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".
