José Martínez Ruiz

Years active1895–1967Seat P of the Real Academia EspañolaIn office
26 October 1924 – 6 March 1967Preceded byJuan Navarro-ReverterSucceeded byGuillermo Díaz-Plaja

José Augusto Trinidad Martínez Ruiz, better known by his pseudonym Azorín (Spanish pronunciation: [aθoˈɾin]; June 8, 1873 – March 2, 1967), was a Spanish novelist, essayist and literary critic.

José Martínez Ruiz was born in the village of Monòver, Spain in the province of Alicante on 8 June 1873.^[1]

The outbreak of the Second Spanish Republic saw him re-adopt his old progressive political ideals. He abandoned the conservative ABC newspaper to write for the republican newspapers El Sol, La Libertad and Ahora. He edited Revista de Occidente, founded by José Ortega y Gasset, a journal promoting European philosophy, from 1923 to 1936.^[2]

When he returned to Spain after the Spanish Civil War, he found himself in "inner exile", along with other intellectuals who had not overtly supported the Franco regime during the conflict. He was at first denied a press identification card (tarjeta de periodista), but was supported by Ramón Serrano Suñer, at that time Franco's Interior Minister and president of the Falange. Accepting Franco’s regime was the price he had to pay in order to be admitted back, and he aligned with the dictatorship in a noted article in the right-wing journal Vértice.^[3]

In his old age, Azorín became a film enthusiast, writing numerous articles, some of which are reprinted in El cine y el momento, and claiming that "Cinema is the greatest form of art". He died in Madrid, Spain on March 2, 1967, at the age of 93.^[4]

• 1917, Hijo Predilecto de Monòver.
• 1924, Elected to the Royal Spanish Academy
• 1946, Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic
• 1956, Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise.
• 1969, His home in Monòver established as a museum, Casa-Museo Azorín

• List of essayists
• List of Spanish writers
• List of Spanish-language authors

• Sáenz, Paz, ed. (1988). Narratives from the Silver Age. Translated by Hughes, Victoria; Richmond, Carolyn. Madrid: Iberia. ISBN 84-87093-04-3.
• "Azorín". La Cultura del XIX al XX en España (in Spanish). Fundación Zuloaga. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
• "Azorín (José Martínez Ruiz) Biographical data and intellectual evolution". Literatur im Kontext. Universität Wien. Archived from the original on 27 November 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012.

• Works by José Martínez Ruiz at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about José Martínez Ruiz at the Internet Archive
• Works by or about Azorín at the Internet Archive