Fernando Vizcaino Casas

Fernando Vizcaíno Casas (Valencia, February 23, 1926 – Madrid, November 2, 2003) was a Spanish writer, journalist and labor lawyer.

Biography

The son of an umbrella and fan manufacturer, in 1948 he began journalism in Acción, the organ of the Spanish University Union (SEU), as a film critic. He collaborated with Radio Nacional de España and the newspapers Las Provincias and Jornada . In 1950 he moved from Valencia to Madrid to study Law. He considered journalism his true vocation, and over time he would become a columnist in media with editorial lines as diverse as the newspaper El Alcázar and the magazine Interviú.

As a labor lawyer, he specialized in legal aspects concerning theater, cinematography and actors' rights. He published Summa de legislativo del spectacle (1962) and The new Spanish cinematographic legislation (1964). He also published a complete Dictionary of Spanish cinema (1896-1966) (1968).

In 1949 he won the Theater Award for Hispanic American University Students, with his comedy La senda iluminada. In this way, he began a career as a playwright and screenwriter that led him to obtain numerous prizes and distinctions, such as the Novel Prize for his work Los derrotados (1950), the Calderón National Theater Prize from the Barca for El baile de los muñecos (1951), the Valencia Theater Award for The sculptor of his dreams (1953) and the Medal of the Circle of Cinematographic Writers (1955) In 1984, Editorial Planeta, together with the Madrid booksellers' union, elected him Writer of the Year. He obtained the Gold Medal for Merit at Work in 2001, and in July 2002 he was elected a member of the Valencian Council of Culture .

He had an outstanding job as a screenwriter for movies and soap operas and other programs for TVE, from 1963 to 1965, a task that earned him his second Medal from the Círculo Escritores Cinematográficos for best literary work (1966), the Prize of the Ministry of Information and Tourism in the category of cinematographic journalism (1966) and the Journalistic Award of the Francisco Franco National Foundation (1978). He even acted in adaptations of his works and in television productions. Several of his works were made into movies (Girls... to the living room!, Dad's children, ...And in the third year, he was resurrected, Las autonosuyas, La boda del señor cura, etc.) mostly directed by Rafael Gil.

Starting in 1971, with his book of chronicles Counting 40, he began to publish narratives, essays, chronicles, political satire, and autobiographical testimonies, a work in which he covered a large part of the various stages of the Spanish history of the XX century. In 1978 he achieved his first great sales success with the novel ...And in the third year, he was resurrected, which he described as history-fiction, and which plays with the idea of contemplation rather than post-Franco Spanish society would have a revived Franco. From then on he became a true bestseller with more than four million copies of his work sold, becoming one of the most widely read contemporary authors in Spain and Latin America.

Political satire, nostalgia, irony, corrosive humor, barely concealed or explicit caricatures of politicians and other chameleonic and accommodating characters of the moment, and the critical vision of the years after the end of Francoism characterize a good part of his narrative. Many of his works bear witness to his nostalgia for characters, places, social spheres and customs that have disappeared in Spain. An admirer of the thought of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, he also made an explicit defense of Francoism, particularly in ¡Viva Franco! (Sorry) (1980). One of his main concerns was to convey his vision of that period, which he claimed laid the foundations for Spain's subsequent economic and social takeoff. Vizcaíno Casas maintained that this stage was not transmitted fairly and impartially to the new generations.

In From old shirt to new jacket (1976) he portrayed forty years of Spanish history, a period from the war years to the beginning of the Transition, from the perspective of a militant of the rebel faction that ends up joining sectors of the left in order to maintain the privileges obtained thanks to its closeness to the current rulers.

In Las autonosuyas (1981) he satirized the debate on the state of autonomies that peaked in the 1970s, while still recognizing the justice of the claims of the historical nationalities of Spain, as he was in charge of clarifying in the introduction to this novel:

I must clarify that serious autonomy deserves absolute respect. I believe, of course, that a few Spanish regions have indisputable traditions and autonomous rights, which endorse and justify their very logical demands on this matter and their legal recognition. Nor to say it has that the ironies and sarcasms of this fictional novel do not intend to hurt, at all, such regions. Not much less are inspired by them.

The novels One Hundred Years of Honesty (1984), The Descamisados (1989), The Lord of the Bonsai (1992), ...Y los 40 ladrones (1994), Todos al paro (1995) are at the same time satire, chronicle and disenchanted and humorous criticism of the transition to democracy and the subsequent governments of the PSOE, chaired by Felipe González. The stories of Girls... To the room! (1976) and the novels The wedding of the priest (1979), Hijos de papá (1979), Hijas de María (1983) and Chicas de servir (1985) reflect the main transformations that Spanish society underwent during the XX.

Red Zone (1986) describes life in Valencia during the Civil War, while this city was the rearguard and provisional capital of the Republic and where Vizcaíno Casas lived his childhood. Blood Is Also Red (1996) shows his vision of the Civil War. The Spanish Postwar period is portrayed in La España de la postguerra 1939-1953 (1975) and in The Reds Didn't Wear a Hat: Small Postwar Anecdotary (1996).

He also published uchronias such as The Reds won the war (1989), interviews such as those conducted for Café y copa con los famosos (1990), chronicles, reflections and analysis historical and political stories from various periods in Spain such as Un año menos: diario (1979) and three chronicles about important episodes of the Franco period: 1973, The year Carrero Blanco was blown up and 1975, The Year Franco Died in Bed (both in 1993) and 1969, The Year Franco Made Juan Carlos King (1994). In 2002 the third and last part of his memoirs appeared, Los pasos contados .

Passed away in 2003, aged 77, after suffering from cancer for several years. This circumstance did not prevent him from working until the last minute in his law firm or finishing his last work, Dad's grandchildren: a historical fiction novel , which was published posthumously. They were buried in Navacerrada.

Work

Books

Theater

• The illuminated path (1949) (Teatral Award for Hispanic American University)
• The defeated (1950)
• The Doll Dance (1951)
• The sculptor of your dreams (1953) (Premio Valencia de Teatro)
• The successor (1964)
• Psychoanalysis of a wedding (1965)
• The man of 23-F (1981)
• The bodeguiya (1985) (musical satire)

Filmography

as an actor (not exhaustive)

• Sons of Dad (1980)

as a screenwriter (not exhaustive)

• Girls... to the living room! (1977, address of Vicente Escrivá)
• Sons of Dad (1980, dir. Rafael Gil)
• And in the third year, he rose (1981, dir. Rafael Gil)
• The autonosuyas (1983, dir. Rafael Gil)
• The happy girls of Colsada (1984, dir. Rafael Gil)
• My son and I (1962) (television)
• The wedding of the priest (1979, dir. Rafael Gil)

Honorary Distinctions

• Film Writer Circle Medal to the best book by Film and theatrical legislation (1954).

• Medal of the Film Writers Circle to the best literary work (1965).

• Gold Medal to Merit at Work (27/04/2001).