Joaquín Dicenta
{{Short description|Spanish journalist, novelist, playwright, poet and Republican politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Joaquín Dicenta
|honorific-suffix =
|image = Joaquín Dicenta Benedicto.jpg
|imagesize =
|caption =
|alt =
|order =
|office = Madrid municipal councillor
|monarch =
|term_start = 1 July 1909
|term_end = 1 January 1912
|succeeding =
|birth_date = 3 February 1877
|birth_place = Calatayud or Vitoria, Spain
|death_date = 21 February 1917
|death_place = Alicante, Spain
|restingplace =
|restingplacecoordinates =
|nationality = Spanish
|party =
|alma_mater =
|occupation = Playwright, novelist, essayist, poet, politician
|signature = Firma de Joaquín Dicenta.svg
}}
Joaquín Dicenta Benedicto (1862–1917) was a Spanish journalist, novelist, playwright, poet and Republican politician. His 1895 play Juan José, whose representation became a staple of every May Day,{{Sfn|Valladares Reguero|1999|p=120}} was the second-most performed in the Spanish repertory between 1895 and 1939.{{Sfn|Gies|2005|p=328}}
Biography
Born on 3 February 1862 in Calatayud, province of Zaragoza,{{Sfn|Ramos Altamira|2011|p=15}} some sources question the traditional birthplace, suggesting he was actually born in Vitoria.{{Sfn|Peral Vega|2008|p=68}}
Joaquín Dicenta started his studies in the Escolapios' of Getafe College (Madrid), and later in Alicante.{{sfn|Valladares Reguero|1999|p=119}} He was expelled from the {{ill|Segovia Artillery Academy|es|Academia de Artillería de Segovia|lt=Artillery Academy}} in Segovia because of his unruly attitude.{{Sfn|Valladares Reguero|1999|pp=119–120}}
His literary career began with the publication of his poems in the tabloid Eden. Gradually, as he gained fame, he began writing in other journals. He was a fervent opponent of the social order and this is reflected in his works.{{cite web|title=Joaquin Dicenta|url=http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/d/dicenta.htm|publisher=Biographies & Lives|accessdate=28 September 2013}}
File:Joaquín Dicenta, Don Quijote, 17 de octubre de 1902 (cropped).jpg depicting Dicenta while holding a bag reading Juan José]]
In April 1885, Dicenta promoted the creation of La Democracia Social, a shortly-lived Republican and Socialist newspaper.{{Sfn|Peral Vega|2008|p=68}} He was a close acquaintance of PSOE leader Pablo Iglesias, yet he never became a member of the party.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.eldiario.es/cultura/rebelion-xxi-joaquin-dicenta-olvidar_1_3112244.html|website=eldiario.es|title=La rebelión "siglo XXI" de Joaquín Dicenta: olvidar su olvido|date=22 October 2017}} Dicenta was also the first editor of {{ill|Germinal (magazine)|es|Germinal (revista)|lt=Germinal}},{{Sfn|Peral Vega|2008|p=69}} starting in 1897.
Many of Joaquín's works, including stories and novels have been lost. Perhaps the most famous of his works was the play Juan José (1895). The play's socialist tone and its tale of the conflict between employers and employees made it a huge success among the working class. It was performed yearly in Spain during May. The play's content of social struggle did not go down well with some Spanish bishops, who rejected it. But the play remained successful, being translated into several languages.
He was elected as Madrid municipal councillor at the May 1909 municipal election in representation of the district of Latina (drawing the most votes of any candidate in the municipality),{{Cite journal|url=http://hemerotecadigital.bne.es/issue.vm?id=0000250875&page=1|volume=XLIII|issue=15137|journal=El Imparcial |title=Joaquín Dicenta|date=3 May 1909}} running under a Republican platform that also got {{ill|José María de la Torre Murillo|es}} and Silvestre Abellán elected in the constituency.{{Cite journal|url=http://hemerotecadigital.bne.es/issue.vm?id=0002352139&page=1|date=2 May 1909|title=Las candidaturas republicanas|volume=XIII|issue=7980|journal=El País}} He took office on 1 July 1909, delivering a speech as follows:{{Sfn|Soldevilla|1910|p=223}}
File:Joaquín Dicenta, de Campúa, Nuevo Mundo, 27-05-1909.jpg
{{Quote|"I object to the fact that the councillors elected by the sovereignty of the people are presided over and ordained by a Mayor of Royal order. I wish that the Mayor of the town seating there is not appointed by the King, for the simple reason that there was no King. Politics is made and manifested here, since that the thing representing the most reactionary part of the Ayuntamiento has been given the only existing prebends."|Dicenta (1909); cfr. {{Harvnb|Soldevilla|1910|p=223}}}}
During his mandate as municipal councillor, Dicenta was the drafter of the so-called "Proyecto Dicenta", a plan for the construction of schools in Madrid, described as the most ambitious in the scope of education policy in the first third of the 20th century in the municipality.{{Sfn|Pozo Andrés|1997|pp=297–298}} The project was presented by Dicenta, Facundo Dorado and Ricardo Rodríguez Vilariño on 20 October 1911.{{Sfn|Pozo Andrés|1997|p=298}}
He died in Alicante on 21 February 1917.{{Sfn|Ramos Altamira|2011|p=15}} Later in that year, Mujeres (Estudios de mujer) a volume authored by Dicenta consisting of 25 chronicles dealing about portraits of women was posthumously published.{{sfn|Trujillo|2015|p=116}}
He spawned a saga of actors, including {{ill|Joaquín Dicenta (son)|es|Joaquín Dicenta (hijo)|lt=Joaquín Dicenta}} and {{ill|Manuel Dicenta|es}} (sons), and {{ill|Daniel Dicenta|es}} and {{ill|Jacobo Dicenta|es}} (grandsons).{{Sfn|Peral Vega|2008|p=68}}
Example of his poetry
"¡NO!"
¡Cuánto sufrí y qué solo!... Ni un amigo;
Ni una mano leal que se tendiera
En busca de la mía, ni siquiera
El placer de crearme un enemigo.
De mi angustia y dolor, solo testigo,
De mi terrible vida, compañera,
Fue una pobre mujer, una cualquiera
Que hambre, pena y amor partió conmigo.
Y hoy que mi triunfo asegurado se halla,
Tú, amigo, por el éxito ganado,
Me dices que la arroje de mi lado,
Que una mujer así, denigra... ¡Calla!
Con ella he padecido y he triunfado;
¡Y el triunfo no autoriza a ser canalla!
Works
{{Incomplete list|date=August 2020}}
File:1908-10-02, El Cuento Semanal, Galerna, Joaquín Dicenta, Romero Calvet.jpg
;Plays
- El suicidio de Werther (1888){{Sfn|Valladares Reguero|1999|p=120}}
- Honra y Vida (1888){{Sfn|Valladares Reguero|1999|p=120}}
- La mejor ley (1889){{Sfn|Valladares Reguero|1999|p=120}}
- Los irresponsables (1890){{Sfn|Valladares Reguero|1999|p=120}}
- Luciano (1894){{Sfn|Valladares Reguero|1999|p=120}}
- Juan José (1895){{Sfn|Valladares Reguero|1999|p=120}}
- El señor feudal (1896){{Sfn|Peral Vega|2008|p=70}}
- Aurora (1902){{Sfn|Peral Vega|2008|p=70}}
- Daniel (1907){{Sfn|Peral Vega|2008|p=70}}
;Long novels
- Rebeldía (1910){{Sfn|Valladares Reguero|1999|p=120}}
- Los Bárbaros (1912){{Sfn|Valladares Reguero|1999|p=120}}
- Encarnación (1913){{Sfn|Valladares Reguero|1999|p=120}}
- Mi Venus (1915){{Sfn|Valladares Reguero|1999|p=120}}
References
;Citations
{{Reflist}}
;Bibliography
- {{Cite journal|year=2008|last=Peral Vega|first=Emilio|url=http://revistadeliteratura.revistas.csic.es/index.php/revistadeliteratura/article/view/56|publisher=Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas|location=Madrid|journal=Revista de Literatura|volume=70|issue=139|title=Entre denuncia y melodrama: Juan José y el teatro social de Joaquín Dicenta}}
- {{Cite journal|title=La "etapa dorada" de la graduación escolar en Madrid: conflictos políticos y realidades pedagógicas (1891-1922)|first=María del Mar del|last=Pozo Andrés|journal=Revista de Educación|issue=314|year=1997|pages=285–320|url=http://www.educacionyfp.gob.es/dam/jcr:d8d6607d-3793-43fe-9939-0ce8ce2b5ae5/re3141400462-pdf.pdf|publisher=Ministerio de Educación y Cultura|location=Madrid|issn=0034-8082}}
- {{Cite book|title=Rafael Altamira. Anécdotas y curiosidades|first=Javier|last=Ramos Altamira|isbn=978-84-9948-506-5|year=2011|location=San Vicente del Raspeig|publisher=Editorial Club Universitario|url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/research/rafael-altamira-anecdotas-y-curiosidades/b53f69d4-4e55-11e1-b1fb-00163ebf5e63.pdf}}
- {{Cite book|title=El año político. 1909|year=1910|url=http://hemerotecadigital.bne.es/issue.vm?id=0001830842&page=233|publisher=Imprenta de Ricardo Rojas|location=Madrid|first=Fernando|last=Soldevilla}}
- {{Cite book|author-link=:es:David T. Gies|last=Gies|first=David Thatcher|orig-year=1994|title=The Theatre in Nineteenth-Century Spain|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2005|isbn=0-521-38046-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VHssjR98BJoC}}
- {{Cite journal|title=Retratos de mujer en la obra de Joaquín Dicenta|first=José Ramón|last=Trujillo|journal=Creneida: Anuario de Literaturas Hispánicas|issn=2340-8960|issue=3|year=2015|volume=3|pages=115–149|url=http://www.creneida.com/revista/creneida-3-2015/retratos-de-mujer-en-la-obra-de-joaqu%C3%ADn-dicenta-jos%C3%A9-ram%C3%B3n-trujillo/|location=Córdoba|publisher=Universidad de Córdoba|doi=10.21071/calh.v3i.5302|doi-access=free|hdl=10486/673552|hdl-access=free}}
- {{Cite journal|title=Los problemas sociales de la minería linarense de comienzos de siglo en la obra literaria de Joaquín Dicenta|first=Aurelio|last=Valladares Reguero|journal=Boletín del Instituto de Estudios Giennenses|issn=0561-3590|issue=171|year=1999|pages=117–143|url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/1210999.pdf}}
External links
- {{Gutenberg author | id=40839| name=Joaquín Dicenta}}
- {{Internet Archive author |sname=Joaquín Dicenta |sopt=w}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dicenta, Joaquin}}
Category:Spanish dramatists and playwrights
Category:Spanish male dramatists and playwrights
Category:Spanish male novelists
Category:People from Calatayud