Delibes, Miguel

Related Category: Spanish and Portuguese Literature: Biographies

(mēgĕl´ dālē´bās), 1920–, Spanish novelist, short-story writer, and journalist, b. Valladolid. He is known for his descriptions of provincial and rural life and for his psychological analysis of middle- and lower-class characters. Among his many works are La sombra del ciprés es alargada [the shadow of the cypress is extended] (1947), Diario de un cazador [diary of a hunter] (1955), Smoke on the Ground (1962, tr. 1972), Five Hours with Mario (1966, tr. 1988), The Wars of Our Ancestors (1974, tr. 1992), 377A, madera de héroe [377A, the stuff of heroes] (1987), Loco (1988), Diario de un jubilado [diary of a pensioner] (1995), and The Heretic (1999, tr. 2006). He was awarded Spain's highest literary honor, the Cervantes Prize, in 1994.

See studies by J. W. Diaz (1971) and Y. B. Agawu-Kakraba (1996); critical bibliography by G. G. Meyers (1999).