members of the Cádiz magazine Platero, namely Fernando Quiñones, Pilar Paz Pasamar, Felipe Sordo Lamadrid, Serafín Pro Hesles, Julio Mariscal, José Luis Tejada, Francisco Pleguezuelo and Pedro Ardoy.
Caballero spent his military service in the Milicia Naval Universitaria and spent two summers sailing in the waters of the Canary Islands, Morocco and Galicia. His military career was curtailed when he contracted a lung illness and travelled to Jerez to recuperate.
Between 1949 and 1952, he studied philosophy and literature in Seville.
He continued his studies of literature in Madrid and worked on the First Biennial Latin-American Art Festival.

Career

Around 1954 he served as Secretary and later as Deputy Editor of the Papeles de Son Armadans magazine.
In 1959 he began to make friends with and collaborate with poets who would later make up the Generation of 1950. This group of literary figures were united in their political opposition to the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.
In February 1959 in Collioure, he attended the 20th anniversary of the death of Antonio Machado, along with Blas de Otero, José Agustín Goytisolo, Ángel González, José Ángel Valente, Jaime Gil de Biedma, Alfonso Costafreda and Carlos Barral.
He moved to Bogotá, where he taught Spanish literature and humanities at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. There he started his friendship with the Colombian group of the Mito magazine.
In 1963 he returned to Spain and took up several publishing posts.
Between 1965 and 1968 he spent time in Cuba and became part of an organization aimed at paying homage to Antonio Machado in Baeza in 1966, which was finally prohibited by government order. He published the Narrativa Cubana de la Revolución in 1968, and was again arrested for political reasons, and imprisoned for one month in Carabanchel jail.
In 1971 he began working for the Lexicography Seminar of the Royal Spanish Academy, where he stayed until 1975. In 1973 he also started working as literary editor for Júcar Publications, a position which he also occupied until 1975. He gave courses on narrative in several European universities and attended literary symposia.
He worked as a Contemporary Spanish Literature Professor at the Centre for Hispanic Studies at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania from 1974 to 1978. That year he was appointed President of the PEN Club Español. In Madrid, the National Drama Center performed his version of Abre el Ojo, by Rojas Zorrilla.
Between 1985 and 1988 he once again spent some time in the United States. In 1989 a high school bearing his name was inaugurated in Jerez. A public library bearing his name was inaugurated in Marbella in 1992.
In 1993 he was appointed corresponding member of the North American Spanish Language Academy. The National Classic Theatre Company performed his version of Don Gil de las Calzas Verdes by Tirso de Molina. The Sanlúcar de Barrameda Town Council named a street after him.
In 1997 the Antonio Gades Company performed his ballet adaptation of Fuenteovejuna. The Jerez City Council created the Caballero Bonald Foundation. He was awarded the title of Favourite Son of Andalucía.
In 1999 he was awarded the title of Favourite Son of the Province of Cadiz. He received the Golden Medal of the Fine Arts Circle and the Julián Besteiro Award for Arts and Literature.
In 2004 he was awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Cádiz. He also won the Queen Sofía Latin American Poetry Award.
In 2012, he was awarded the Miguel de Cervantes Prize for his achievements in Spanish literature.

Acclaim