poet, playwright, novelist, essayist
Francisco de Quevedo was born in Madrid to the royal administrator Pedro Gomez de Quevedo and his wife, Maria de Santibanez. Quevedo studied at a Jesuit college before going on to the universities of Alcala and Valladolid, where he received a degree in theology.
From a young age Quevedo earned a reputation as a talented and controversial writer, inspiring the animosity of the prominent poet gOngora y argote and a distant friendship with the playwright lope de vega. He composed his most well known work, the picaresque novel Historia de la vida del buscon (The Scavenger, 1604), while still a student. Over the following years Quevedo also published work in an amazing variety of genres, including satires, historical essays, and lyric poetry.
In the years 1612 and 1613 Quevedo underwent a spiritual crisis that would find expression in much of his later writing. As a functionary of the viceroy of Sicily, he traveled frequently between Italy and Madrid. For his role in a political intrigue against the ruling party in Venice, he was imprisoned in 1621-22, and this began a period of intense literary activity. He finished his Suenos (Dreams), a series of what might be called satiric, allegorical fantasies on political and moral themes. His attacks against public figures and his outspoken political opinions continued to earn him enemies, and despite his successful career as a diplomat he became increasingly isolated. After marrying, becoming a widower, and serving again as a political prisoner, he died in Villanueva de los Infantes.
Quevedo left behind a wide variety of writings, both political and religious. The tone and style of his work varied from sober religious reflection to vulgar comedy. Yet in all his works, Quevedo demonstrated a mastery of literary forms, flexible language, and much originality. The Scavenger is considered the prototype of picaresque fiction, and his lyric poetry is among the most accomplished in the Spanish language.
English Versions of Works by Francisco de Quevedo
Lazarillo de Tormes and the Swindler: Two Spanish Picaresque Novels. Edited by Michael Alpert. New York: Penguin, 2003.
Six Masters of the Spanish Sonnet. Translated by Willis Barnstone. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1997.
Works about Francisco de Quevedo
Mariscal, George. Contradictory Subjects: Quevedo, Cervantes, and Seventeenth Century Spanish Culture. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1991.
Walters, D. Gareth. Francisco de Quevedo: Love Poet. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1986.
