Ramón J. Sender

Ramón José Sender Garcés (February 3, 1901 – January 16, 1982) was a Spanish novelist, essayist and journalist.

Life

Ramón J. Sender was born in Chalamera, Huesca in Spain. In 1923 he was conscripted into the Spanish military and took part in the Rif War (1919 - 1926). Later that year Sender returned to Madrid, where he worked as a journalist for El Sol, a newspaper critical of the current government. In 1926 he was imprisoned for writing Casas viejas. When the Spanish Civil War began in 1936, Sender immediately enlisted to help resist Franco. While he was at the front, the Nationalists executed his wife, Amparo Barayón, in Zamora^[1] and his brother in Huesca.^[2] He had been an anarchist and then a communist but folllowing the Spanish Civil War he reneged this ideology and sought asylum in France in 1938. He left Spain for New York after the Spanish Civil War in 1939, and then relocated to Mexico like many scientists, artists and intellectuals during the government of Lázaro Cárdenas. He became an American citizen in 1948, and he lived in the United States until 1972, when he returned to live in Spain for several years before dying in San Diego, California in 1982.

Sender's son is the composer and writer Ramon Sender. His grandson is Chicago-based designer Sol Sender, best known for the development of Obama campaign logo. The Spanish actor and showman Raúl Sender is his nephew.

Work

His most famous works include La tesis de Nancy, about the experiences of a young American student in Spain named Nancy, and Réquiem por un campesino español. La tesis de Nancy is widely read by Spanish students. The book is a true account based upon a series of letters written by Nancy (originally in English) from Nancy to her aunt. At the time Nancy was studying and living in Spain. She shared with her aunt her love for learning and exploring the Spanish language. Sender was not a native of Seville, and his novel is full of stereotypes held by Northern Spaniards against Andalusians.

Publications

• Imán (1930)
• Seven Red Sundays (1932. Penguin 1938) (orig. Spanish. Siete domingos rojos)
• Mr. Witt en el cantón (1935)
• El lugar de un hombre (1939)
• Mexicayotl (1940)
• Crónica del alba (1942)
• La esfera (1947)
• El rey y la reina (1949)
• Mosén Millán (1953) (republished later in 1960 renamed as Requiem por un campesino español)
• Bizancio (1956)
• Requiem for a Spanish Peasant (1960) (orig. Spanish. Requiem por un campesino español republished in)
• El bandido adolescente (1965)
• La aventura equinocial de Lope de Aguirre (1968)

Notes

External links

• Profile (Spanish)
• Biography (Spanish)
• Ramón J. Sender: One of the most important Spanish expatriate writers (Spanish)
• Ramón J. Sender at Find a Grave