Spanish Fiction

• This page was created and is edited by Carlos A. Segovia, University of Seville, Spain.
• LISTS OF FICTIONAL WORKS: see Category:Spanish Fiction

Spanish Fiction includes (in chronological order) works authored, translated or edited by Spanish Authors.

Spanish Fiction in the 17th century

Second Temple Jewish events inspired numerous plays in the golden age of Spanish Theatre, notably by Gaspar de Aguilar, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Tirso de Molina, and others.

Spanish Fiction in the 19th century (2nd half)

The tradition of Spanish dramas on Second Temple Jewish subjects was revived by Ramón Franquelo and José Zorrilla y Moral.

Spanish Fiction in the 1900s

Giovanni Bovio’s drama Cristo alla festa di Purim was translated into Spanish in 1902. And that very same year another play: Jesus the Nazarene, was published in Buenos Aires by Enrique García Velloso.

Spanish Fiction in the 1950s

the Spanish edition of Howard Fast’s novel on the Maccabeans (1954), a play on Judas Maccabee by Isidora Aguirre based upon Fast’s novel (1958), and a film by Joseph Breen on the trial of Jesus originally filmed in Spanish (1959) were the contribution of the 1950s to the fictional literature and the fictional representation of the figures and events inherent to the Second Temple period in Spanish language.

Spanish Fiction in the 1960s

The Hodayot of the Qumran Yahad inspired Joaquín Rodrigo’s Himnos de los neófitos de Qumrán for three sopranos, male chorus and orchestra, the premiere of which took place in Easter week 1965; as in other occasions, Victoria Kamhi collaborated with Rodrigo in the arrangement of the text. Finally, in 1666 a film on the trial of Jesus by Julio Bracho was released in Mexico. No narrative or dramatic works were published in this period. -- Carlos A. Segovia, University of Seville.

Spanish Fiction in the 1970s

Spanish fiction was especially noteworthy in the 1970 by its variety, if not by its quantity. Four works deserve being cited: a play on Titus and Berenice by the Puerto Rican René Marqués (1970), a novel on Judas by the Peruan Carlos Tosi (1975), Joaquín Rodrigo’s Hyms of the Neophytes of Qumran (1965-1975), and Pedro Almodóvar’s 1978 film Salomé. – Carlos A. Segovia, University of Seville.

Spanish Fiction in the 1980s

Besides, two novels, one by the Argentinian Rodolfo Marcelo Cárdenas on John the Baptist, and another one by the Colombian Germán Espinosa on the rise of Christianity, were published in 1984 and 1987, respectively. In addition, Anthony Burgess’ The Kingdom of the Wicked was translated into Spanish in 1988. No dramatic, musical or cinematographic works seem to have been produced in this period, however.

Spanish Fiction in the 1990s

Five novels were published in Spanish in the 1990s, three by Jesús Capo on Paul of Tarsus (1993), Peter (1994) and Jesus (1996), one by Antonio Piñero Sáenz on Herod the Great (1999), and the Spanish edition of Alexandra Ripley’s A Love Divine (1997). Dominique Reyre's 1998 essay on the Jews in the plays of Pedro Calderón de la Barca should also be mentioned in addition.

Spanish Fiction in the 2000s

Spanish fiction on Second Temple Judaism was largely dominated in 2000s by narrative concerns. A series of novels were published by José Baena (on James the brother of Jesus) in 2001, Jesús Capo (on Mary Magdalene and on the Roman Centurion in Matthew 8:5-13) in 2005, and Juan Tafur (on Mary Magdalene) in 2007, whilst a second revised edition of Antonio Piñero Sáenz's 1999 novel on the life of Herod the Great, La Puerta de Damasco, was also published in 2007. Besides, Eliette Abécassis’ novels on the Second Temple and Qumran were translated into Spanish and published in 2002 and 2006, whereas the Spanish edition of Gerd Theissen’s The Shadow of the Galilean appeared in 2004 and those of Anne Rice's Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt and Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana in 2006 and 2008, respectively. This brief survey would be incomplete, nonetheless, without mentioning John Adams’ and Peter Sellars’ "Nativity oratorio" El Niño, which was produced in 2000.

Related categories

• Spanish Art / Spanish Cinema / Spanish Literature / Spanish Music / Spanish Theatre

• Spanish / Spanish language / Spanish Scholarship

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