Ramón Pérez de Ayala

Spanish novelist Ramon Perez de Ayala was born in Oveido, Spain, into a middle-class family. He was educated at two Jesuit institutions, one of which was a seminary and both of which he hated. He studied science and law at the secular University of Oveido. It was while at the university that he began publishing articles, and in 1903 his first book--a collection of poems--came out. He became heavily involved in Spanish politics, and worked fervently in the movement to overthrow the Spanish monarchy and establish a republic. He studied for a while in London, but returned to Spain when his father committed suicide. Not long after his father's funeral he was appointed as Spanish ambassador to the Court of St. James, then director of the National Library and the world-famous Prado Museum. His politics had turned from liberal democrat to committed Fascist upon the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1937--ironically, on the side that was fighting to destroy the republic that he had worked so hard to establish--but Fascist leader Gen. Francisco Franco would have nothing to do with him, mainly because of the slew of anti-religious books he had published in his youth (his 1910 novel, "A.M.D.G.", was criticized at the time by some as being extremely anti-clerical). Nevertheless, rumors abounded that he was actually a secret agent for the Fascist regime, and at one point he made a speech praising Nazi SS leader Heinrich Himmler, calling him "my friend".