Anthony Hills

Antonio Colinas (La Bañeza, León, January 30, 1946) is a Spanish poet, novelist, essayist and translator. He has published a varied work that has received, among other awards, the National Prize for Literature in 1982.

Biographical information

Antonio Colinas Lobato was born in La Bañeza (León) on January 30, 1946, a city and territory of León with which, despite his traveling history, he has always been in frequent communication. Neither his biography nor his work would be understood without his communication with other cultures, such as those on both shores of the Mediterranean, those of the Far East or those of Hispanic America.

Therefore, his telluric roots are at the origin, but he has always tried to project them, universalize them, an eagerness that he has set in the content and themes of his books in various genres.

Also faithful to the fusion –by him always so defended between poetry and life, between the experience of living and the experience of writing– his work could not be understood without those stays in other spaces whose influence has also been underlined by Professor José Enrique Martínez in the critical edition of "En la luz respirada" (Madrid, Cátedra, 2004). Stages such as those of his adolescence in southern Andalusia (Córdoba, 1961-1964), Madrid in his university years (1964-1970 and 1975-1977), Paris (autumn 1968), Milan and

Bergamo (Italy, 1970-1974), the decisive 21 years in Ibiza (Baleares, 1977-1998) or the no less decisive stay of 24 years in Salamanca.

During his stay in Italy he worked as visiting professor and Lecturer in Spanish at the Universities of Milan and Bergamo. Since his arrival in Madrid, in the fall of 1964, he had Vicente Aleixandre, future Nobel Prize winner, as a teacher until his death. Somewhat later, she would also be her teacher, more in the field of thought, the philosopher María Zambrano, whom he met when she was still living in Geneva. About her he would write her book About María Zambrano. Ignited mysteries (Siruela, 2019).

His first publications date from 1969 and belong to the lyrical genre: Poemas de la tierra y de la sangre and Preludios a una noche total, although his collection of poems was published in 2001, By the Lake, was written in 1967. In 1985 he published his first novel, A Year in the South: For an Aesthetic Education - the sequel to which was Long letter to Francesca (1986). Among his translations from Italian are the works of Giacomo Leopardi and the complete poetry of Salvatore Quasimodo, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. His collaborations have been published in the press by newspapers such as El País, ABC and El Mundo and magazines such as Revista de Occidente and Hispanic American Notebooks.

Although it does not appear in the anthology of Josep María Castellet, it is usually included in the group of the Novísimos. He is one of the few Spanish poets who assiduously cultivates Alexandrian verse. Colinas' work presents breadth and relative variety, since he has published poetry, novels, essays and memoirs, as well as a type of poetic and aphoristic prose, and has also made numerous translations (among them, many of poetic texts and Italian authors).

In August 2020, 2021 and 2022, three Summer Courses were held programmed by the University of León and the La Bañeza City Council around three monographic themes about the author: Origin and universality, New genres, new paths and From poetry to narrative and essay.

Comments on his work

In Antonio Colinas, critics have highlighted the themes of classicist evocation, his aftertaste for the classic and for the material decadence of the past. He is a poet of aesthetics and meditation. His poetry is created with a halo metaphysical, a sign that reveals his unconditional attachment to the past. On the other hand, he is treated as a poet far removed from baroque style and, within his group, if we can say so, he is the one who is most attached to the tradition that goes back to Classical Antiquity, the Renaissance and Romanticism. It is considered the purest of the newest.

Although he has been identified with the newest, he stands out for following, practically from the beginning, a personal path, marked by his own literary instinct. Due to this, his voice immediately stands out: in the face of the avant-garde excesses of the group, Antonio Colinas achieves a classic balance, born from his ability to assume different poetic, literary, philosophical and spiritual traditions, make them his own and give them an entirely personal breath.

Another feature of his work is the conjunction between literature and life, as well as between vital and cultural experience: a writing that is born of life, which it illuminates, gives a transcendent impulse and impregnates with continuous symbolic and metaphysical.

Hills Style

Professor José Paulino Ayuso has written about the style of this poet:

It is worth noting the slow and reflective course of the rhythm, although with differences in composition. since you can write a short poem, almost sensentiful, another poem more extensive and descriptive and reach the poem-book. Similarly, it employs regular, measured verses, such as the Alexandrian (an entire book is an organic unit composed in Alexandrians, for example) or chooses a freer versa form, but always seeks the rigor (precision, austerity, accuracy, tone) in the construction of the poem and musicality in language, which brings us closer to the phenomenon of enchantment: in poetic language the enchantment of the world and our emotions. On the other hand, there is in it the constant search for the essentials, the knowledge that is revealed and.reveal it and that it is accompanied by emotion, moreover, by the shudder before poetry and the mystery that is discovered in it. Enchantment and mystery make up the two essential elements that emerge in that dictation, rhythm and musicality of Antonio Colinas, whose poetry, in this way, has achieved, for the recognition of criticism, the category ofa classic poetry, with the classicism of our time.

The sign of balance also marks his work. Balance that is nothing but harmonization of antagonistic principles, dialectical harmony. Balance between emotion and meditation; between aesthetics (an always musical and clear style, tending to the essentialization of the word) and ethics (that putting a finger on the sore spot of the disasters of history, of the abuses of a narrow rationalism, of the destruction of nature.

Awards and distinctions

The poet Antonio Colinas.

• Prize for the Criticism of Castilian Poetry 1976 Sepulcher in Tarquinia
• 1982 National Literature Award Poetry, 1967-1980
• Special mention of the 1996 Jovellanos International Rehearsal Award About New Life
• Premio Castilla y León de las Letras 1998
• Carlo Betocchi International Prize for her work as a translator and scholar of Italian literature
• Premio de la Academia Castellana y Leonesa de Poesía 2001
• Leones of the Year 2005 (breakable link available on the Internet Archive; see history, first version and last).
• National Translation Award 2005, awarded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for its translation of the complete poetry of the Nobel Prize Salvatore Quasimodo
• "Alubia de Oro", award that recognizes its title of "Bañezano Character of the Year 2006", created by the weekly The Bañezan Advancement
• Prize for the Year 2006 (conceded by the Ser Chain)
• Pregonero Vitalicio de la Feria del Libro de Salamanca, 2008
• Adoptive Son of Salamanca, 2011
• X Premio de la Crítica de Castilla y León, 2012
• Teresa de Ávila Letters Award, 2014
• Premio Reina Sofía de Poesía Iberoamericana 2016

Predecessor: Javier Villán

Premio de la Crítica de Castilla y León (ex aequo with Olegario González de Cardedal) 2012

Successor: José María Merino

Works

Poetry

• Poems of earth and bloodLeon, Provincial Council, 1969.
• Preludes to a total night, Madrid, Rialp, col. Adonais, 1969.
• Thunder and flutes in a templeSan Sebastian, C.A.G. de Guipúzcoa, 1972.
• Sepulcher in TarquiniaLion, Provincial Council, col. Province, 1975
• Sepulcher in Tarquinia, Barcelona, Lumen, Col. The Bardo, 1976.
• Astrolabe, Madrid, Visor Books, 1979.
• In the darkRota, Cadiz, Cera notebooks, 1981.
• Poetry, 1967-1980, Madrid, Visor Books, 1982.
• Sepulcher in Tarquinia (poem, with 6 drawings by Montserrat Ramoneda), Barcelona, Galería Amagatotis,1982
• Night beyond the night, Madrid, Visor Books, 1983.
• Poetry, 1967-1981, Madrid, Visor Books, 1984.
• The Wild VineyardCordoba, Torch of Paja, 1985.
• Infinite Diapers (with two lithographs, a degree and a serigraph by Perejaume), Barcelona, Workshops Chardon and Yamamoto, 1986.
• Eighteen poemsIbiza, Caixa Balears, 1987.
• Reading materialMexico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1987.
• Orpheus Garden, Madrid, Visor Books, 1988.
• Book of open nights (with 16 illustrations by Mario Arlati), Milano, Peter Pfeiffer,1989.
• White / Black (with 5 illustrations by Mario Arlati, ed. bilingual), Milano, Peter Pfeiffer,1990.
• The silences of fire, Barcelona, Tusquets, col. Marginals, 1992.
• The inner hour, Barcelona, Workshop Joan Rome, 1992.
• The river of shadow. Poetry 1967-1990, Madrid, Visor Books, 1994.
• Sepulcher in Tarquinia (poem), with a prologue by Juan Manuel Rozas, Segovia, Pavesas, 1994.
• Birds in the wall / Birds in the wall (literary, with three engravings by Barry Flanagan), Barcelona, Workshop Joan Rome, 1995.
• Book of the meekness, Barcelona, Tusquets, col. New Sacred Texts, 1997.
• CórdobaCordoba, CajaSur, col. The Sandua Notebooks, 1997.
• The river of shadow. Thirty years of poetry, 1967-1997, Madrid, Visor Libros, 1999.
• Love that lights more love, Barcelona, Plaza and Janés, 1999.
• Sepulcher in Tarquinia (poem), (with prints by Ramón Pérez Carrió), Pedreguer (Alicante), col. “Font de La Cometa”, 1999.
• Nine poemsSalamanca, Celya, col. Aedo de Poesía, 2000.
• Next to the lake, Salamanca, Cuadernos para Lisa, 2001.
• Time and abyss, Barcelona, Tusquets, col. New Sacred Texts, 2002.
• The inner hour. Poetic anthology 1967-2001, Junta de Castilla y León, 2002.
• L'amour, love(with poems by Michel Bohbot; Irriguible illustrations), Paris, Editions du Labyrinthe, 2002.
• Obscur hautbois de brume (Bilingual anthology of Françoise et alii. Contains complete “Night Beyond Night”), Bruxelles, Le Cri, 2003.
• Six poems(comented by Luis Miguel Alonso), Burgos, Instituto de la Lengua de Castilla y León, 2003.
• Thirty-eight poems. Tribute to the recorder Antonio Manso, Madrid, Real Casa de la Moneda, 2003
• The river of shadow. Thirty-five years of poetry, 1967-2002, (6th edition) Madrid, Visor Books, 2004.
• Night beyond the night, Valladolid, Fundación Jorge Guillén, 2004.
• In Avila a few words, Valladolid, Editions of El Gato Gris, 2004.
• In the breathed light (Critical edition of “Sepulchre in Tarquinia”, “Noche Beyond the Night” and “Book of the Mansaw”, by José Enrique Martínez Fernández, Madrid, Cátedra, 2004.
• Sepulcher in Tarquinia (memorial edition of the first appearance of this book –1975-2005- with a compact disc with the author's voice), Visor Libros, Madrid, 2005.
• Deserts of light, Barcelona, Tusquets, 2008.
• Sepulcher in Tarquinia (poem; spelled and illuminated by Javier Alcaíns), Mérida, Regional Editor of Extremadura, 2009.
• Full poetic work. 1967-2010, Madrid, Siruela, 2011.
• Fourteen portraits of women, Salamanca, 2011.
• Songs for silent music, Madrid, Siruela, 2014.
• By invisible path, Seville, Renaissance, 2018. Selection and prologue of José Luis Puerto.
• In the meadows sown with eyes, Madrid, Siruela, 2020.
• The inner hour/Die Innere Stunde, Verlang Ludwig, 2021 (Translation of Petra Strien-Bourmer)
• Fourteen portraits of women/Catorce portraits of muller, Medulia, Coruña, 2021 (Translation by Luciano Rodríguez)
• The roads of the island (Poetic anthology), Valencia, Olé Libros, 2021 (Prelogue and translation of Alfredo Rodríguez)
• The blind you see (Poetic anthology and Tribute to A.C. of poets), Salamanca, Fundación Salamanca Ciudad de Cultura, 2022 (Coordinación de Alfredo Pérez Alencart)

Narrative

• A year in the south (For aesthetic education), Madrid, Trieste, 1985 (2.a ed., Barcelona, Seix Barral, 1990; El Páramo, 2011).
• Long letter to Francesca, Barcelona, Seix Barral, 1986 (2.a ed., 1989).
• Days in Petavonium, Barcelona, Tusquets Editors, 1994.
• The crunch of lightLeon, Edilesa, 1999.
• Footprints, Valladolid, Castilla Ediciones, 2003.

Essay and other genres

• Leopardi (Bilingual poetry and anthology), Gijón, Jucar, col. “The Poets”, 1974 (2.a ed., 1985).
• Travel to the monasteries of Spain, Barcelona, Planeta, col “Biblioteca Cultural RTV”, 1976 (new expanded edition, León, Edilesa, 2003).
• Vicente Aleixandre and his work, Barcelona, Dopesa, 1977 (2.a ed., Barcelona, Barcanova, 1982).
• Orbigo shores, Leon, Editions del Teleno, col. “Biblioteca Popular Leonesa”, 1980. (2.a ed., León, Provincial Council, col. “Breviarios de la Calle del Pez”).
• The Tree Call (with 30 illustrations), Barcelona, Elfos, col. “Select Mining”, 1988.
• The breed of the tree(Trad. De M. Villangómez), Barcelona, Elfos, 1988.
• Towards the infinite shipwreck (A biography by Giacomo Leopardi), Barcelona, Tusquets Editores, col. “Andanzas”, 1988.
• The first sense of the poetic word, Madrid/Mexico, FCE, 1989.
• Pere Alemany: the music of the signs, Barcelona, Àmbit, 1989.
• Ibiza, The Stone Ship (with photographs of Toni Pomar), Barcelona, Lunwerg, 1990.
• Harmony Treaty, Barcelona, Tusquets Editores, col. “Marginals”, 1991 (2nd ed., 1992).
• Classical mythology (with degrees from the 18th and 19th centuries), Madrid, Album / Jesus Tablate editor, 1994.
• Rafael Alberti in Ibiza. Six weeks of the summer of 1936, Barcelona, Tusquets Editores, col. “Andanzas”, 1995.
• Writers and painters from Ibiza, Ibiza, Island Council, 1995.
• Grand Tour (with engravings from the 18th and 19th centuries), Madrid, Album / Jesus Tablate editor, 1995.
• About New LifeOviedo, Nobel, 1996.
• The garden and its symbolsAntonio Colinas and Joaquín Lledó (with engravings of the century)XIX by Jesús Tablate Miquis, Madrid, Álbum Letras Artes, 1997 (from A. C., “Preliinar” and “The garden and its symbols”, pp. 4-29).
• New Harmony Treaty, Barcelona, Tusquets Editors, col. “Marginales”, 1999.
• Ibiza and Formentera: two symbols, Palma de Mallorca, Turismo Balear, 1999.
• Ibiza, Segovia, Artec Impresiones, 2000 (prelogue of Concha García Campoy).
• Contraries against opposites (The meaning of the sanjuanist flame, Leon, The I.E.S. Library Lancia, col. Northwest notebooks, 2000 (including inspired thought II, pp. 138-148)
• The original symbols of the writer, Astorga, Centre for Astorgan Studies, 2001 (including from Inspired Thought II, pp. 31-46).
• From inspired thought, vol.I, Junta de Castilla y León, 2001.
• From inspired thought, vol. II, Junta de Castilla y León, 2001.
• Poetics and poetry, (with CD recording), Madrid, Fundación Juan March, 2004.
• The days on the island, Madrid, Huerga & Fierro editors, 2004.
• The buried seed. A trip to China, Madrid, Editions Siruela, 2005.
• Memories of the pond, Madrid, Editions Siruela, 2016.
• Mysteries on (Siruela) Essay on Maria Zambrano. Finalist work of the Premio de la Crítica de Castilla y León in 2020.
• Salamanca, the open labyrinth, Salamanca, Edifsa, 2022.
• Harmony treaties, Madrid, Siruela Editions, 2022.

Translations

• COLLODI, Carlo, Pinocho, Barcelona, Bruguera, 1986; new edition: The Adventures of Pinocho (Atilio Mussino's illustrations), Barcelona, Edhasa, 2000.
• GIMFERRER, Pere, El vendaval (ed. bilingüe, trad. de A. Colinas et alii), Barcelona, Editions 62, 1989.
• LAMPEDUSA, Giuseppe Tomasi di, Stendhal, Madrid, Trieste, 1989; (2.a ed., Barcelona, Peninsula, 1996).
• LEOPARDI, Giacomo, Poetry and prose. First Love Diary. Canti. Dialogues. Madrid, Alfaguara, col. “Alphaguara Classics”, 1979.
• LEOPARDI, Giacomo, Works, Barcelona, Reading Circle, 1997.
• LEOPARDI.Giacomo. Songs. Thoughts. Barcelona, Reading Circle/Galaxia Gutenberg, Barcelona (in preparation).
• LEVI, Carlo, Christ stood in Éboli, Madrid, Alfaguara, 1980; 2.a ed., Barcelona, Plaza & Janés, 1982.
• MARI, Antoni, El preludio, Barcelona, Llibres del Mal, 1986.
• PARCERISAS, Francesc, Catalan poets today, Barcelona, Plaza & Janés, 1986.
• QUASIMODO, Salvatore, Poesía, Granada, La Veleta, 1991.
• QUASIMODO, Salvatore, Complete Poetry, Ourense, Editions Linteo, 2004.
• ROCA Pineda, Antoni, Somni en groc (ed. bilingüe), Ibiza, Gallery Karl Van der Voort, 1994.
• SALGARI, Emilio, Los tigres de Mompracem, Madrid, Alianza Editorial, 1981.
• SALGARI, Emilio, The Mountain of Light, Madrid, Editorial Alliance, 1982.
• SALGARI, Emilio, El corsario negro, Madrid, Alianza Editorial, 1983.
• SANGUINETI, Edoardo, Wirwaarr, Madrid, Alberto Corazón, 1975; reedditions: Madrid, Visor, 1985; Madrid, Visor, 2000.
• TÀPIES BARBA, Antoni, Materia dels astres (bilingüe), Barcelona, Editions 62, 1992.
• VILLANGÓMEZ LLOBET, Mariano, Caminos y días, Madrid, Visor, 1990.
• VILLANGÓMEZ LLOBET, Mariano and others, Menorca. Living nature, Menorca, UNESCO / Insular Council of Menorca, 1995.
• VILLANGÓMEZ LLOBET, Mariano, A bird flight/Un vol d ́ocells, Madrid, Calambur, 2004.
• VV. AA., Contemporary Italian Poets (ed. bilingual), Madrid, National Editor, 1978.
• VV. AA., Essential Anthology of Italian Poetry, Madrid, Austral, 1999.
• WILKOCK, Rodolfo, The Stereoscope of Solitary, Barcelona, Seix Barral, 1984.
• LEOPARDI, Giacomo, The Passions, Madrid, Siruela, 2013

Anthologies of other poets

• JUAN RAMÓN JIMÉNEZ, Poetic Anthology, Madrid, Editorial Alliance, 2002 (selection and previous study of A. Colinas).
• RAFAEL ALBERTI, The Returning Forests. Poetic anthology (1924-1988), Barcelona, Lessons Circle/Galaxia Gutenberg, 2002 (selection and previous study of A. Colinas)
• JIMÉNEZ, JUAN RAMÓN, Antología poética, Madrid, Alianza, Navidad de 2006.
• JIMÉNEZ, JUAN RAMÓN, Magic and mourning Poems, Madrid, Visor, 2007.
• VV.AA, Our Poetry in Time (Anthology of Poetry in Spanish), Madrid, Siruela, 2009.
• VV.AA, Our poetry in time (anthology of the poets of Spain and Hispanoamérica), Lima (Peru) Siruela/Ibero Librerías, 2013.
• Knjiga Blagosti (Clean Book), Ljubljana, Kud Logos Poezije, 2021 (Translation to the Slovenian and epilogue of Janez Zumer)

Some essential studies on his work

• AROCA INIESTA, Francisco,"Writers about Antonio Colinas' 'The Black Tomb' poem. In The Black Tomb, La Isla de Siltolá, Collection Arrecifes, Seville, 2011.
• ALONSO GUTIÉRREZ, Luis Miguel, The heart demolished. Poetic keys of Antonio Colinas, Diputación de León, León, 1990.
• ALONSO GUTIÉRREZ, Luis Miguel, Antonio Colinas, a classic of the centuryXXI, León, University of León, 2000.
• ALONSO GUTIÉRREZ, Luis Miguel, “The originality creator of Antonio Colinas”, in VV. AA. The journey to the center [The Poetry of Antonio Colinas], Madrid, Calambur, 1997, pp. 71-90.
• FUMAZ BADY, Rocío, The literary essays of Antonio Colinas. Thinking of creation from the creator, Madrid, Verbum, 2016.
• CALLEJA MEDEL, Gilda, Antonio Colinas, translator, León, Universidad de León, 2003.
• GALÁN, Ilia, Sacred Impulse towards the Mystery (Antonio Colinas, poetry, mystical or metaphysics?), Madrid, Dykinson, 2016.
• GUARDIA ESTESO, Ramiro, Beyond aesthetics. Reflections on the Poetry of Antonio Colinas, Fundación Conrado Blanco, 2019.
• MARTÍNEZ CANTÓN, Clara I. (2011). Metric and poetic by Antonio Colinas. Seville, Spain: Padilla Books Editors & Bookshops.
• MARTÍNEZ CANTÓN, Clara I. (2014). Music in Antonio Colinas' poetry. In F. Aroca (Ed.), Lire l’oeuvre poétique d’Antonio Colinas/Read the poetic work of Antonio Colinas (pp. 151-175). Paris: Indigo-Université de Picardie.
• MARTÍNEZ, José Enrique, “The voice of the Renaissance in the work of Antonio Colinas: tradition and actuality”, in VV. AA. The journey to the center [The Poetry of Antonio Colinas], Madrid, Calambur, 1997, pp. 91-102.
• MARTÍNEZ, José Enrique, “The reception of the Renaissance in the work of Antonio Colinas”, Actas Congreso Internacional sobre Humanismo y Renacimiento, vol. II (coords. Juan Matas et alii), León, Universidad de León, 1998, pp. 487-494.
• MARTÍNEZ, José Enrique, “Prometheus in front of Orpheus: poetic of renunciation in front of poetics of fullness”, Mitos. Acts of the 7th Congress of the Spanish Association of Semitics (ed. Túa Blesa), Zaragoza, Annexes of Tropelías, col. Tropic, 4, 1998, pp. 60-66.
• PUERTO, José Luis, “Antonio Colinas: Poetry as a Itinerary of Purification”; Hispanic American Notebooks, n. 556, October 1996, pp. 59-84; VV. AA. The journey to the center [The Poetry of Antonio Colinas], Madrid, Calambur, 1997, pp. 41-70.
• VARIOUS AUTORES, Antonio Colinas, Cuervo, “Cuadernos de cultura”, monograph No. 2, Valencia, December 1981.
• _ Orphic Harmony, a fusion poetics, Ánthropos, 105, Barcelona, February 1990.
• VARIOUS AUTORES, Antonio Colinas, 50th anniversary, El Progreso Bañezano, 30 January 1996.
• VARIOUS AUTORES, The Journey to the Center [The Poetry of Antonio Colinas], Madrid, Calambur, 1997.
• _ Lire l'œuvre poétique d'Antonio Colinas/Read the poetic work of Antonio Colinas, my lord. Francisco Aroca Iniesta, University of Picardie-Indigo, 2014.
• _ Antonio Colinas: between inmanence and transcendence, my lord. Francisco Aroca Iniesta, Université de Picardie-Éditions Orbis Tertius, 2020.
• _ Antonio Colinas: origin and universality (Acts of the I Summer Course on the Author), La Casa de la Poesía. Antonio Colinas Cultural Fund, 2021.
• The poetic work of Antonio Colinas: origin and universality. (Universidad de León. Actas del I Curso de Verano), La Bañeza, Fundación Conrado Blanco/ La Casa de la Poesía. Antonio Colinas Cultural Fund, 2021.
• Antonio Colinas: new genres, new roads (Universidad de León. Actas del II Curso de Verano), La Bañeza, Fundación Conrado Blanco/La Casa de la Poesía. Antonio Colinas Cultural Fund, 2022 (in press)