Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, considered to be one of the greatest authors of the contemporary Spanish novel, was born in El Ferrol (La Coruña) on the 13th June 1910. He obtained his degree in Philosophy and Arts from the University of Santiago de Compostela in 1935 and the following year gained his first post in teaching, an activity which he has combined with literature all life long.

His love of writing began before he was twenty years' old. He himself recalls that, for a bet, he wrote a sort of pastiche of a Western novel when he was seventeen.

In 1937 he made friends in Salamanca with Dionisio Ridruejo, Antonio Tovar, Luis Felipe Vivanco and Pedro Laín. At this time he began to publish articles in the magazine "Escorial". Although he also wrote theatre, none of his plays ever made it to the stage. From those times come titles such as "El viaje del joven Tobías", "Lope de Aguirre", "¡Oh, Penélope!", "El retorno de Ulises" and "El casamiento engañoso". Torrente himself recognises that "my theatre is more for reading than for performance."

From 1947 onwards his creative work intensifies, writing at the same time as teaching, producing essays, theatre, novels, short stories and even history books. For fiteen years he wwas also to publish regular contributions as theatre critic for the daily paper "Arriba".

In 1962 his life took a major turn when, as the result of the inclusion of his signature on a document supporting the demands of the Asturian strikers, he was expelled from all the official media in which he appeared, both press and radio. A few months later, upon receiving an invitation from the American University of Albany to teach Spanish Literature, he accepted and moved to the United States, the country where he was to live for several years.

On his return to Spain, he taught in Vigo, later taking over his department in a high school in Salamanca, where he was to teach Spanish Language and Literature until his retirement.

His first published novel, "Javier Mariño" (1943) was followed by "El golpe de estado de Guadalupe Limón" (1946), "Ifigenia" (1950) and two books of observations and criticism: "Panorama del teatro español contemporáneo" and "El libro de Compostela".

Between 1957 and 1962 he finished his trilogy "Los gozos y las sombras" ("El señor llega", "Donde da la vuelta el aire" and "La Pascua triste"), which would later be succesfully adapted for television. He then wrote "Don Juan" (1963), "Off-side" (1969) and "Fragmentos de Apocalipsis" (1977). In 1972 he published "La saga/fuga de J.B.", a fundamenttal title in the author's work and one of the most important contemporary Spaish novels. A work of fantasy, in which myth and reality go hand in hand, the force of its prose and its imagination make it into an outstanding work.

In 1981, forty-two years after being granted this award for the first time, Torrente Ballester won the National Literature Prize again for his novel "La isla de los jacintos cortados". He has also obtained the Prize of the Juan March Foundation, the City of Barcelona Prize for Novels, the Critics' Prize and the Cervantes Prize. In 1988 he received the Planeta Prize for his work "Fiomeno, a mi pesar", and at the end of 1989 he published "Crónica del rey pasmado".

Doctor "honoris causa" of the University of Salamanca, Torrente Ballester has been a numerary member of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language since 1975.

© Copyright Heirs of Gonzalo Torrente Ballester