Francisco Perez Martinez, known as Francis Threshold, was born in Madrid, on May 11, 1935 and died in the same city, on August 28, 2007. He was a Spanish journalist, novelist, biographer and essayist.
The city of Valladolid, where the late writer spent much of his life, and began in letters through journalism, prepares a tribute to his memory with the dedication of a street and an act inside the Book Fair, which It will be held from May 1 to 11, the date coinciding with the day of his birth.
The Parquesol neighborhood, one of the areas with the greatest expansion and demographic potential, has been chosen to immortalize the figure of Francis Threshold (1935-2007), who in Valladolid published his first writings, within the magazine «Cisne», of the SEU, and regularly collaborated in the newspaper «The North of Castile« 1957 since.
The newspaper «The World-Diary of Valladolid«, For having been that newspaper the last lodging of the column of Francis Threshold, since 1989, with the motto «The pleasures and the days«, Previously published in«El País»(1976-1988) and in the disappeared«Diary 16« (1988)
The Provincial Council of Valladolid already granted Umbral a tribute in 1994 with the delivery of its Prize for Literary Career and the publication of a book about his life and work.
Narratives written by Francisco Umbral
- Tamouré (1965)
- Thug Ballad (1965)
- Crossing Madrid (1966)
- Virgins (1969)
- If we had known that love was that (1969)
- El Giocondo (1970), on the homosexual environments of Madrid
- The Europeans (1970)
- Memoirs of a right-wing child (1972)
- The Sacred Evils (1973)
- Deadly and Pink (1975)
- The nymphs (Nadal award, 1975)
- Daytime Loves (1979)
- The Tree Ferns (1980)
- The Pink Beast (1981)
- Guardian Angels (1981)
- The Souls of Purgatory (1982)
- Madrid Trilogy (1984)
- Pius XII, the Moorish Escort and a General without an Eye (1985)
- Nothing on Sunday (1988)
- The Day I Raped Alma Mahler (1988)
- The Glow of Africa (1989)
- And Tierno Galván Ascended to Heaven (1990)
- Legend of the Visionary Caesar (Critics Award, 1992)
- Madrid, 1940 (1993)
- The young ladies of Avignon (1995)
- Madrid 1950 (1995)
- Pain Capital (1996)
- The Forge of a Thief (1997)
- Love Stories and Viagra (1998)
- A being from afar (2001)
- The Night Metals (2003)
- Happy days in Argüelles (2005)
- Beloved 2007th Century (XNUMX)
Essays and chronicles written by Francisco Umbral
He also wrote a very personal essay on titles like The perpetual writing (From Rubén Darío to Cela) (1989) The words of the tribe (1994) Literature dictionary (1995) Madrid, urban tribe (2000) o The hallucinated (2001). On Cela: an exquisite corpse (2002), offers his personal interpretation of the one who was his protector and friend and in And what were Madame Bovary's garters like? (2003) offers a collection of forty short portraits of her favorite writers. As a chronicler, he published And Tierno Galván ascended to the skies (1990) where he lyrically analyzes the political transition in Spain from the death of Franco in 1975 to the burial of one of Madrid's most beloved mayors in 1986; on Social Phelpism: Democracy on Hold (1991) and The red decade (1993), breaks down the presidency exercised by Felipe González and in The Banana Republic USA, which deals with the events of September 11 in New York, the United States' war in Afghanistan and the George Bush government (2002). His preoccupation with language is shown in the Dictionary for the Poor (1977), the Cheli dictionary (1983) o The words of the tribe (1994)
Biographies and autobiographies written by Francisco Umbral
He has also published biographical and literary essays with original points of view on classical authors of XNUMXth and XNUMXth century literature, such as Larra, anatomy of a dandy (1965) Lorca, cursed poet (1968) Ramón and the vanguards (1978) and Valle-Inclán: the white piqué ankle boots (1997) and other rather informative ones such as Valle-Inclan (1968); Lord Byron (1969); Miguel Delibes placeholder image (1970); Lola Flores, sociology of the petenera (1971). Autobiographical books occupy a special chapter in this section, although the autobiography also floods all his narrative and journalistic work, among which it is worth highlighting The night I arrived at Cafe Gijón (1977) Erotic memories (The glorious bodies) (1992) Greta Garbo's son (1977) and his journalistic memoirs Happy days in Argüelles (2005)
Awards received by the author
He got the Gabriel Miró National Short Story Award in 1964 with Tamoure and was a finalist of the Guipúzcoa award the same year for his short novel Thug ballad. In 1965 his story Days without school get the Province of León Award. At the end of the sixties he was a finalist for the short story award Tartessos by Marilén autumn-winter. He is a finalist of the Elisenda de Moncada Award by 'If we had known that love was that' (1969)
In 1975 he obtained the Carlos Arniches Award from the General Society of Authors and that same year the Nadal prize novel by The Nymphs.
Already in the 80s González Ruano Prize for Journalism in 1980 for his article The triennium, published during his time in El País; was a finalist for the Planeta Prize in 1985 with Pius XII, the Moorish escort and a general without an eye.
In 1990 he obtained the Marian of Cavia for his newspaper article Barefoot Martin, already from his stage in El Mundo and the Antonio Machado Award with its short story Tattoo. In 1992 his novel Legend of the visionary Caesar got the Critics Award 1991. In 1994 he achieved the Juan Valera Prize for Epistolary Literature and VII National Journalism Prize of the Spanish Institutional Foundation. In 1995 he received the Francisco Cerecedo Award from the Association of European Journalists. In 1996 it is Prince of Asturias Award for Literature; in 1997 it is Fernando Lara award by The forge of a thief. In 1997 the Ministry of Culture granted him the National Prize for Spanish Letters for the whole of his work and he is awarded the Gold Medal from the Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid and León Felipe Award for Freedom of Expression. He was named Doctor Honoris Causa by the Faculty of Information Sciences of the Complutense University of Madrid (1999). In 2000 he obtained the Cervantes Prize and in 2003 the Mesonero Romanos journalism award.
Author's bibliography
- Anna Caballé, Francisco Umbral. The cold of a life, Espasa-Calpe, 2004. ISBN 978-84-670-1308-5
- María P. Celmar, Francisco Umbral, Valladolid: University, 2003. ISBN 978-84-8448-223-9
- Javier Villán, Francisco Umbral. The absolute writing, Madrid: Espasa Calpe, 1996. ISBN 978-84-239-7823-6
- Antonio López de Zuazo Algar, Catalog of 1981th Century Spanish Journalists. Madrid, 978. ISBN 84-86227-81-4-XNUMX
- Between rivers. Arts and Letters Magazine No. 2, Spring Summer, 2005 (Monograph dedicated to Francisco Umbral with various studies, an unpublished text and a selection of fragments of his works) Asociación Minerva de Artes y Letras (Granada).
- Gómez Calderón, Bernardo, Fire Thief: Francisco Umbral's Press Work. Málaga, 2004 Association for Research and Development of Communication. ISBN 84-609-3181-1