César Muñoz Arconada (5 December 1898 – 10 March 1964), who signed his work as César M. Arconada, was a Spanish writer, poet, journalist and translator.

Early life

Arconada's father was a journalist and a post official. From January 1920 to March 1923, he often collaborated in Diario Palentino, and from 1923 in Alfar de Coruña. Arconada became a critic of music and cinema and wrote poetry alongside, where he already leaned towards social concerns, more frequent in his future writing.Soguero García, Francisco: «Entre las sombras: César M. Arconada y la crítica cinematográfica», en Mechthild Albert (ed): Vanguardia española e intermedialidad. Artes escénicas, cine y radio, Madrid/Frankfurt am Main, Iberoamericana/Vervuert, 2005, p. 457-477 He became editor-in-chief of the magazine ''

La Gaceta Literaria ''La Gaceta Literaria'' () was a bimonthly avant-garde literary, arts and science magazine which appeared in Madrid, Spain, between 1927 and 1932. It is known for its leading contributors and editorial board members. History and profile ''La Gac ...

'' in 1927, the main medium of the

Generation of '27 The Generation of '27 () was an influential group of poets that arose in Spain, Spanish literary circles between 1923 and 1927, essentially out of a shared desire to experience and work with avant-garde forms of art and poetry. Their first form ...

, where his collaboration (until January 1931) was frequent and outstanding.

Second Republic

In 1931 he joined the

Spanish Communist Party The Spanish Communist Party (in ), was the first communist party in Spain, formed out of the Federación de Juventudes Socialistas (Federation of Socialist Youth, youth wing of Spanish Socialist Workers' Party). The founders of the party, that ...

and is active in the social-realist trend in Spain. He collaborated, ''Nueva Cultura'', ''Leviatán'', ''Frente Literario'' and ''Mundo Obrero'' and ''Octubre'', which he co-edited with

Rafael Alberti Rafael Alberti Merello (16 December 1902 – 28 October 1999) was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27. He is considered one of the greatest literary figures of the so-called ''Silver Age'' of Spanish Literature, and he won numer ...

. He published two novels within the framework of the so-called socialist realism: namely Los pobres contra los ricos and Reparto de tierras (1934); in both he showed the situation of the Spanish countryside in a period of revolutionary peak. In 1938 he wrote another novel, Río Tajo, which received the National Prize for Literature, but which would only be published in Moscow in 1970 and in Spain in 1978, in which he praised the Popular Front during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

Exile and later life

Upon the defeat of the Second Spanish Republic in 1939, he went into exile in Moscow. There he became an enthusiastic promoter of Spanish literature, mainly of the

Spanish Golden Age The Spanish Golden Age (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Siglo de Oro'', , "Golden Century"; 1492 – 1681) was a period of literature and the The arts, arts in Spain that coincided with the political rise of the Spanish Empire under the Catholic M ...

, as with Cervantes'

La gitanilla ''La gitanilla'' ("The Little Gypsy Girl") is the first novella contained in Miguel de Cervantes's collection of short stories, the ''Novelas ejemplares'' (''The Exemplary Novels).'' ''La gitanilla'' is the story of a 15 year old gypsy girl name ...

, which he adapted and succeeded in the Gypsy Theater of Moscow. He was director of the Spanish-language edition of the Soviet Literary magazine and was connected to the Publishing Progress of Foreign Languages. He wrote a minor play Manuela Sánchez (se puso en escena en algún teatro y fue transmitida en fragmentos por Radio Moscú). The

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; , ''BSE'') is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Great Russian Enc ...

noted that he was influenced by Russian writers such as

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...

Konstantin Fedin Konstantin Aleksandrovich Fedin ( rus, Константи́н Алекса́ндрович Фе́дин, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈfʲedʲɪn, a=Konstantin Alyeksandrovich Fyedin.ru.vorb.oga; – 15 July 1977) was a Sovie ...

and others. He translated into Spanish, with Fyodor Keljin, the work Talk about the soldier Igor and a series of poems by

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...

, Mikhail Lermontov and

Nikolai Nekrasov Nikolay Alexeyevich Nekrasov ( rus, Никола́й Алексе́евич Некра́сов, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɐlʲɪkˈsʲejɪvʲɪtɕ nʲɪˈkrasəf, a=Ru-Nikolay_Alexeyevich_Nekrasov.ogg, – ) was a Russian poet, writer, critic and publ ...

. He also wrote two collections of short stories, namely España es invencible (1941) and Cuentos de Madrid (1942), some plays and the extended praise poem Dolores (1945). He married a young exile María Cánovas, from the Balearic Islands, bilingual and inclined to poetry, which made her a very suitable collaborator for Arconada.

Works

Poetry * ''Urbe''. Málaga, Imprenta Sur, 1928. * ''Vivimos en una noche oscura''. París/Madrid, Publicaciones Izquierda, 1936, 92 pp. * ''Romances de la guerra''. Santander, Ediciones Unidad, 1937, 75 pp. * Multaj poeziaĵoj dise en gazetoj ĉefe de Sovetunio. Essays non-narrative prose * ''En torno a

Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

''. Madrid, Espasa-Calpe, 1926, 264 pp. * ''Vida de Greta Garbo''. Madrid, Ediciones Ulises, 1929, 256 pp. Madrid, Castellote Editor, 1974. * ''Tres cómicos del cine''. Madrid, Ediciones Ulises, 1931, 288 pp. Madrid, Miguel Castellote, 1974, 344 pp. Nigel Dennis kaj Francisco Soguero: Sevilla, Renacimiento, Col. Biblioteca del Rescate, 2007, 373 pp. Narrative prose * ''La turbina''. Madrid, Ediciones Ulises, 1930. Madrid, Turner, 1975, La novela social española, kun prologo de Gonzalo Santonja. * «La humildad», en ''Las siete virtudes''. Madrid, Espasa-Calpe, 1931. * ''Los pobres contra los ricos''. París / Madrid, Publicaciones de Izquierda, 1933, 286 pp. La Habana, Editorial Arte y Literatura, 1977, 314 pp. * ''Reparto de tierras''. París / Madrid, Publicaciones de Izquierda, 1934, 223 pp. Diputación Provincial de Badajoz, 1987, kun prologo de Gregorio Torres Nebrera. * «Xuan el músico». En la revuo ''Ayuda'', num. 8-9 (1936), kaj en ''Los novelistas sociales españoles (1928-1936). Antología'', de Gonzalo Santonja kaj José Esteban, Barcelona, Anthropos. * ''Río Tajo''

938 Year 938 ( CMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – The Hungarian army invades Northern Italy with the permission of King Hugh of Arles. They cross the Apennin ...

Madrid, Akal, 1978, kun prologo de Juan Antonio Hormigón, 337 pp. (Antaŭe, en 1964, estis aperinta tradukaĵo al ĉeĥa ''Řeka Tajo'', Praha / Státní nakladatelství krásné literatury a umění). * ''Cuentos de Madrid''. Natalia Kharitónova, Sevilla, Renacimiento, Col. Biblioteca del exilio, 2007, 229 pp. Theatre * ''Tres farsas para títeres''. París/Madrid, Publicaciones Izquierda, 1936. («El teniente Cazadotes», «Dios y la beata» kaj «Gran baile en La Concordia»). * ''La conquista de Madrid'', 1937. * ''Nueva Carmen''. Moskvo en la num. 7 (1944) de la revuo ''Literatura Internacional''. En Hispanio, en la revuo ''Renacimiento'', num. 27-30 (2000), en eldono de Natalia Kharitónova. * ''Teatro español en la escuela''. Kunlabore kun Josefa Gómez-Ganivet. Moscú, Uchpedguiz, 1953, 74 pp. (''Mamita Clara'', ''Al Congreso de los Pueblos por la Paz, Viena'', ''Andrés'', ''Don Generoso de lo ajeno'' kaj ''El Lazarillo''). Translation * ''El viento del Este''. De S. Zeromski; Madrid: Ulises, 1931 (el pola fare de Mauricio Amster kaj C. M. Arconada). Compilation * ''Obras escogidas''. Tomo I: ''Los pobres contra los ricos'' kaj ''Reparto de tierras''. Tomo II: ''Río Tajo''. Moscú, Ediciones Progreso, 1969, kun prologo de Inna Tiniánova. * ''La Guerra de Asturias (Crónicas y romances)''. Gonzalo Santonja. Madrid, Ayuso, 1979, 127 pp. * ''De Astudillo a Moscú. Obra periodística''. Christopher H. Cobb. Valladolid, Ámbito, 1986, 359 pp. Not published * ''José Díaz''. Biography * ''Manuela Sánchez''. * ''Andanzas por la nueva China''. Journalism * ''España invencible''. Narrative. * ''¡Heroicas mujeres de España!''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arconada, Cesar Munoz 1898 births 1964 deaths 20th-century Spanish writers 20th-century Spanish journalists 20th-century Spanish poets Russian–Spanish translators Communist Party of Spain politicians Socialist realism writers