Manuel Altolaguirre

Manuel Altolaguirre Bolín (Málaga, June 29, 1905 - Burgos, July 26, 1959) was a Spanish poet and editor, belonging to the generation of '27.

Biography

He was born in Limonar Alto, a stately neighborhood in Malaga, on June 29, 1905 into a wealthy family, the son of the examining magistrate, journalist and writer Manuel Altolaguirre Álvarez, and Concepción Bolín Gómez de Cádiz He studied high school at the San Estanislao de Kostka Jesuit College in Malaga and Law at the University of Granada, but he practiced for a short time as a lawyer.

Monument to Generation of 27 (Torremolinos)

His earliest vocation was as a printer and publisher. In 1923 he would collaborate in the magazine Ambos, together with José María Hinojosa and José María Souvirón. In 1926 he created, together with Emilio Prados, the famous magazine Litoral, which brought together the one that would be known as the "Generation of 27". Due to his dynamic editorial activity, Pedro Salinas said of him that he was the "Don Juan of the printing presses".

In 1930, after the bankruptcy of Litoral, in 1930 he started the magazine «Poesía en Málaga» alone. Five issues come out of it, the last two published in Paris in 1931. He lived in various cities, including Paris and London, where he moved in 1934 to study printing and translated Mary Shelley, among other authors. In Madrid he met his future wife, the poet Concha Méndez, together with whom he edited and published, in the Héroe collection and in the magazine of the same name, books and essential texts of poetry, such as Razón de amor, by Salinas or Reality and Desire, by Cernuda, among others. As a result of his marriage in June 1932 with Concha Méndez, he had a daughter, Paloma, who later maintained a deep friendship with Luis Cernuda.

During the Spanish Civil War, Altolaguirre became a member of the Alianza de Intelectuales Antifascistas and director of La Barraca, even enlisting in the Republican forces, carrying out printing and publishing projects for propaganda purposes. Despite his status as a renowned Republican intellectual, in August 1936, his brother Luis Altolaguirre, together with his old friend the poet José María Hinojosa, were shot in front of the wall of the San Rafael de Málaga cemetery by a group of anarchist militiamen.. Another brother of the poet, Federico Altolaguirre, a soldier and friend of Franco, would also be shot months later. This tragic succession of events and the war itself led him to an emotional collapse after fleeing Spain through the Pyrenees in January 1939 and being confined in a concentration camp in France. He was admitted to a psychiatric institution for a week, from where he was rescued by various colleagues, and he manages to arrive with his wife, Concha Méndez, at Paul Eluard's house. Max Ernst and Pablo Picasso collaborated so that the family traveled to America in March 1939.

He first lived in Cuba, between 1939 and 1943, years during which he developed an intense editorial activity, collaborating in the publication of magazines such as Atenmente, La Verónica, La Pesada, Nuestra España, Espuela de Plata or 1616, among others. In 1943 he settled in Mexico with his family. Around 1944 he began a relationship with María Luisa Gómez Mena, whom he would end up marrying; Gómez Mena was a wealthy Cuban woman, an artistic patron, whom Altolaguirre had met when he arrived to Havana in 1939 with his wife and daughter, and who had previously been married to the Spanish soldier Francisco Vives Camino and to the Cuban painter Mario Carreño. Altolaguirre would, however, continue to maintain a good relationship with his first wife. Around 1945, with the financial help of Gómez Mena, he founded the publishing house Isla.

His most prominent activity in Mexico was film. In 1946 he began working as a screenwriter, after being hired by the company Panamerican Films of which he was the main shareholder and Benito Alazraki's friend. In 1950 Altolaguirre traveled to Madrid and Malaga to meet with his relatives and to greet old friends. From 1952 he collaborated in the Malaga magazine Caracola . That same year he wrote the script for Subida al cielo by Luis Buñuel, which, after participating in the Cannes Film Festival, received the Critics' Award in Paris, and Altolaguirre was awarded the Ariel Award for best script in Mexico. As a producer he worked on Misericordia , based on the play by Benito Pérez Galdós and on Las estrellas by Carlos Arniches.

As a scriptwriter and director, he signed the film The Song of Songs based on the commentary of Fray Luis de León, a work that reflected a deep religious concern. In 1959 he returned to Spain to present it out of competition at the San Sebastián Film Festival. When he was returning to Madrid from the premiere in San Sebastián, the car he was driving crashed in Cubo de Bureba, in the province of Burgos. He was accompanied by his wife, María Luisa, who died instantly, and he would pass away three days later, on July 26, 1959. In the words of his brother, "at a quarter past three in the afternoon [...].] expired. I closed his eyes. He died kissing the crucifix that a brother of Saint John of God offered him ». Only Dámaso Alonso, of his generation companions, was present at his burial.Altolaguirre was buried in the San Justo cemetery in Madrid, sharing a grave with his second wife.

Work

Poetry

He is possibly the most spiritual and intimate poet of the Generation of '27. In his compositions one can see the imprint of San Juan de la Cruz, Garcilaso de la Vega, Juan Ramón Jiménez and Pedro Salinas. Although his production is brief and uneven, he knew how to create an intimate world but rich in nuances. His poetry is warm, cordial, transparent. He sings love, loneliness, death, with romantic tones. According to him, his poetry he feels like the younger sister of Salinas's . An outstanding feature of his production is his musicality, with a predominance of short verses and stanzas of traditional roots.

In his poetic work, the following stand out:

In addition, Altolaguirre published a large number of poems in different magazines, such as Verso y Prosa, Héroe, Litoral, Revista of the West or Caracola. He wrote a memoir, The Greek Horse. His literary activity also extended to poetic prose, and includes numerous studies and articles of literary criticism, newspaper articles, and translations.

In 1960 his Poesías, which comprise unpublished texts or published scattered in various literary magazines, were published posthumously, and it was from 1982 when the Spanish edition of his complete works began to appear.

Theater

It is also worth noting his theatrical work, part of it unfinished:

Film scripts

Less known is his activity as a film scriptwriter, which he developed during his stay in Mexico after the Spanish Civil War, collaborating with Luis Buñuel on the script for Subida al cielo (1951). He collaborated on around twenty films, including:

• The house of the Troy (1947).
• The happy ruffian (1947?)
• I want to be silly. (1950). Adaptation The starsCarlos Arniches.
• The port of the seven vices (1951).
• Up to the sky (1951).
• Lucky shot (1954).
• The one convicted of mistrust (1955). Adaptation of the work of Tirso de Molina.
• Black doll (1956). Adaptation of a story by José Martí.
• The wonders (1958). Adaptation of his own play.
• The Song of Songs (In Spanish Mystical Poetry and Mexican Religious Art). (1958). Adaptation of the Song of Songs of Fray Luis de León.
• Return to paradise (1959).