The diaries of Jaime Gil de Biedma
2020 marks 30 years since the death of Jaime Gil de Biedma, a key poet of the Spanish Generation of the 50s, who was also a great diarist, a field of Gil de Biedma's literary production still to be exploited from the point of view of academic research. This is precisely what the researcher from the University of Leeds and professor of Spanish, Álvaro González Montero, has been doing. He will offer in this talk a picture of the tormented poet through his diaries. It will focus on fundamental aspects of his life such as expat life (he lived in the Philippines and the UK, etc.) and his relationship with colonialism; and the illnesses, which he suffered from, first tuberculosis and later from AIDS, which finally caused his death.
At this event, he will be sharing thoughts and impressions in a dialogue with an exceptional guest, Andreu Jaume, one of the greatest specialists in the Spanish Generation of the 50s, literary critic and editor, who has recently edited and prefaced Jaime Gil de Biedma. Diarios 1956-1985 (Lumen, Barcelona, 2015).
The broadcast of this colloquium will be streamed live through our YouTube channel. It will be given in Spanish.
Álvaro González Montero (Málaga, 1990) has a degree in translation and interpretation (English, French and Arabic) from the University of Malaga and teaches Spanish at a secondary school in Leeds. He recently embarked on a Master's research project at the University of Leeds. On it he analyzes the construction of identity, especially homosexuality, colonialism and disease, in the diaries of Jaime Gil de Biedma, under the supervision of academics Richard Cleminson and Duncan Wheeler. His research interests include the Spanish Generation of 1950, the theory of the newspaper, colonialism and the development of identity in literature.
Andre Jaume (Palma, 1977) is a literary editor, as well as a poet (Camp de mar), critic and university professor of humanities. He has edited the essays of authors such as Henry James, T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, as well as the correspondence and diaries of Jaime Gil de Biedma. He is responsible for the five volume edition of Shakespeare's complete work (Debolsillo, 2013 and Penguin Classics 2016), of which he has also translated and edited King Lear (Penguin Classics, 2016).
