Name Francisco Icaza | Role Poet | |
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Died May 28, 1925, Madrid, Spain | ||
MC X - "Reliquia" de Francisco A. de Icaza #MiercolesDePoesía
Francisco de Asís de Icaza y Beña (b. 2 February 1863 in Mexico City, Mexico – d. 28 May 1925 in Madrid, Spain) was a Mexican poet, literary critic and historian of literature who spent most of his adult career and life in Spain. He was the father of Carmen de Icaza, VIII Baronesa de Claret, a popular Spanish novelist.
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Biography
Francisco Asís de Icaza y Beña was born on 2 February 1863 in Mexico City, Mexico, son of Ignacio de Icaza e Iturbe and María Tomasa Beña y García.
In his twenties he was posted to the Mexican legation in Madrid, during the embassy of his friend Vicente Riva Palacio; he became ambassador to Germany and to Spain; known at first for his poems, he achieved some notoriety with his Examen de críticos (1894). In 1901 appeared his Novelas ejemplares de Cervantes which was acclaimed and gained him membership in the Ateneo de Madrid. He published further scholarly works of literary history and was a corresponding member of the Mexican and Spanish Academies. His visit to his homeland was marred by the nationalist polemic that surrounded his critical Diccionario autobiográfico de conquistadores y pobladores de la Nueva España (Madrid, 1923).
In Spain, he married the young Beatriz de León y Loynaz (1878–1971), borned in La Habana and niece of a Spanish aristocrat. The marriage had 6 children.
In addition to his works on Cervantes and Lope de Vega, he translated into Spanish works by Nietzsche, Hebbel, Liliencron and Dehmel. His most famous lines are:
Dale limosna, mujer, que no hay en la vida nada como la pena de ser ciego en Granada. Give him alms, woman, for there is nothing sadder in life than being blind in Granada