Luis Goytisolo, Spanish novelist and member of the Royal Spanish Academy, dies at 91
The Barcelona-born writer died on 12 July in Vimbodí, Tarragona. A member of the Royal Spanish Academy since 1995, he was the last of the Goytisolo literary brothers.
Spanish novelist and Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) member Luis Goytisolo died on Sunday 12 July in Vimbodí, Tarragona, at the age of 91. The Barcelona-born writer, who occupied seat C of the academy since 1995, was the last surviving of three literary brothers.
A literary dynasty
Luis Goytisolo Gay was born on 17 March 1935, the youngest of three sons. His older brothers were the poet José Agustín Goytisolo (1928–1999) and the novelist Juan Goytisolo (1931–2017). All three abandoned law studies in Barcelona to pursue writing. Luis himself joined the Spanish Communist Party during the Franco dictatorship and was imprisoned for his activism. He later became an active contributor to several newspapers, including El País, and directed the magazine 'Letras'.
The 'Antagonía' tetralogy
Goytisolo’s most celebrated work is the monumental tetralogy 'Antagonía', published between 1963 and 1981. The four novels, 'Recuento', 'Los verdes de mayo hasta el mar', 'La cólera de Aquiles' and 'Teoría del conocimiento', are widely regarded as a landmark in postwar Spanish fiction. In 1977, 'Los verdes de mayo hasta el mar' earned him the Premio Ciudad de Barcelona. His first novel, 'Las afueras' (1958), won the Premio Biblioteca Breve that same year, after he had already collected the Premio Sésamo in 1957 for an earlier story.
Academic career and journalism
Elected to the RAE on 24 March 1994, Goytisolo formally took up seat C on 29 January 1995 with a lecture titled 'El impacto de la imagen en la narrativa española contemporánea' (The impact of the image in contemporary Spanish narrative), to which fellow academician Francisco Ayala replied. He served on the Academy’s governing board from 2000 to 2002 and as censor between 2000 and 2008. Outside the Academy, he wrote extensively for the press, chiefly for 'El País', and directed and scripted documentary series for Televisión Española, including 'Índico' and 'Mediterráneo'.
A late harvest of prizes
The author’s later years brought a string of major awards. He won the Premio Nacional de Narrativa in 1992 for 'Estatua con palomas' (the prize was sometimes recorded as 1993, but most sources cite 1992). The Premio Nacional de las Letras Españolas, Spain’s highest literary honour, followed in 2013. That same year his essay 'Naturaleza de la novela' received the Premio Anagrama de Ensayo. In 2018, the Mexican government’s Carlos Fuentes International Prize recognised his career.
an unavoidable respect for language and the self‑reflexive method of his narrative [...], and to his work, which is an astonishing verbal edifice
Other honours include the Premio de la Crítica de Narrativa en Castellano (1984) for 'Estela del fuego que se aleja'.
Goytisolo’s output extended well beyond fiction: he published the essay collections 'Índico' (1992), 'El porvenir de la palabra' (2002), 'El sueño de San Luis' (2015) and 'El atasco y demás fábulas' (2016), a volume of notes and aphorisms spanning four decades. His last publication was 'Chispas' (2019). The manuscript of 'El sueño de San Luis' was donated by the author to the National Library of Spain.
The death of Luis Goytisolo closes a chapter in Spanish letters. He outlived both his brothers and leaves behind a body of work that the Carlos Fuentes jury described as an astonishing verbal edifice.
