Luis Felipe Vivanco
Luis Felipe Vivanco was a prominent Spanish poet and architect, known for his complex and multifaceted literary contributions. Born into a family with a strong conservative background, he grew up in San Lorenzo de El Escorial and Madrid, where his upbringing was shaped by a well-educated, religious mother and a father who served as a judge. Vivanco's formative years in Toledo left a significant impression on him, fostering his dreamlike sensibilities and poetic inclinations. He studied architecture at the University of Madrid, mingling his studies with a budding poetic career and political activism during the 1920s, aligning himself with the avant-garde Generation of 1927.
As a poet, Vivanco's works reflect a journey through political and personal evolution, especially marked by his experiences during the Spanish Civil War. Initially a leftist, he became disillusioned with the Republic, later reconciling with conservative views and aligning with Franco's regime. His literary contributions include notable works such as "Memoria de la plata" and "Introducción a la poesía española contemporánea," the latter earning him the Premio de Fastenrath. In the latter part of his life, he shifted towards more liberal themes, culminating in his posthumous collection "Prosas propicias." Vivanco's legacy is characterized by his nuanced exploration of Spain's cultural landscape, his relationships with contemporary writers, and his personal circumstances influencing his artistic journey.
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Subject Terms
Luis Felipe Vivanco
Poet
- Born: August 22, 1907
- Birthplace: San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Madrid, Spain
- Died: November 21, 1975
- Place of death: Madrid, Spain
Biography
Luis Felipe Vivanco, complex and multifaceted poet of Spain, first lived alternately in San Lorenzo de El Escorial and Madrid. He was the eldest of five children born to his father, a judge, and his well-educated, intensely religious wife, née Rosario Bergamín. He attended Marianist schools. When Vivanco was fourteen, the entire family accompanied his father to Toledo, where the judge was given a temporary post.
The early 1920’s in Toledo, reflected in his “autobiographical legend,” Los ojos de Toledo (the eyes of Toledo, 1963), put Vivanco’s adolescence into sharp relief; he remembered being a dreamer, preferring to accompany his father on walks into the hills instead of playing billiards with his contemporaries. When they returned to the capital, Vivanco studied architecture at the University of Madrid, while also writing poetry, displaying a modest amount of political activism, and forming friendships with his peers, including the mystical poets Luis Rosales and Rafael Alberti.
The poems that went into his collection Memoria de la plata (silver memory, 1958) were largely written in the late 1920’s. Chronologically, Vivanco was a member of the Generation of 1927, which emphasized the surreal, the spontaneous, and the avant-garde. Politically he was a leftist, in conflict with his family’s conservatism.
Vivanco earned a doctorate in architecture in 1932, and went to work in the architectural firm of his uncle, Rafael Bergamín, while also studying philosophy at the University of Madrid. As Vivanco developed as a poet and thinker, he became identified with the Generation of 1936, whose lives were enormously complicated by the Spanish Civil War. Vivanco became disillusioned with the Republic in 1936, and reconciled with his family and other conservatives. He sided with Franco and the Falangists, and he and his father spent the Civil War under the protection of a foreign embassy.
After the Civil War, Vivanco contributed to the conservative journal El Escorial, but encouraged reconciliation of the formerly warring sides. After 1945, he withdrew from political participation, and devoted his attention to his private life and marriage to María Luisa Gefaell, daughter of an Austrian Jewish emigrant and Catholic convert. Gefaell, a musician, became an author of children’s books. Vivanco and Gefaell had three children, two of whom, Juan and Soledad, suffered persecution for their liberal views.
From 1949 to 1951, Vivanco participated in the Escuela de Altamira, a group dedicated to Spain’s cultural renewal; it gave him the opportunity to present his innovative views on architecture and art as well as literature. The year 1957 saw the first publication of his deeply felt literary history, sensitively analyzing Spain’s greatest modern writers, most of whom Vivanco knew personally: Introducción a la poesía española contemporánea. It was awarded the Premio de Fastenrath in 1957. Vivanco now moved in an increasingly liberal direction. His poetry collection, Los caminos (1945-1965) (The Roads, 1974), received the Critics’ Award in 1974. His last, most radical work, written in free verse despite its title, was published posthumously: Prosas propicias (propitious prose, 1976).