Antonio Rodriguez Almodóvar (Alcalá de Guadaira, 1941) He devoted his entire life to literature, which was reflected in the publication of seminal books such as “Stories in love with fire” also “Tales of the Half Moon”which collects … The best Spanish stories born from oral tradition. As a result of this dedication for many decades, he also published notable works of his own, such as novels “Variations for Saxophone” Or story book “The soon-to-be man”The writer received Seville this Tuesday at the county hall 17th Andalusian Literature Prize “Elio Antonio de Nebrija”. This prize is awarded by the Association of University Writers of Spain, represented by its independent Andalusian section, the Association of University Writers of Andalusia.
“It is a great honor to receive an award named after Nebrija, the first grammarian of the Spanish language,” says Rodríguez Almodovar. Moreover, he particularly emphasizes that it is an award “It is provided to you by your colleagues, which gives added value. “Sometimes praise is not popular among colleagues, but the Collegiate Association of Writers in Spain saw it appropriate.”
This author admits that “Here I was rewarded above all as a savior of stories. I was lucky enough to find a vein of gold in an abandoned mine. The vein had to be removed and cleaned, but that was basically all. I consider it an enormous luck that was not accidental, it was sought after.” There is a kind of circle that explains this task for folk tales and the rest of my work.».
He also adds that it was essential to meet other writers along the way e.g Julio Manuel de la Rosawho later became his mentor. “From his hand I met Ignacio Aldecoa I prepared my thesis on his novel “Gran Sol.” At the Faculty of Philology in Seville, I was also a student of García Calvo, who emphasized the importance of a book that was almost unknown, “Juan de Mirena”l Antonio Machado. There is praise for folklore like I have never seen before. “This book dealt with folklore as the culture of the people.”
Elaborating on this topic, Rodríguez Almodovar comments: “When Machado spoke of folklore, he said that almost everything that is not folklore is pedantry. But he also said: “Maerena believed that folklore was the living, creative culture of a people, which had much to learn, so that it could then teach well to the affluent classes.” This helped me ensure that adhering to oral literature was not trivial or simple.. The path that leads to the formation of a novel begins with the wonderful story. Even ‘Star Wars’ has to do with great story structure.”
When this writer began his fieldwork in the cities of Andalusia and Extremadura beginning in 1977, he made astonishing discoveries. “In Carmona they told me the story “John Bear”and is present in almost all Indo-European cultures. An illiterate woman told me this. In Spain, works related to the folk tale remained with costume designers into the 19th century and beyond Aurelio Espinosaa professor at Stanford University who came to Spain in the 1920s.
“One day I found in one of the libraries – adds the author of “Stories in the Love of Fire” – the book “Morphology of Story” by Vladimir Propp. This writer gave a Copernican touch to the stories. There were wonderful short story writers in Russia and Propp belonged to the structuralist movement. I was educated in structuralism. “Propp’s book and Aurelio Espinosa’s Spanish Folktales had a great influence on me.” In this sense, he confirms that he took a path that moves between the structural and the folkloric. “I have built my own method, which is the archetypal method, which is more structural than psychological. From there, “Stories in Love with Fire” was born. I have now produced a copy in Alianza in a single volume bearing introductions Jose Manuel Knight BonalD, Jose Maria Merino and Anna Maria MattottiWho said about me that I was the third brother Grimm at Cervantes’ reception.
The awards ceremony was attended by the President of the Andalusian Writers Association, Manuel Jahit; As well as representatives of the Collective Association of Writers in Spain; Regional Council of Seville; From the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Andalusia; From the Seville City Council and the Unicaja Foundation, sponsor of the award. The journalist paid tribute to Antonio Rodriguez Almodovar Mercedes de Pablo.
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