''El Mono Azul'' ( Spanish: ''Blue Overalls'') was an anti-fascist magazine which was published in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War. The magazine existed between 1936 and 1939 and was one of the major cultural, intellectual and artistic publications during the war with the subtitle ''hoja semanal de la Alianza de Intelectuales Antifascista para la Defensa de la Cultura'' (Spanish: ''Weekly publication of the Alliance of Anti-fascist Intellectuals for the Defense of Culture'').

History and profile

''El Mono Azul'' was started in Madrid in 1936 by the Alliance of Anti-Fascist Intellectuals led by communist writers Rafael Alberti and María Teresa León at the beginning of the Civil War. The Alliance was part of the Republican side of the groups fighting in the civil war. ''El Mono Azul'' functioned as the propaganda organ for the group. The first issue of the magazine appeared on 27 August 1936, a month after the start of the civil war. From its start to November 1936 it was published every Thursday on a weekly basis. In the period December 1936–February 1937 ''El Mono Azul'' temporarily ceased publication and was restarted on 11 February. It became a section of the weekly newspaper ''La Voz'' in June 1937 and continued its publication in this format until May 1938. Then it produced three more issues last of which appeared in February 1939. The final issue was an independent publication, but was published as part of a literary magazine entitled ''Cuadernos de Madrid''.

Content and editors

''El Mono Azur'' targeted those fighting in the civil war. It frequently featured articles on the tips for the proficiency in precision shooting and hygiene. In addition, the magazine covered all literary genres such as poetry and literary criticism, political articles, editorials, documents, theatrical news, photographs or illustrations. The latter were mostly produced by Alberti and Pablo Picasso. The poems published in ''El Mono Azul'' were read and written in the trenches before appearing in the magazine. The 29th issue dated 19 August 1937 featured four poems of

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...

which were translated into Spanish by Rafael Alberti. Hughes, an African American, was the only Anglophone poet whose works were published in ''El Mono Azul''. Major directors and contributors included

José Bergamín José Bergamín Gutiérrez ( Madrid, 1895 – Hondarribia, 28 August 1983) was a Spanish writer, essayist, poet, and playwright. His father served as president of the canton of Málaga; his mother was a Catholic. Bergamín was influenced by bo ...

Rafael Dieste Rafael Dieste (Rianxo, 1899–Santiago de Compostela, 1981) was a Galician poet, philosopher, short-story writer, and dramatist writing mostly in Galician language, but also in Spanish language. He began to write with the encouragement of another ...

Lorenzo Varela Xesús Lorenzo Varela Vázquez (August 10, 1917 in Havana – November 25, 1978 in Madrid) was a Galician poet. Life Varela was born in a boat, while his parents, emigrants from Galicia, were going to Havana, Cuba. Some people consider it to ...

Miguel Hernández Miguel Hernández Gilabert (30 October 1910 – 28 March 1942 ) was a 20th-century Spanish-language poet and playwright associated with the Generation of '27 and the Generation of '36 movements. Born and raised in a family of low resources, h ...

, Vicente Aleixandre, Vicente Huidobro, Luis Cernuda,

Antonio Machado Antonio Cipriano José María y Francisco de Santa Ana Machado y Ruiz (26 July 1875 – 22 February 1939), known as Antonio Machado, was a Spanish poet and one of the leading figures of the Spanish literary movement known as the Generation ...

León Felipe León Felipe Camino Galicia (11 April 1884 – 17 September 1968) was an anti-fascist Spanish poet. Biography Felipe was born in Tábara, Zamora, Spain, while his parents were travelling. His father was a public notary and comfortably off. ...

, Rosa Chacel, Emilio Prados, Octavio Paz, César Vallejo,

Tomás Navarro Tomás Tomás Navarro Tomás (12 April 1884 – 16 September 1979) was a Spanish philologist, librarian and linguist. His work in the field of Spanish Philology is one of the key contributions to the Spanish Scientific modernization movement of the ...

Pablo Neruda Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...

, and

Ramón J. Sender Ramón José Sender Garcés (3 February 1901 – 16 January 1982) was a Spanish novelist, essayist and journalist. Several of his works were translated into English by the distinguished zoologist, Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell, including ''Seven ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mono Azul 1936 establishments in Spain 1939 disestablishments in Spain Anti-fascism in Spain Communist magazines Defunct literary magazines published in Europe Defunct political magazines published in Spain Francoist Spain Irregularly published magazines Literary magazines published in Spain Magazines established in 1936 Magazines disestablished in 1939 Magazines published in Madrid Poetry literary magazines Propaganda newspapers and magazines Spanish-language magazines Weekly magazines published in Spain