Juan Antonio de Zunzunegui

Zunzunegui, Juan Antonio de 

(also J. A. Zunzunegui y Loredo). Born Dec. 21, 1901, in Portugalete, Vizcaya. Spanish writer.

Zunzunegui’s first published work was The Life and Landscapes of Bilbao (1926). Regional themes predominate in his early works, particularly the cycle My Auntie’s Stories and Fables (1926–44), which consists of four short-story collections. Zunzunegui created a panorama of life in 20th-century Spain and gave a critique of bourgeois society in such novels as Oh, These Sons (1943), Escape in Darkness (1952; Russian translation, 1960), A Deal Made for His Son’s Sake (1956), The World Goes Its Own Way (1960; Russian translation, 1967), Everything Stays at Home (1965), and One Man and Two Women (1966).

Zunzunegui’s pessimistic world view reveals elements of existentialism. His literary style is distinguished for its direct characterizations, the use of the grotesque, and its somewhat coarse humor.

WORKS

Obras completas, vols. 1–5. [Madrid-Barcelona, 1969–72.] (Publication in progress.)
Mis páginas preferidas. [Madrid, 1958.]
La frontera delgada. Barcelona-Madrid, 1968.
In Russian translation:
[Short stories.] In the collection Ispanskaia novella XX v. [Moscow, 1965.]

REFERENCES

Iasnyi, V. Begstvo v deistvitel’nost’. Moscow, 1971.
Terterian, I. Sovremennyi ispanskii roman. Moscow, 1972.
Carbonell Basset, D. La novelística de J. A. de Zunzunegui. Madrid, 1965. (Contains bibliography.)
Isasi Ángulo, A. C. Estructuras narrativas cerradas y pensamiento conservador en la novelística de J. A. de Zunzunegui. [Bonn, 1971.]

V. K. IASNYI