The “discrete” memory of exile enters the box of letters with manuscript poems and Juan Gil-Albert’s glasses

The Caja Cervantes Lyrics box has received on Tuesday the legacy ‘in memoriam’ by the poet Juan Gil-Albert (Alcoy, 1904-Valencia, 1994) that includes its glasses, several manuscript poems and copies of the magazine ‘Canelobre’, one of them from the year 1996 dedicated to the author himself, edited by the Alicante Institute of Culture.

Luis García Montero, director of the Cervantes and Antonio Pérez Institute, president of the Provincial Council of Alicante. García Montero has praised the “discreet memory and creativity” of a writer, who also meant “a great example of cultural dialogue” between Mexico and Spain.

“His figure is essential to remember Spanish exile and its importance,” said García Montero, who recalled the departure of the Alicante writer to Mexico in the Sinaia ship due to the civil war.

The director of Cervantes has affirmed that the work at this time of Gil-Albert “represents very well his ethical and intellectual figure, the best between the answers that could happen during the critical years of the war.” “He promised against the coup d’etat, was able to reflect on an elegiac tone and was part of the entire cultural movement that participated in Valencia since the literary and cultural commitment,” he added.

The legacy, coinciding with the 121st anniversary of the birth of the Alicante essayist, has been deposited in box number 1601. The entered manuscript poems are ‘epitalamio to the sister’, dated in 1935; ‘Farewell one year’, dated in 1936 and ‘My nostalgia, tribute to Játiva’, of 1964, all assigned by her granddaughter, Claudia Simón Aura.

Commemorative postcards and a photograph of the poet have also been included. For the president of the Alicante Diputación, Antonio Pérez, it is a legacy that “testifies to this great author” and makes his work “remain for future generations.”

Pérez has celebrated the “silent dignity” of Juan Gil-Albert and has urged “to remain committed” to the dissemination of his work. At the conclusion of the act, a reading of the work ‘Valentín’, by Gil-Albert, was held in theatrical version written by Juan Ramón Torregrosa and played by the actor Toni Mamó.