Azorín (1873-1967)

Spanish writer. His works include volumes of critical essays and short stories, plays, and novels, such as the autobiographical La voluntad/The Choice (1902), describing the spiritual pessimism of his generation, and Antonio Azorín (1903). He adopted the name of the hero of the latter as his pen-name.

His feeling for atmosphere and time centres on Castilian landscape and history in works such as Los pueblos/Towns (1905) and Castilla/Castille (1912). His literary criticism is exemplified in Lecturas españoles/Spanish Readings (1912), Clásicos y modernos (1913), Las valores literarias (1913), and Al margen de los clásicos (1915). In all his work there is an intensely personal tone, and his influence in the first two decades of the 20th century was very powerful.