Antonio Martínez Sarrión

Antonio Martínez Sarrión (born 1939 in Albacete, Spain), poet and translator.

Biography

Studied bachelor in Albacete and licensed in Law in the Universidad de Murcia in 1961. In 1963 he moved to Madrid, where he works as a government employee in the Central Administration. Between 1974 and 1976 he codirected, with Jesús Munárriz and José Esteban, La Ilustración Poética Española e Iberoamericana, poetry magazine from which 12 numbers got published.

Figured in the famous anthology of the critic José María Castellet Nueve novísimos poetas españoles, which confirmed his status as an important poet.

Inside the common antirealistic unrestlessness of the Novísimos group, Martínez Sarrión stands out for his sixtyeightist rebellion which made him admire the beat poetry and for assuming very early, many of the culturalist, irrationalist, surrealist and mythical references (literature, cinema, jazz) that his partners would later adopt.

In his poetry everything is mixed into one poem: the quote of the poet, a conversation, a digression, a memory, a jazz song, all that in a magnificent linking that he achieves to build by means of the break-up of the syntactical forms.

The technique of his poetic work has always been compared to surrealism, even though it is different because "the accumulation of images, apparently unconnected, comes from will (...) of expressing the chaos as it is lived. There is no, work about "free associations", but conscious disintegration of "logical associations", (...)". (Jenaro Talens in his foreword to El centro inaccessible...).

Another side of his work is occupied by memorialism- He published a couple of diaries and a trilogy of memories, that fills his childhood years (Infancia y corrupciones, 1993) (Childhood and corruptions); his university days (Una juventud, 1996) (A youth) and his rise to literary life (Jazz y días de lluvia, 2002) (Jazz and rainy days).

Martínez Sarrión is a gifted translator of french too. He made one of the best versions in Spanish of Les Fleurs du Mal (The flowers of evil) by Charles Baudelaire, and translated Victor Hugo too Lo que dice la boca de sombra y otros poemas (What the shadow mouth says and other poems), Stendhal Translating Award in 1990. Other authors translated by him into Spanish are Jean Genet, Michel Leiris, Alfred de Musset, Chamfort, Jacottet and Arthur Rimbaud.

He participated in several occasions as a collaborator in the Spanish TV show Qué grande es el cine (How great cinema is), moderated by José Luis Garci.

Works

Poetry

• Teatro de operaciones (Operations theatre), Carboneras de Guadazaón, El toro de barro, 1967.
• Pautas para conjurados (Guidelines for the conspirated), B., Col. El Bardo, 1970.
• «Ocho elegías con pie en versos antiguos», (Eight elegies with foot in ancient verses) Papeles Son Armadans, 64, 190 (1972), pp. 71–76.
• Una tromba mortal para los balleneros (Deadly downpour for the whale hunters), B., Lumen, 1975.
• «Canción triste para una parva de heterodoxos», (Sad song for a heterodoxical group) Papeles de Son Armadans, 81, 242 (1976), pp. 157–162.
• El centro inaccessible. Poesía 1967-1980 (The inaccessible centre: Poetry 1967-1980), M., Hiperión, 1981 (with prologue of Jenaro Talens. Contains all his previous poetry books plus the unreleased El centro inaccessible).
• Horizonte desde la rada (Horizon from the stadium), M., Trieste, 1983.
• Sequías, (Dryness) M., Cuadernillos de Madrid, 1983.
• De acedía, (Of dab) M., Hiperión, 1986.
• Ejercicio sobre Rilke, (Exercise over Rilke) Pamplona, Pamiela, 1988.
• Antología poética, (Poetic anthology) ed. Juan Carlos Gea, Albacete, Diputación, 1994.
• Cantil, Granada, Comares, 1995; Murcia, Nausíkaä, 2005.
• Cordura, (Sanity) B., Tusquets, 1999.
• Poeta en diwan, (Poet in diwan) Barcelona, Tusquets, 2004.
• Última fe (Antología poética 1965-1999) (Last faith: Poetic anthology 1965-1999), ed. Ángel L. Prieto de Paula, Madrid, Cátedra, 2005.

Other genres

• Diario austral, (Austral diary) Madrid, Hiperión, 1987.
• La cera que arde, (The burning wax) Albacete, Diputación, 1990.
• Infancia y corrupciones: Memorias I, (Childhood and corruptions: Memories I) Madrid, Alfaguara, 1993.
• Cargar la suerte - Diarios 1968-1992, (Load Luck - Diaries 1968-1992) Madrid, Alfaguara, 1994.
• Una juventud - Memorias II), (A youth - Memories II) Madrid, Alfaguara, 1996.
• Murcia: un perfil, (Murcia: a profile) Cuenca, Ediciones Artesanas, 1999.
• Esquirlas - Dietario 1993-1999, (Fragments - Engagement book 1993-1999) Madrid, Alfaguara, 2000.
• Jazz y días de lluvia - Memorias III), (Jazz and rainy days - Memories III) Madrid, Alfaguara, 2002.

External links

• Information about Martínez Sarrión with excerpts of his poetical works (In Spanish)
• Poetic selection in Spanish.