Jacinto

Benavente y Martínez, Jacinto, 1866-1954, Spanish dramatist, b. Madrid. He was awarded the 1922 Nobel Prize in Literature. His best-known play is Los intereses creados (1907, tr. Bonds of Interest, 1917), a farce written on the pattern of the Italian commedia dell'arte. In 1916 he wrote a second part to this play, La ciudad alegre y confiada [the gay and confident city]. La malquerida (1913, tr. The Passion Flower, 1920), on the Phaedra theme, was popular with the public and the critics. His plays fall into four classes: social satires, psychological dramas, children's plays, and allegorical-morality plays. He was at his best in sparkling satires of aristocratic and upper middle-class life.

Verdaguer, Jacinto, 1845-1902, Catalan poet, considered the national poet of Catalonia and the most beloved poet of the Catalan Renaissance of the 19th cent. Religious troubles and poor health frequently darkened his life. Known as a saintly priest, he wrote works of religious fervor including Idilis y Cants mistichs (1879). He depicted the Catalan countryside in his long Canigó (1886). In his masterpiece, the great epic La Atlántida (1877), he dealt with prehistoric myths of the Iberian peninsula; it was the basis for an opera-oratorio by Manuel de Falla.

Grau, Jacinto, 1877-1958, Spanish dramatist, b. Barcelona. Participating in Spain's early-20th-century literary renaissance, Grau slowly gained recognition for his strikingly original plays. El conde Alarcos (1917) and a biblical drama, El hijo pródigo (1918), are well known, but his masterpiece is El señor de Pigmalión (1921), a blend of allegory, lyrical fantasy, and buffoonery. After the Spanish civil war, Grau went to Argentina, where he spent the rest of his life.

Jacinto is a Spanish and Portuguese name meaning Hyacinth, which can refer to Saint Hyacinth, a Roman martyr (Hyacinth and Protus), or the Hyacinth flower itself.

A common english nickname for Jacinto is Jack.

See also

• Hyacinth
• San Jacinto
• Jacinta
• Jack