The Third Quintero Brother

Abstract

For half a century now the fame of Don Serafin and Don Joaquin Alvarez Quintero has been world-wide. They are loved and respected, and their plays are known and enjoyed in both hemispheres. Little attention has been paid, however, to the literary merit of the eldest Quintero, Don Pedro, whom his brothers called paz y aliento de nuestras vidas (1). This gentle spirit was the greatest single influence in moulding the dramatic genius-and the characters and tastes as well-of Don Serafin and Don Joaquin. Consequently, as their mentor and chief critic he is necessarily of interest to all Quintero aficionados. But he is likewise deserving of consideration in his own person as a thinker and writer of no mean ability. In this paper, then, we make brief and belated recognition of the contribution of Don Pedro Alvarez Quintero to literature, not only in his capacity of adviser to his brothers, but also in his own right as a competent man of letters. Don Pedro was born in Andalusia in 1869. Thus he was two years older than Don Serafin (1871-1938) and almost four years older than Don Joaquin (18731944). His photograph shows a sensitive, intelligent face, with a marked family resemblance to his two brothers, and especially to Don Joaquin. He has a rather dreamy, melancholy expression that bespeaks the moral crises which tormented him, and a certain delicacy of features that is perhaps indicative of his precarious health. His picture does not show the serenity and the twinkle of good humor that are so apparent in the likenesses of the other Quinteros. As a boy in Seville, Don Pedro, like his brothers, was interested in journalism. Their father bought the three a weekly newspaper, Perecito, the director of which was one Leoncio Lasso de la Vega, an unsuccessful Sevillian writer and poet. Don Serafin and Don Joaquin, then fourteen and thirteen years old, wrote assiduously-in verse, usually-for every number of this paper. But Don Pedro, in his painful modesty and fear lest his work be publicized, would write not a single line. He was at this period, nevertheless, contributing regularly to other weeklies in Seville, under pseudonyms or anonymously. Convinced, and wrongly so, that writing was not for him, young Pedro turned to preparation for a career in natural sciences, being led in this direction by some beloved boyhood friends who were studying in this field. He won the esteem of his professors and, as long as his own enthusiasm lasted, was able to kindle the interest of his fellow-students in their subject. Suddenly, however, he decided that he had not been born to be a naturalist, and he returned to the pursuit of letters.