VICENTE ALEIXANDRE (1898-1984) was a Spanish poet who was strongly influenced by the Surrealist technique of poetic composition. He received the 1977 Nobel Prize in Literature "for a creative poetic writing which illuminates man's condition in the cosmos and in present-day society, at the same time representing the great renewal of the traditions of Spanish poetry between the wars."
Aleixandre was one of the few writers to remain in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. His passive but staunch political independence kept his writings banned for a decade, but his vivid poems of harmony and commonality would eventually symbolize much of what post-Civil War Spain aspired toward.
The bilingual Spanish-English collection A LONGING FOR THE LIGHT spans the entirety of Aleixandre's career, from the early surrealist work to his complex and fascinating "dialogues." It also contains prose interludes, an introduction by editor Lewis Hyde, and a descriptive bibliography.
The following texts are in PDF format:
* A Longing for the Light: Selected Poems of Vicente Aleixandre (Copper Canyon, 1985). Bilingual edition. Edited by Lewis Hyde.
* The Nobel Prize Lecture (Nobel Foundation, 1977).
