Francisco de Icaza

Who was Francisco de Icaza?

Francisco Asís de Icaza was a Mexican poet, literary critic and historian of literature who spent most of his adult career in Spain.

In his twenties he was posted to the Mexican legation in Madrid, during the embassy of his friend Vicente Riva Palacio; he became ambassador to Germany and to Spain; known at first for his poems, he achieved some notoriety with his Examen de críticos. In 1901 appeared his Novelas ejemplares de Cervantes which was acclaimed and gained him membership in the Ateneo de Madrid. He published further scholarly works of literary history and was a corresponding member of the Mexican and Spanish Academies. His visit to his homeland was marred by the nationalist polemic that surrounded his critical Diccionario autobiográfico de conquistadores y pobladores de la Nueva España.

In addition to his works on Cervantes and Lope de Vega, he translated into Spanish works by Nietzsche, Hebbel, Liliencron and Dehmel. His most famous lines are:

Dale limosna, mujer, que no hay en la vida nada como la pena de ser ciego en Granada.

Give him alms, woman, for there is nothing sadder in life than being blind in Granada