On July 5, 2011, we received the news that he -because one has to dare- dare to give us a place in his column. World: “It’s hard for me to recover from cancer”; and it was so stuck in his gut that he finally ripped the mighty word empire out of him with his last breath. Death, the wickedest of shadows today, which came to us “too quiet”, has silenced a king of writing and a magician of argument. Anthony Gala Velasco was supposed to be born in Brazatortas on October 2, 1930, but from childhood his gaze was filled with the country’s sun. Cordoba and the beauty that ancient builders and Sufi mystics carved for it.
Always early for creation, prolific, it is said that he was in Córdoba, in the famous Círculo de la Amistad, and gave an early lecture at the age of 14. In the same Córdoba venue, I had the opportunity to listen to Lorca’s moderate and energetic speech in his theatre. writer He was nearly 40 years old and was honored again in May 2014 in his noble halls. Córdoba and Gala, Gala and Córdoba, a distant love where admiration and friendship remain.
“Writing has been my destiny and my joy. Given the privilege and meaning of my job, perhaps I should have worked on my knees,” he said; Given the unparalleled power of his slow speech and the fierce passion with which he poetized, dramatized and narrated or even depicted a landscape they knew, I think the vast majority, including his critics and less enthusiastic critics, knew him. the undulation of its mountains and the name of its flowers. That’s why “Gala’s word organized in any of the genres she so well masters is an example of the universal validity of what is always true. literature“, in the opinion of Eduardo Mendicutti in 2000, when Ánfora Nova paid him special homage in the universal volume Antonio Gala of Cordoba.
Gala, a well-documented historian and character, has passed away. your book lively and full of wisdom, red manuscript, Andalusia landscape in numbers, pedestal of statues anyone Granada of the Nasridsand then others novels gives importance to women and love; but before that he had been a famous playwright. Eden’s green spaces, rings for a lady anyone Carmen Carmen; and always from the first youth to maturity poem -by the way, he polished it by including it in all his texts- as an indisputable and saving companion. with succession sincere enemy, love poems, ballads and songs anyone Andalusian testament Gala proved to be a poet of love and a lover of the landscape and its creatures. Having his scepter extend his support, adornment, and gesture, he once told the Chilean Sergio Macías: “I am not leaning on the cane I carry, I am leaning on two crutches, one for poetry, one for the other with hope”.
His poetry and voice died, but the hope of staying, existing and existing in Spanish literature did not die with him. His novels, poetry books, poignant theatrical dialogues, writings that cling to rebellion, compassion, and the precision and delicacy of his word were left behind; He has also left us the gist of his book since November 2012, when he was elected honorary member of the Art Convent of the University of Alcalá. Self, compilation of quotes and thoughts “on the fundamental issues of man”. After that, it has a place of its own in Córdoba, a seedbed of creativity. Antonio Gala FoundationIt was erected in a monastery as a symbol of its Carthusian past and its unwavering understanding of the importance of coexistence among peoples.
French Hispanist Françoise Dubosquet is grateful to have learned Spanish and Andalusian culture thanks to Antonio Gala’s sensitivity. And the truth is Andalusia – permanently Córdoba – is a vital and literary passion. writer. In countless articles, press reviews, conferences and books, Antonio Gala takes the character of the Andalusian people and explains it with unparalleled sharpness through a successful collection of anecdotes and insights. With his clear gaze fixed on the horizon, he affirmed that we are part of a “painful, exuberant, fertile, angry, invincible, extraordinary Andalusian world”. This is the world in which he moves many times, taking into account his historical and life course, his poems, novels and theater… And history can be learned by reading some of his books.
Let’s go red manuscript: “New enemy reinforcements were coming down the slope. They were late: the mayor of Luque, Alonso de Aguilar, the help from Santaella’s pawns Doña Mencía, from La Rambla, from Montilla, from Castro del Río, the help of Don Gonzalo’s from La Bridge and even from Antequera”. The environmental notes in many of his texts are re-creations of the peaceful environment of Andalusia. beyond the garden: Leafy laurel branches dotted the light-clad figure of Palmyra Gadea with specks of light and shadow. It was a dazzling blue dome on April noon, without a single cloud.
Gala’s Andalusianism constantly crackles in her poem. She is emotional, leaving traces of her pure passion for Andalusia. we are moving forward with love poems, Zubia Sonnets, Andalusian testament… and everything is a clear tribute to certain parts of Andalusian geography: “Nothing in the South is a dream / but reality / dark and sleepless”. Whoever has found lyricism in and around any environment has “saw beauty that never darkens. /…/ When saying goodbye to Andalusia, / he felt the salty taste of death.” For all this, and for his virtues and cult in this land, he was awarded the third Elio Antonio de Nebrija Prize for Andalusian Literature in February 2012, precisely in Córdoba. For his passion as an Andalusian he was also awarded the City Medal and the title of Son Adopted in Malaga.
We will always see him as a universal Cordovan, the king of words, the sorcerer of the beautiful and sublime. For him, who did not know now i will talk about myself “When will I finally have a calm voice/simple gesture, the anxiety is back”, life ended and coexistence with Tobias, the archangels, Troylo began. And eternal fame.