Julio Camba

Julio Camba Andreu (Villanueva de Arosa, Pontevedra; December 16, 1884-Madrid; February 28, 1962) was a Spanish journalist, writer and humorist.

Biography

He was born into a middle-class family: his father was a student and school teacher and his older brother was the novelist Francisco Camba.

At the age of thirteen, he runs away from home and stows away on a ship that goes to Argentina. In Buenos Aires he entered anarchist circles and made his first literary weapons by writing proclamations and pamphlets. As a result, in 1902 he was expelled from Argentina, along with other foreign anarchists.

Back in Spain, he began to collaborate in El Diario de Pontevedra, but quickly settled in Madrid, where he wrote for anarchist publications such as El Porvenir del Obrero and The White Magazine. In a few months he will create his own newspaper on Madera Street: El Rebelde. On that adventure he will be accompanied by Antonio Apolo. Starting in 1905 he collaborated as a columnist in El País , a republican newspaper. His writings are on varied topics and in them he demonstrates his independence. He remained in this newspaper until 1907, when he began his task as parliamentary chronicler in New Spain. In his texts you begin to appreciate the skepticism and brilliance that will accompany him throughout his career. In those days the trial for the attack against Alfonso XIII on his wedding day took place. Julio Camba was called to testify because of his relationship with Mateo Morral. In some of his articles he explains the little relationship he had with the anarchist.

His life as a correspondent did not begin until 1908, when Juan Aragón incorporated him into the staff of La Correspondencia de España. Türkiye will be his destination as a correspondent. There he will cover the elections and the regime change. Upon his return from Constantinople, he changed the editorial staff. El Mundo is the newspaper that hires him for its correspondents in Paris and London. In 1912 he began to write under the rubric of Diario de un Español in La Tribuna . He will return to the English capital and send the first chronicles of him from Germany for this medium. In 1913 he began to collaborate with the monarchist newspaper ABC . Collaboration that lasted until his death, except for some interruptions. One of these (and the longest) would be the one that led him to be a journalist for El Sol. He writes in this diary for 10 years (1917-1927). He repeats correspondents, such as Berlin, and debuts others (Rome). Back to the Luca de Tena diary, he returns to New York for the second time. From that city he writes, for example, the article In defense of illiteracy, where he speaks out against the generalization of education to all Spaniards. His chronicles will be collected in a book (like many others): The automatic city.

During the Civil War his chronicles (in which he expressed his sympathies for the Franco side) were published in the ABC of Seville. Another sporadic collaboration, lasting two years, is the one he had with Arriba (1951-1953). In this newspaper he begins with the reworking of old chronicles and articles that are either linked to current events or based on the author's memory. The retouching and reconversion of his chronicles will be frequent from this moment on in his writings edited by ABC and La Vanguardia .

In 1949 he took up residence at the Palace Hotel in Madrid until his death.

Death

On February 28, 1962, Julio Camba died, as a result of an embolism, at the Covesa clinic.

Work

• The exile (1907)
• Germany. Impresiones de un español (1916)
• London (1916)
• Beaches, cities and mountains (1916)
• One year in the other world (1917)
• The traveling frog (1920)
• Adventures of a peseta (1923)
• The marriage of Restrepo (1924)
• About almost nothing. (1927)
• Most of all. (1927)
• The house of Luculus or the art of eating (1929)
• Automatic city (1934)
• Making Republic (1934)
• This, the other and the beyond (1945)
• Etc., etc. (1945)
• My best pages (1956)
• Neither Fuh nor Fah (1957)
• Millions baked (1958)
• Countries, people and things (1962)

Posthumous compilations

After Camba's death, various publishers have chosen specific themes from the Galician's work to make their own compilations:

• Pages chosen. 1907-1914. Pedro Ignacio López García (Espasa-Calpe, 2003)
• Ways to be Spanish. In politics, in culture, abroad and in cooking. Ed. de Catalina Luca de Tena (Ediciones Luca de Tena, 2008)
• Cartoons and portraits. Semblances of writers and thinkers. Ed. de Francisco Fuster (Fórcola, 2013)
• Ways to be a journalist. Writing Tips for Students or Redactor Veteran. Ed. of Francisco Fuster (KO Books, 2013)
• Travel chronicles. Printing of a Spanish correspondent. Ed. de Francisco Fuster (Fórcola, 2014)
• Oh, fair, subtle and powerful poison! The writings of anarchy. Ed. of Julián Lacalle (Pepitas de Calabaza, 2014)
• Galicia. Ed. de Francisco Fuster (Fórcola, 2015)
• Constantinople. Followed by a trip to Peru. Ed. by José Miguel González Soriano (Renacimiento, 2015)
• Tangos, jazz-bands and couplets. Musical Chronicles from Caruso to Cléo de Mérode. Ed. of Pedro Ignacio López García (Fórcola, 2016)
• Parliamentary Chronicles. 1907-1909. Ed. by José Miguel González Soriano (Renacimiento, 2017)