View source for José Echegaray

{{Short description|Spanish statesman}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
{{Family name hatnote|Echegaray|Eizaguirre|lang=Spanish}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = José Echegaray
| honorific_prefix = [[The Most Excellent]]
| awards = {{Awd|[[Nobel Prize in Literature]]|1904}}
| honorific_suffix =
| image = José Echegaray y Eizaguirre.jpg
| birth_name = José Echegaray y Eizaguirre
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1832|4|19}}
| birth_place = [[Madrid]], Spain
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1916|9|14|1832|4|19}}
| death_place = Madrid, Spain
| resting_place = [[Saint Isidore Cemetery]]
| occupation = Dramatist, civil engineer and mathematician
| nationality = Spanish
| genre = [[Drama]]
| module = {{Infobox officeholder
| embed = yes
| office        = Seat ''e'' of the [[Real Academia Española]]
| term_start    = 20 May 1894
| term_end      = 14 September 1916
| predecessor   = [[Ramón de Mesonero Romanos]]
| successor     = {{ill|Julio Burell y Cuéllar|es}}{{efn|Burell was elected for the position in 1916 but never took the seat}}
}}
}}
'''José Echegaray y Eizaguirre''' (19 April 1832{{snd}}14 September 1916)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jose-Echegaray-y-Eizaguirre|title=José Echegaray y Eizaguirre - Spanish dramatist|website=Britannica.com|access-date=9 June 2018}}</ref> was a Spanish civil engineer, mathematician, [[wikt:statesman|statesman]], and one of the leading [[Spaniards|Spanish]] dramatists of the last quarter of the 19th century. He was awarded the [[1904 Nobel Prize in Literature]] "in recognition of the numerous and brilliant compositions which, in an individual and original manner, have revived the great traditions of the Spanish drama".
== Early life ==
He was born in Madrid on 19 April 1832.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Sánchez Ron|first=José Manuel|date=30 December 2004|title=José Echegaray: entre la ciencia, el teatro y la política|journal=Arbor|language=es|volume=CLXXIX|issue=707/708|pages=601–688|doi=10.3989/arbor.2004.i707/708.510|issn=1988-303X|doi-access=free}}</ref> His father, a doctor and institute professor of Greek,<ref name=Echegaray>{{cite web|title=The Nobel Prize in Literature 1904:Frédéric Mistral, José Echegaray|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1904/eizaguirre-bio.html|publisher=Elsevier Publishing Company|access-date=7 February 2013}}</ref> was from Aragon and his mother was from Navarra. He spent his childhood in Murcia, where he finished his elementary school education. It was there, at the Murcia Institute, where he first gained his love for mathematics. While still a child he read [[Goethe]], [[Homer]], and [[Balzac]], readings that alternated with those of mathematicians like [[Gauss]], [[Adrien-Marie Legendre|Legendre]], and [[Lagrange]].
In order to earn enough money to attend the {{lang|es|Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Caminos, Canales y Puertos}} (Engineering School of Roads, Channels and Ports), he moved at the age of fourteen to Madrid.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.clublibertaddigital.com/ilustracion-liberal/4/jose-echegaray-alicia-delibes.html|title=Alicia Delibes – José Echegaray|newspaper=Libertad Digital|access-date=2016-12-03}}</ref> At the age of twenty, he left the Madrid School with a Civil Engineering degree, which he had obtained as first in his class, and he had to move to Almeria and Granada to begin working at his first job.{{sfn|Fitzmaurice-Kelly|1911|p=870}}
== Professor and scientist ==
In 1854 he began teaching a class at the Engineering School, working as a secretary there also. He taught mathematics, [[stereotomy (descriptive geometry)|stereotomy]], [[hydraulic]]s, [[descriptive geometry]], and [[differential calculus|differential]] and physical calculus from that year until 1868. From 1858 to 1860 he was also a professor at the Assistants' School of Public Works.
His {{lang|es|Problemas de geometría analítica}} (1865) and {{lang|es|Teorías modernas de la física. Unidad de las fuerzas materiales}} (1867) were held in some regard. He became a member of the Society of Political Economy, helped to found the magazine {{lang|es|La Revista}}, and took a prominent part in propagating [[free trade]] doctrines in the press and on the platform.{{sfn|Fitzmaurice-Kelly|1911|p=870}}
He was clearly marked out for office, and when the [[Glorious Revolution (Spain)|revolution of 1868]] overthrew the monarchy, he resigned his post for a place in the revolutionary cabinet.{{sfn|Fitzmaurice-Kelly|1911|p=870}}
==Government service==
Echegaray also entered politics later in his life. As a founding member of the [[Republicanism in Spain|republican]] [[Radical Democratic Party (Spain)|Radical Democratic Party]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gómez-Mendoza |first=Josefina |title=José Echegaray, un liberal radical en Fomento |url=https://www.academia.edu/30259822}}</ref> he enjoyed a career in the government sector, being appointed Minister of Education, of Public Works and Finance Minister successively between 1867 and 1874.<ref name="Echegaray"/> He retired from politics after the [[Restoration (Spain)|Bourbon restoration]] in 1874.{{sfn|Fitzmaurice-Kelly|1911|p=870}}
==Literary career==
Theater had always been the love of José Echegaray's life. Although he had written earlier plays (''La Hija natural'' and ''La Última Noche'', both in 1867), he truly became a dramatist in 1874.{{sfn|Fitzmaurice-Kelly|1911|p=870}} His plays reflected his sense of duty, which had made him famous during his time in the governmental offices. Dilemmas centered on duty and morality are the motif of his plays. He replicated the achievements of his predecessors of the [[Spanish Golden Age]], remaining a prolific playwright.
His most famous play is ''[[El gran Galeoto]]'', a drama written in the grand nineteenth century manner of [[melodrama]]. It is about the poisonous effect that unfounded gossip has on a middle-aged man's happiness. Echegaray filled it with elaborate stage instructions that illuminate what we would now consider a hammy style of acting popular in the 19th century. [[Paramount Pictures]] filmed it as a silent with the title changed to ''[[The World and His Wife]]'', and it was the basis for a later film [[The Great Galeoto]]. His most remarkable plays{{Citation needed|date=December 2007}} are ''O locura o santidad'' (Saint or Madman?, 1877); ''Mariana'' (1892); ''El estigma'' (1895); ''La duda'', 1898; and ''El loco Dios'' (God, the fool, 1900).
Among his other famous plays are ''La esposa del vengador'' (1874) (The Avenger's Wife); ''En el puño de la espada'' (1875) (In the Sword's Handle); ''En el pilar y en la cruz'' (1878) (On the Stake and on the Cross); and ''Conflicto entre dos deberes'' (1882) (Conflict of Two Duties).<ref name="Echegaray"/>
Along with the [[Provence|Provençal]] poet [[Frédéric Mistral]], he was awarded the [[Nobel Prize for Literature]] in 1904, after having been nominated that year by a member of the [[Real Academia Española|Royal Spanish Academy]], making him the first Spaniard to win the prize.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show.php?id=6761|title=Nomination Database|website=Nobelprize.org|access-date=9 June 2018}}</ref>
[[File:JoseEchegaray.jpg|thumb|José Echegaray]]
José Echegaray maintained constant activity until his death on 14 September 1916 in Madrid.<ref name=":0" /> His extensive work did not stop growing in his old age: in the final stage of his life he wrote 25 or 30 mathematical physics volumes. At the age of 83 he commented: <blockquote>I cannot die, because if I am going to write my mathematical physics encyclopedia, I need at least 25 more years.</blockquote>
==Honors==
Several streets in Spain are named after José Echegaray. ''Calle Echegaray'' in Madrid's ''Barrio de las Letras'' is especially noteworthy.<ref>{{cite web|lang=es|author=Nuevo Vialás, Mar|url=https://www.economiadigital.es/tendenciashoy/viajeros/echegaray-calle-mas-cool.html |title=Echegaray: La calle de Madrid que se cuela entre las más 'cool' del mundo |website=Tendencias Hoy, Economía Digital|date=26 August 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The best of the barrios: Barrio de las Letras|date=13 April 2014|website=Things to Do, Madrid, Time Out (timeout.com)|url=https://www.timeout.com/madrid/things-to-do/the-best-of-the-barrios-barrio-de-las-letras}}</ref> In 1971 the Bank of Spain issued a 1000-peseta banknote in his honor.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1063/1.1306382 |title=Echegaray—Fiscal Scientist and More |year=2000 |last1=Mira Pérez |first1=Jorge|journal=Physics Today |volume=53 |issue=6 |pages=76–77 |bibcode=2000PhT....53f..76P | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238958281|hdl=10347/18452 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
=== Literary work ===
==== Plays ====
* ''La hija Natural'' (1865)
* ''El libro talonario'' (1874)
* ''La esposa del vengador'' (1874)
* ''La última noche'' (1875)
* ''En el puño de la espada'' (1875)
* ''Un sol que nace y un sol que muere'' (1876)
* ''Cómo empieza y cómo acaba'' (1876)
* ''El gladiador de Rávena'' (1876)
* ''Locura o santidad'' (1876).
* ''O locura o santidad'' (1877)
* ''Iris de paz'' (1877)
* ''Para tal culpa, tal pena'' (1877)
* ''Lo que no puede decirse'' (1877)
* ''En el pilar y en la cruz'' (1878)
* ''Correr en pos de un ideal'' (1878)
* ''Algunas veces aquí'' (1878)
* ''Morir por no despertar'' (1879)
* ''En el seno de la muerte'' (1879)
* ''Bodas trágicas'' (1879)
* ''Mar sin orillas'' (1879)
* ''La muerte en los labios'' (1880)
* ''El gran galeoto'' (1881)
* ''Haroldo el normando'' (1881)
* ''Los dos curiosos impertinentes'' (1881)
* ''Conflicto entre dos deberes'' (1882)
* ''Un milagro en Egipto'' (1884)
* ''Piensa mal ... ¿y acertarás?'' (1884)
* ''La peste de [[Otranto]]'' (1884)
* ''Vida alegre y muerte triste'' (1885)
* ''El bandido Lisandro''(1885)
* ''De mala raza''(1886)
* ''Dos fanatismos'' (1886)
* ''El Conde Lotario'' (1887)
* ''La realidad y el delirio'' (1887)
* ''EL hijo de hierro y el hijo de carne'' (1888)
* ''Lo sublime en lo vulgar'' (1888)
* ''Manantial que no se agota'' (1889)
* ''Los rígidos'' (1889)
* ''Siempre en ridículo'' (1890)
* ''El prólogo de un drama'' (1890)
* ''Irene de Otranto'' (1890)
* ''Un crítico incipiente'' (1891)
* ''Comedia sin desenlace'' (1891)
* ''Mariana'' (1891)
* ''El hijo de Don Juan'' (1892)
* ''Sic vos non vobis o la última limosna''
* ''El poder de la impotencia'' (1893)
* ''A la orilla del mar'' (1893)
* ''La rencorosa'' (1894)
* ''Mancha que limpia'' (1895)
* ''El primer acto de un Drama''(1895)
* ''El estigma'' (1895)
* ''La cantante callejera''(1895)
* ''Amor salvaje'' (1896)
* ''Semíramis o La hija del aire''(1896)
* ''La calumnia por castigo'' (1897)
* ''La duda'' (1897)
* ''El hombre negro'' (1898)
* ''Silencio de muerte'' (1898)
* ''El loco Dios'' (1900)
* ''Malas herencias'' (1902)
* ''La escalinata de una trono''(1903)
* ''La desequilibrada''(1904)
* ''A fuerza de arrastrarse'' (1905)
* "La última limosna" (1905)
* "El preferido y los cenicientos" (1908)
== Notes ==
<references group="lower-alpha" />
==References==
{{Reflist}}
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Echegaray y Eizaguirre, José|volume=8|pages=870–871|last=Fitzmaurice-Kelly|first=James|author-link=James Fitzmaurice-Kelly}}
==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{wikisource author}}
* {{Nobelprize}} with the prize motivation
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051221155843/http://www.angelfire.com/ego2/olko/cgi-bin/eizaguirre-bio.html Elsevier Publishing Co. biography]
* {{Gutenberg author | id=40983| name=José Echegaray}}
*[http://noblib.internet-box.ch/NLEW.php?authorid=4 List of works]
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=José Echegaray |sopt=w}}
* {{Librivox author}}
* {{PM20}}
{{RAE seat e}}
{{Nobel Prize in Literature Laureates 1901-1925}}
{{1904 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Echegaray y Eizaguirre, Jose}}
[[Category:1832 births]]
[[Category:1916 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Madrid]]
[[Category:Spanish dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Spanish male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Literature]]
[[Category:Spanish Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Economy and finance ministers of Spain]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Spanish Academy]]
[[Category:19th-century Spanish mathematicians]]
[[Category:Complutense University of Madrid alumni]]
[[Category:19th-century Spanish male writers]]
[[Category:Government ministers during the First Spanish Republic]]