Francisco De Quevedo

(1580-1645), Spain.

"More than a writer, Quevedo was a vast literature unto himself", said Jorge Luis Borges of this great writer of Spain's Golden Age century. He was a novelist, satirist, diplomat, court wit and a great poet. Few writers can match him in bending the Spanish language to astonishing feats of lexical originality. A master of the grotesque, he refined it in his works Los Sueños (Visions) and La Vida del Buscón, the latter a picaresque novel. He is also author of philosophical treatises, political essays and reams of poetry covering every possible range of mood. His influence has been felt by the greatest modern Spanish poets and allusive lines pointing to him can be found in Pablo Neruda, Miguel de Unamuno and many others