''Revista de Occidente'' () is a cultural magazine which has been in circulation since 1923 with some interruptions. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is known for its founder,

José Ortega y Gasset José Ortega y Gasset (; ; 9 May 1883 – 18 October 1955) was a Spanish philosopher and essayist. He worked during the first half of the 20th century while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism and dictatorship. His philosoph ...

, a Spanish philosopher.

History and profile

''Revista de Occidente'' was established by José Ortega y Gasset in 1923. Initially its publisher was a company with the same name which was also founded by Gasset. The magazine is published by the Madrid-based Jose Ortega y Gasset Foundation on a monthly basis. From 1923 to 1936 the editor of ''Revista de Occidente'' was

José Martínez Ruiz José Augusto Trinidad Martínez Ruiz, better known by his pseudonym Azorín (; 8 June 1873 – 2 March 1967), was a Spanish novelist, essayist and literary critic. Biography José Martínez Ruiz was born in the village of Monòver, Spain i ...

. During this period the major contributors were

Rosa Chacel Rosa Clotilde Chacel Arimón (June 3, 1898 – July 27, 1994) was a famous and sometimes controversial writer from Spain. She was a native of Valladolid. Early life Chacel was born in Valladolid, the daughter of a teacher who sent her to liv ...

Ramiro Ledesma Ramiro Ledesma Ramos (23 May 1905 – 29 October 1936) was a Spanish philosopher, politician, writer, essayist, and journalist, known as one of the pioneers in the introduction of Fascism in Spain. Early life Born in Alfaraz de Sayago (provinc ...

and

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936) was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27, a g ...

. Spanish novelist Benjamín Jarnés also published articles in the magazine. One of the frequent topics which the magazine covered in its early period was the idea of Europe, and it became a transnational platform where this idea was discussed. Through ''Revista de Occidente'' José Ortega y Gasset laid the foundations of his approach on

modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

. ''Revista de Occidente'' was instrumental in making his modernist approach well-known across the world. The magazine also featured articles on the acceptance of modernism in Spain. ''Revista de Occidente'' provided a platform for the young

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

artists and writers belonging to 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 ...

, including Maruja Mallo. Federico García Lorca first published some of his poems in ''Revista de Occidente''.

Victoria Ocampo Ramona Victoria Epifanía Rufina Ocampo (7 April 1890 – 27 January 1979) was an Argentine writer and intellectual. Best known as an advocate for others and as publisher of the literary magazine '' Sur'', she was also a writer and critic in he ...

published the first article in Spanish on

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

and her book entitled ''

A Room of One’s Own ''A Room of One's Own'' is an extended essay, divided into six chapters, by Virginia Woolf, first published in 1929. The work is based on two lectures Woolf delivered in October 1928 at Newnham College and Girton College, women's colleges at t ...

'' in the magazine in 1934.

Max Aub Max Aub Mohrenwitz (June 2, 1903, Paris – July 22, 1972 Mexico City) was a Mexican-Spanish experimentalist novelist, playwright, poet, and literary critic. In 1965 he founded the literary periodical ''Los Sesenta'' (the Sixties), with edi ...

's novel ''Geografía'' was first serialized in the magazine in 1927. ''Revista de Occidente'' did not only published literary work, but also covered articles about many distinct disciplines, including

paleontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...

. It played a significant role in introducing the views of the German philosopher

Oswald Spengler Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler (29 May 1880 – 8 May 1936) was a German polymath whose areas of interest included history, philosophy, mathematics, science, and art, as well as their relation to his organic theory of history. He is best know ...

in Spain from 1924. In the early 1930s it adopted a liberal political stance. ''Revista de Occidente'' ceased publication in 1936 when the

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

began and also, its contributor Federico García Lorca died. After a long hiatus the magazine was restarted in 1963. It was not published in the period 1977–1980. It was relaunched by Soledad Ortega Spottorno, daughter of José Ortega y Gasset, in 1980. It mostly features articles on

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

and

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

as well as interviews.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Revista de Occidente 1923 establishments in Spain José Ortega y Gasset Literary magazines published in Spain Magazines established in 1923 Magazines published in Madrid Modernism Monthly magazines published in Spain Philosophy magazines Spanish-language magazines