Ramón de Mesonero Romanos

Ramón de Mesonero Romanos ( born July 19, 1803 in Madrid, † April 30, 1882 ) was a Spanish novelist and journalist.

He wrote under the pseudonym " El Curioso Parlante " (Eng. The Curious Reader) and is mainly known for his cuadros de costumbres, little sketches of everyday life of the former Spain.

Life

Mesonero Romanos came from very rich milieu and was rather uninterested in social policy; He served as the Madrid city clerk and city councilor. The renovation of Madrid's historic city goes back to him. Most details of his life are well known through his memoirs, entitled Memorias de un setentón.

He was born on July 19, 1803 in Madrid, in what was then Calle Olivos, which was to later bear his name. On January 5, 1820, his father, Matías Mesonero died with him from which he had joined a very close relationship and learn many anecdotes about life in the city and the palace. From then on, the seventeen- year-old had to take care of the family business. In the same year in Spain began the so-called " Trienio Liberal ", a three-year phase -liberal awakening that aroused the him like many other young people of the time; Therefore, he volunteered for the " Milicia Nacional " at eighteen. During this time he was enthusiastic for the Spanish literature of the Siglo de Oro, and for the emerging Italian opera; at the same time, he took part in the meetings of " El Parnasillo " and "La Partida del Trueno ", a casual discussion (Spanish tertulia ), in which many of the Romantic writers came together.

From August 1833 to May 1834 Mesonero Romanos undertook a trip to France, where he attentively observed the changes in lifestyle, in contrast to his home country. From 1842 he has published numerous articles in various newspapers and magazines such as El Semanario Pintoresco Español, El Indicador de las Novedades, El Correo Mercantil y Literario, Cartas Españolas, Revista Española, Diario de Madrid, etc. From 1845 to 1850 he worked in the City Council of Madrid, where he earned his Proyecto de mejoras generales 1846, a project for comprehensive urban renewal. 1847 Mesonero Romanos full member of the Real Academia Española. In 1854 he published the Nuevo manual histórico - topográfico - estadístico, y descripción de Madrid. Beginning in 1864, he served as the official chronicler of the city of Madrid.

For the price of 70,000 Reales - for that time probably a high price - purchased by the city of Madrid in 1876 his private library, should be the basis of a public library and he still managed to hereinafter as " perpetual motion bibliotecario de Madrid " itself. In 1881 Mesonero Romanos published his memoirs. On April 30, 1882, he died in his hometown.

Work

In his writings Mesonero Romanos describes the conditions and abuses in the capital, the types and characters of the middle class. From his texts already speaks a certain big city awareness, a sense of superiority over the backward provinces. He is " in love" with Madrid and describes it with all the detail, turns out to be good observers, even though he sometimes preachy raises his index finger. It is characterized by nostalgia towards the nascent disappearing customs, proving a keen sense of the transition period and criticizes " typical Spanish vices " such as craving, rabid imitation of foreign (especially French ) customs, eyesores, housing issues, policing. Azorin writes about him, Mesonero was a typical representative of the practical bourgeois society.

• Mis ratos perdidos o ligero Bosquejo de Madrid en 1820 y 1821. Madrid, Imp de Don Eusebio Álvarez, 1822.
• Manual de Madrid. Descripción de la Corte y de la Villa (Madrid, 1831)
• Panorama matritense: cuadros de costumbres de la capital y observados descritos por un curioso parlante. Madrid, Imprenta de Repullés, 1835.
• Recuerdos de viaje por Francia y Bélgica en 1840 y 1841. (Madrid, 1841)
• Escenas y tipos matritenses (Madrid, 1851)
• Nuevo manual histórico - topográfico - estadístico, y descripción de Madrid (Madrid, 1854)
• El antiguo Madrid, ( Madrid, 1861).
• Memorias de un Setentón, natural y vecino de Madrid (Madrid, 1881)
• Obras y jocosas satíricas de El Curioso Parlante (1832-1842) (Madrid, 1881).
• Tipos y caracteres: bocetos de cuadros de costumbres: (1843 a 1862), Madrid, 1881.