Born: Puerto de Santa Maria, near Cadiz, Spain, 16 December 1902. Education: Educated at the Jesuit Colegio de San Luis Gonzaga, Puerto de Santa Maria, 1912-17; studied painting in Madrid, 1917, and lived at the Residencia de Estudiantes. Family: Married Maria Teresa Leon c. 1930; one daughter. Career: Worked as an impressionist and cubist painter until 1923; suffered from tuberculosis, 1923-24; co-founder, with his wife, Octubre magazine, 1934; director, Museo Romantico, Madrid, from 1936; co-founder and co-director, El Mono Azul, 1936-38; supported Republican government during Spanish Civil War (1936-39): co-founder, 1936, then secretary, Alliance of Anti-Fascist Intellectuals; subsequently joined the Communist Party; after the War, went into self-imposed exile: in Paris, 1939-40, Buenos Aires, 1940-63, and Rome, 1963-77; returned to Spain, 1977; elected deputy for the province of Cadiz, 1977. Lives in Barcelona. Awards: National literature prize, 1925; Lenin prize, 1965; Etna-Taormina prize, 1975; Strega prize, 1976; Kristo Botev de Bulgaria prize, 1980; National Theatre prize, 1981; Pedro Salinas prize, 1981; Cervantes prize, 1983. Honorary doctorates: University of Toulouse, 1982; University of Cadiz, 1985. Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France), 1982. Died: 28 October 1999, Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain.
Publications
Verse
Marinero en tierra. 1925; edited by Jose Luis Tejada, 1987.
La amante: Canciones. 1926.
El alba del alheli. 1927.
Sobre los angeles. 1929; as Concerning the Angels, translated by Geoffrey Connell, 1967.
Cal y canto. 1929. Consignas. 1933.
Un fantasma recorre Europa. 1933; as A Spectre Is Haunting Europe: Poems of Revolutionary Spain, translated by Ira Jan Wallach and Angel Flores, 1936.
Poesia 1924-1930. 1934. Verte y no verte. 1934.
13 bandas y 48 estrellas. 1936.
Poesia 1924-1937. 1938.
Poesia 1924-1938. 1940.
Entre el clavel y la espada 1939-1940. 1941.
Vida bilingue de un refugiado espanol en Francia. 1942.
Antologia poetica 1924-1940. 1942.
Pleamar 1942-1944. 1944.
Selected Poems, translated by Lloyd Mallan. 1944.
A lapintura: Cantata de la linea y del color. 1945; revised editions,1948 and 1953; as A la pintura, translated by Ben Belitt, 1972.
Antologia poetica 1924-1944. 1945; revised edition, 1959.
Poesia 1924-1944. 1946. El cenidor de Venus descenido. 1947.
Coplas de Juan Panadero (Libro I). 1949. Buenos Aires en tinta china, edited by Attilio Rossi. 1951.
Retornos de lo vivo lejano 1948-1952. 1952; revised edition, 1972.
Ora maritima. 1953.
Baladas y canciones del Parana. 1954.
Diez liricografias. 1954.
Maria Carmen Portela. 1956.
Sonrie China, with Maria Teresa Leon, illustrated by Alberti. 1958.
Cal y canto; Sobre los angeles; Sermones y moradas. 1959.
El otono otra vez. 1960.
Los viejos olivos. 1960.
Poesias completas. 1961.
Diez sonetos romanos. 1964.
Abierto a todas horas 1960-1963. 1964.
Elpoeta en la calle: Poesia civil 1931-1965. 1966.
Selected Poems, edited and translated by Ben Belitt. 1966.
Poemas de amor. 1967.
Balada de la bicicleta con alas. 1967.
Roma, peligro para caminantes 1964-1967. 1968.
Libro del mar, edited by Aitana Alberti. 1968.
Poesia anteriores a Marinero en tierra 1920-1923. 1969.
Los ocho nombres de Picasso, y No digo mas que lo que no digo 1966-1970. 1970; Los ochos nombres de Picasso as The Eight Names of Picasso, translated by Gabriel Berns and David Shapiro, 1992.
Canciones del alto valle del Aniene, y otros versos y prosas 1967-1972. 1972.
Poesia 1924-1967, edited by Aitana Alberti. 1972.
The Owl’s Insomnia: Poems (selection), edited and translated by ark Strand. 1973.
Poemas del destierro y de la espera, edited by J. Corredor-Matheos.1976.
Poesia. 1976.
Coplas de Juan Panadero 1949-1977; Vida bilingue de un refugiado espanol en Francia 1939-1940. 1977; Coplas de Juan Panadero as Poetica de Juan Panadero, 1987.
Poesia 1924-1977. 1977.
Sobre los angeles; Sermones y morales; Yo era tonto y lo que he visto ha hecho dos tontos. 1977.
Poemas anteriores a Marinero en tierra; Marinero en tierra; La mante; Dos estampidas reales; El alba del aheli. 1978.
Los cinco destacagados. 1978.
Signos del dia; Laprimavera de los muebles. 1978.
El matador: Poemas escenicos 1961-1965. 1979.
Fustigada luz (1972-1978). 1980.
Canto de siempre. 1980.
101 sonetos (1924-1975). 1980.
Antologia, edited by Jeronimo Pablo Gonzalez Martin. 1980.
The Other Shore: 100 Poems, edited by Kosrof Chantikian, translated by Jose A. Elgorriaga and Paul Martin. 1981.
Versos sueltos de cada dia: Primer y segundo cuadernos chinos (1979-1982). 1982.
X a X: Una correspondencia en verso (inedita) Roma—Madrid, with Jose Bergamfn. 1982.
Robert Motherwell, el Negro, illustrated by Robert Motherwell. 1983.
Antologia poetica, edited by Natalia Calamaf. 1983.
Todo el mar. 1986.
Los hijos del drago, y otros poemas. 1986.
Golfo de sombras. 1986.
Retornos de un isla dichosa, y otros poemas. 1987.
Cuatro canciones. 1987.
Accidente: Poemas del hospital. 1987.
Canciones para Altair. 1989.
Antologia comentada, edited by Maria Asuncion Mateo. 2 vols.,1990.
Noventa poemas. 1992.
Plays
El hombre deshabitado (produced 1931). 1930; edited by Gregorio Torres Nebrera, with Noche de guerra en el Museo del Prado,1991.
Santa Casilda (produced 1931).
Fermin Galan (produced 1931). 1931.
La pajara pinta (produced 1931?). 1964; in Lope de Vega y la poesia contemporanea, 1964.
Bazar de la providencia (produced 1934). In Dos farsas revolucionarios, 1934.
Dos farsas revolucionarios: Bazar de la providencia (negocio);Farsa de los Reyes Magos. 1934.
El enamorado y la muerte (produced 1936). In Revista de Occidente, 128, 1973.
Los salvadores de Espana (produced 1936). In Cuadernos
Hispanoamericanos, 485-486, 1990.
De un momento a otro (produced 1938). 1937; edited by Gregorio Torres Nebrera, with El adefesio, 1992.
Radio Sevilla (produced 1937). In Teatro de urgencia, 1938.
Numancia, from the play by Cervantes (produced 1937; revised version produced 1943). 1937; as La destruction de Numancia, 1975.
Cantata de los heroes y la fraternidad de los pueblos (produced 1938). 1938.
El ladron de ninos, from a play by Jules Supervielle (produced 1943).
El adefesio (produced 1944). 1944; edited by Gregorio Torres Nebrera,with De un momento a otro, 1992.
Farsa del licenciado Pathelin, from an anonymous French play (produced 1944). 1970.
El trebol florido (produced 1966). In Teatro, 1950.
Teatro (includes El hombre deshabitado; El trebol florido; La gallarda). 1950; enlarged edition (includes El adefesio), 1959.
Noche de guerra en el Museo del Prado (produced 1975). 1956; edited by Gregorio Torres Nebrera, with El hombre deshabitado, 1991; as Night and War in the Prado Museum, translated by Lemuel Johnson, in Modern Spanish Theatre, edited by Michael Benedikt and George E. Wellwarth, 1968.
Laspicardias de Scapin, from a play by Moliere (produced 1958).
El testamento de la rosa (produced 1962). In Poemas escenicos, 1962.
Poemas escenicos (dramatic poems). 1962.
La Lozana andaluza, from a work by Francisco Delicado (produced 1980). In Teatro 2, 1964.
Teatro 2 (includes La Lozana andaluza; De un momento a otro; Noche de guerra en el Museo del Prado). 1964.
El despertar a quien duerme, from a play by Lope de Vega (produced 1978). In Primer Acto, 178, 1975.
Screenplay: La dama duende, with Maria Teresa Leon, 1944.
Fiction
Selectiones: Relatos y prosa. 1980.
Prosas. 1980.
Prosas Encontradas, compilation and prologue by Robert Marrast, 2000.
Other
Lapoesiapopular en la lirica espanola contemporanea. 1933.
Nuestra diariapalabra. 1936.
Defensa de Catalunya. 1937.
El poeta en la Espana de 1931. 1942.
La arboledaperdida, y otrasprosas. 1942; revised edition, 1959; as The Lost Grove: Autobiography of a Spanish Poet in Exile, edited and translated by Gabriel Berns, 1976.
Eh, los toros!, illustrated by Luis Seoane. 1942.
Imagen primera de Rafael Alberti (1940-1944). 1945.
Suma taurina: Verso, prosa, teatro, illustrated by Alberti, edited by Rafael Montesinos. 1963.
Lope de Vega y la poesia contemporanea (includes the play La pajara pinta). 1964.
Prosas encontradas 1924-1942, edited by Robert Marrast. 1970.
A Year of Picasso’s Paintings. 1971.
Obras completas. 7 vols., 1972-88.
Picasso, el rayo que no cesa. 1975.
Maravillas con variaciones acrosticas en el jardin de Miro. 1975.
Teatro de agitacionpolitica, with others. 1976.
Cuaderno de Rute (1925): Un libro inedito. 1977.
Conversaciones con Rafael Alberti, with Jose Miguel Velloso. 1977.
Picasso (catologue), with others. 1977.
El poeta en la calle; De un momento a otro; Vida bilingUe de un refugiado espanol en Francia (poetry and plays). 1978.
Lo que conte y dije de Picasso. 1981.
Aire, que me lleva el aire (for children). 1981.
Federico Garcia Lorca, poeta y amigo. 1984.
Otra Andalucia, with Julio Anguita. 1986.
A una verdad: Luis Cernuda, with others. 1988.
Obra completa, edited by Luis Garcia Montero. 7 vols., 1988-.
La palabra y el signo. 1989.
The Bullfighter Sanchez Mejias as Elegized by Lorca, Alberti, and Diego, with verse translations and afterword by Carl W. Cobb, 1993.
Editor, Eglogas y fabulas castellanas. 2 vols., 1944.
Editor, Romancero general de la guerra espanola. 1944.
Editor, with Guillermo de Torre, Antologia poetica 1918-1936, by Federico Garcia Lorca. 1957.
Editor, Poesias, by Lope de Vega. 1965.
Editor, Antologia poetica: Antonio Machado, Juan Ramon Jimenez,Federico Garcia Lorca. 1970.
Editor, Antologia poetica, by Pablo Neruda. 1982.
Editor and Translator, Doinas y baladas populares rumanas. 1964.
Translator, Visages, by Gloria Alcorta. 1951.
Translator, Homenaje a la pintura, by Robert Motherwell. 1991.
Critical Studies:
Rafael Alberti’s Sobre los angeles: Four Major Themes by Cyril Brian Morris, 1966; El mundo poetico de Rafael Alberti by Solita Salinas de Marichal, 1968: Rafael Alberti by Ignacio Delogue, 1972; Rafael Alberti: Prosas encontradas 1924-1942 by Robert Marrast, 1973 (second edition); Sobre Alberti by Manuel Bayo, 1975; Rafael Alberti edited by Manuel Duran Gili, 1975; The Theatre of Rafael Alberti by Louise B. Popkin, 1975; La poesia de Rafael Alberti by Ricardo Senabre, 1977; Rafael Alberti by Jeronimo Pablo Gonzalez Martin, 1978; The Poetry of Rafael Alberti: A Visual Approach by Robert C. Manteiga, 1978; El dilema de la nostalgia en la poesia de Rafael Alberti by Barbara Dale May, 1978; Alberti issue of Malahat Review, July 1978; Revolution and Tradition: The Poetry of Rafael Alberti by Pieter Wesseling, 1981; El teatro de Rafael Alberti by Giorgio Torres Nebrera, 1982; Rafael Alberti: El escritor y la critica by Manuel Duran, 1984; La poesia de Rafael Alberti by Antonio Jimenez Millan, 1984; Dramatists in Perspective: Spanish Theatre in the Twentieth Century by Gwynne Edwards, 1985; Multiple Spaces: The Poetry of Rafael Alberti by Salvador Jimenez Fajardo, 1985; Rafael Alberti: Poesia del destierro by Concha Argente del Castillo, 1986; Rafael Alberti’s Poetry of the Thirties: The Poet’s Public Voice by Judith Nantell, 1986; Antologia comentada de Rafael Alberti edited by Maria Asuncion Mateo, 2 vols., 1990; Inquietud y nostalgia: La poesia de Rafael Alberti by Kurt Spang, 1990; Rafael Alberti: Arte y poesia de vanguardia by Pedro Guerrero Ruiz, 1991; Lorca, Alberti, and the Theater of Popular Poetry by Sandra Robertson, 1992; The Crucified Mind: Rafael Alberti and the Surrealist Ethos in Spain by Robert Harvard, 2001.
Rafael Alberti’s theatre and poetry can be separated only with difficulty, for numerous areas of thematic and stylistic similarity exist. Not only does his first attempt at theatre, La pajara pinta [The Painted Bird], written in the guinolesque (puppet) tradition, parallel early poetic works, but the surrealism of his poetry collection Sobre los angeles (Concerning the Angels), echoes in the imagery of his play of the same period, El hombre deshabitado [The Uninhabited Man]. Several of his Civil War plays repeat the titles and themes of poetry collections produced during the conflict (1936-39), while the later play Noche de guerra en el Museo del Prado (Night and War in the Prado Museum) connects directly to A lapintura [To Painting], poetry written in exile and devoted to his cherished avocation.
Alberti is considered primarily a poet, and his fame rests on his lyrics; yet his plays have been performed by numerous troupes since Franco’s death: he is not an insignificant dramatist. His plays are largely historical, and their political—even propagandist—intent dominates his ”urgent theatre” (including Bazar de laprovidencia [Bazaar of Providence], Farsa de los Reyes Magos [Farce of the Three Kings], Los salvadores de Espana [Saviours of Spain], Radio Sevilla [Radio Seville], and Cantata de los heroes y de lafraternidad de los pueblos [Song of Heroes and Fraternity Among Peoples]). Because the propagandist content, resulting from war-time urgency, is less overt in Night and War in the Prado Museum, this play (influenced by Bertolt Brecht both in its staging conventions—it has a play within the play—and its intent) exemplifies his best political theatre. Recalling the Nationalist bombardment of Madrid, the play depicts efforts of Republican militia and partisans to save national treasures. Characters from Goya’s paintings are brought to life to join contemporary patriots in their struggle. Political ideology is essentially absent in earlier plays such as Fermin Galan, and is not the major thrust of the plays De un momento a otro [From One Moment to the Next], El trebolflorido [The Flowering Clover], Lagallarda [The Graceful Woman], or El adefesio [The Ridiculous Gentleman]. La Lozana andaluza [The Attractive Andalusian Woman] is based on the 1528 picaresque novel by Francisco Delicado.
As one of the more versatile and prolific poets of the Generation of 1927 (which included equally famous contemporaries such as Federico Garcia Lorca, Vicente Aleixandre, and Luis Cernuda), Alberti evolves similarly to those colleagues who survived the Civil War, from early post-romanticism through the baroque, neo-Gongorine mode for which the generation first became known, through subsequent vanguardist experimentation, and then to war-influenced political commitment and engagement. Despite relatively facile initial success with his first three collections, Marinero en tierra [Landlocked Sailor], La amante [The Lover], and El alba del alheli [Dawn of the Gillyflower], rooted in Spain’s popular oral balladry tradition, Alberti consciously incorporated generational innovations in his own verse. Thus a more stylized, baroque poetry appears in Cal y canto [Whitewash and Song], whose later poems reflect influences of the Ultraist movement. Concerning the Angels (written during a personal crisis) is Alberti’s most surrealist work.
The engage ideological nature of his 1930s poetry intensifies from the transitional civil elegy, ”Con los zapatos puestos tengo que morir” [I Must Die with My Shoes On] through Consignas [Watchword], Un fantasma recorre Europe (A Spectre Is Haunting Europe), and 13 bandas y 48 estrellas [13 Bars and 48 Stripes], culminating in Elpoeta en la calle [The Poet in the Street], ”omances de la guerra de Espana” [Spanish War Ballads], and De un momento a otro [From One Moment to the Next]. Reflections of exile appear in Vida bilingue de un refugiado espanol en Francia [The Bilingual Life of a Spanish Refugee in France] and collections written in Argentina: Entre el clavel y la espada [Between the Carnation and the Sword]; Pleamar [High Tide]; Retornos de lo vivo lejano [Songs of a Vivid Past], re-creating some especially significant moments in the poet’s life; Buenos Aires en tinta china [Buenos Aires in Indian Ink]; and ”Poemas de Punta del Este” [Poems from Punta del Este]. Alberti’s leftist political connections motivate a continuing vein of Marxist ideology in much of his exile poetry, notably in Coplas de Juan Panadero [Ditties of Juan the Baker] and ”La primavera de los pueblos” [Springtime of the Peoples]. Sonrie China [China Smiles], done in collaboration with his wife, Maria Teresa Leon, followed a visit to China.
Alberti’s best poetry from Argentina celebrates his paternity and love for his daughter, born in exile, in Pleamar, and Baladas y canciones del Parana [Songs and Ballads of the Parana River]. In Italy, Alberti’s political fervour slowly waned, and other emphases appear in Poemas de amor [Love Poems], Roma, peligro para caminantes [Rome, Danger for Pedestrians], Los ocho nombres de Picasso (The Eight Names of Picasso), and Canciones del alto valle del Aniene [Songs of the Upper Aniene Valley]. El matador: Poemas escenicos [The Matador: Scenic Poems] reveals that the bullfight continues to fascinate Alberti just as when he wrote his early elegy on the death of Ignacio Sanchez Mejfas, ”Verte y no verte” [To See You and Not See You].
The partisan nature of Alberti’s political poetry makes it difficult to read or judge impartially, and certain critics have dismissed it as tendentious and overly propagandist. Some of his verse is excessively allegorical, yet it contains unique rhetorical and metrical innovations and many expressive images, particularly in Entre el clavel y la espada, his most creative political expression. The best-known, most frequently studied and anthologized of Alberti’s poems are in his first four collections. The childlike perspective and notes of fantasy with which the poet re-creates his native fishing village in Marinero en tierra make it a mythical paradise, and here, as in La amante, the poet’s great love for the sea imbues his lines with lyric passion.
Nevertheless, the darkly serious, subjective poems of Concerning the Angels are considered by many his greatest achievement. Through contrasts (of good and evil, light and dark) and antithetical images, Alberti portrays his emotional crisis in an oneiric landscape of air and fire. Another critical favourite, El alba del alheli, recreates popular customs, myths, and beliefs of Andalusia, expressing rural traditions, joys, and sufferings through popular metric forms drawn from oral culture. The unpretentious early works have proven to be the most widely known and enduring aspects of Alberti’s work.
