Manuel Álvarez Ortega

Manuel Álvarez Ortega (Córdoba, March 4, 1923 – Madrid, June 14, 2014) was a Spanish poet, translator, writer, and veterinarian. He was the director and founder of the journal "Aglae", which circulated between 1949 and 1954. He wrote many of his works in Madrid, the city where he lived starting in 1951.
Biography.
Álvarez Ortega was born on March 4, 1923, at number 4, Calle Santa Victoria in Córdoba. He was the fifth child of Mariano Álvarez Berard and Paula Ortega Soria. He was baptized on April 6, 1923, in the Church of El Salvador y Santo Domingo de Silos. He began his studies in 1935 at the provincial Institute. Álvarez Ortega completed his diploma in 1942 and then studied at the Veterinary School (Facultad de Veterinaria) in Córdoba, which at that time belonged to the University of Seville (Universidad de Sevilla). Starting in 1951, he worked as a veterinarian, after taking the public exam for the position, at the Military Academy of Health (Academia de Sanidad Militar) in Madrid, a position that he left in 1972 to dedicate himself full time to literature. Álvarez Ortega died on June 14, 2014, at 91 years old. He was the brother of painter and poet Rafael Álvarez Ortega.
Literary career.
In April 1948 Álvarez Ortega's first book, "La huella de las cosas" (a selection of poems written between 1941 and 1948), was self-published in Córdoba. In April 1949, the first number of the journal "Aglae" came out, presented as an anthology. In March 1950, his second book was published, "Clamor de todo espacio", in the collection "Aglae". In 1954, his book "Hombre de otro tiempo" is published, also in "Aglae". In December 1954, Álvarez Ortega was a finalist for the Adonais Prize with his book "Exilio", published the following year. In 1955, with José García Nieto, López Anglada, Leopoldo de Luis, Ramón de Garciasol, and others, he founded the collection "Palabra y Tiempo" with the publisher Taurus.
With the translation in 1960 of "Crónica", by Saint-John Perse, for a special number of the journal "Poesía Española," published as a tribute to the then-recent winner of the Nobel Prize, Álvarez Ortega begins his period as a translator, which will continue throughout his life. Among other authors, he translated into Spanish the poetry of René Char, Bataille, Bonnefoy, Jaccottet, Desnos, Tzara, Artaud, Michaux, Aragon, Ponge, Leiris, Queneau, Senghor, Lanza de Vasto, Péret, Éluard, Laforgue, Breton, Péret, , Jarry, Lautréamont, Oscar Miłosz, and Apollinaire.
In April 1962 his books "Dios de un día" y "Tiempo en el Sur" came out in a single volume, in the collection Palabra y Tiempo from Taurus. In December 1963, Álvarez Ortega won a secondary award under the Adonais Prize for "Invención de la muerte," which was published in February of the following year. In September 1964, he contributed to the anthology "Poesía belga contemporánea", published by Aguilar. Following this anthology came others: "Poesía francesa contemporánea" (1967), for which he received the National Translation Prize (Premio Nacional de Traducción);" Poesía simbolista francesa" (1975) and" Veinte poetas franceses del siglo veinte" (2001). In May 1967, he collaborated with the Televisión Española program "El oro del tiempo", directed by the poet José García Nieto. Previously he had worked with the program "El alma se serena", also on Televisión Española, and directed by the poet Juan Van-Halen. That same year he published two books, "Despedida en el tiempo" and "Oscura marea". In December his one-act play, "Fábula de la Dama y los alpinistas", was performed. In 1969, his books "Oficio de los días" and "Reino memorable" came out in a single volume. In 1972, he published "Carpe diem", and his "Antología Poética (1941–71)", with a prologue by Marcos Ricardo Barnatán, was released by the publisher Plaza y Janés. In 1973, "Tenebrae" came out as a supplement of the journal "Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos", and in January 1975, "Génesis" was published by Visor. Also in 1973, several of his translations began to be published, with poets like Apollinaire, Segalen, Éluard, Saint-John Perse, and others.
Following the publication of several minor works ("Fiel infiel"; "Escrito en el Sur;" "Templo de la mortalidad;" "Lilia culpa," and "Sea la sombra"), in 1988 Álvarez Ortega published "Gesta" and, in 1990, "Código", both with Devenir, directed by Juan Pastor. In 1992, he published as a book and cassette (in the author's voice) "Génesis" with Ediciones Portuguesas. In 1993, "Liturgia" was released and, in 1997, "Intratexto", both with Devenir. In April 1998, the same publisher released a book-homage, "Dedicatoria", with works by several poets and an extensive study of his work. In 2001, his candidacy for the Nobel Prize was proposed and accepted by the Swedish Academy for the first time. In 2002, "Desde otra edad" was published. In 2003, his second candidacy was proposed for the Nobel Prize. In 2005 the publisher Huerga y Fierro released "Despedida en el tiempo: Antología poética (1941–2001)", in an edition by Marcos-Ricardo Barnatán. In 2006, Álvarez Ortega's "Obra Poética (1941–2005)" was published by Visor and the following year Devenir published "Antología Poética (1941–2005)". That same year "Adviento" came out and one year later the publishing house Huerga y Fierro released "Mantia Fidelis". Álvarez Ortega's last two published books of poetry are "Cenizas son los días" (Devenir, 2010) and "Ultima necat" (Abada, 2012).
The Manuel Álvarez Ortega Foundation.
In November 2015, the Manuel Álvarez Ortega Foundation was established with a notarized signature on the founding statutes, according to Álvarez Ortega's will. The Board of Trustees of the Foundation, directed by Juan Pastor, trustee of Álvarez Ortega along with Jaime Siles and Margarita Prieto, includes people such as Jaime Siles, Antonio Colinas, Marcos Ricardo Barnatán, César Antonio Molina, Fanny Rubio, and Margarita Prieto (secretary). The purpose of the entity is the conservation, study, and diffusion of the documents, books, images, and correspondence of Álvarez Ortega. In June 2021, the Manuel Álvarez Ortega Foundation's collection of archives was entrusted to the Universidad de Córdoba. This legacy contains, among other materials, the author's letters, in addition to unpublished works.