José Selgas

The Most Excellent José Selgas
Born	José Selgas y Carrasco (1822-11-27)27 November 1822 Lorca, Spain
Died	5 February 1882(1882-02-05) (aged 59) Madrid, Spain
Seat b of the Real Academia Española
In office 1 March 1874 – 5 February 1882
Preceded by	Joaquín Francisco Pacheco
Succeeded by	Víctor Balaguer i Cirera

José Selgas y Carrasco (born Lorca, Murcia on 27 November 1822; died Madrid on 5 February 1882) was a Spanish poet, novelist and journalist.

He received his early training at the Seminary of San Fulgencio; his family being in economically strained circumstances, he was obliged to cut short his studies in order to contribute to its support. Going to Madrid, he there occupied minor Government positions, and engaged in journalism.

As a staunch conservative, he assailed the Liberals in the articles which he wrote for the periodical El Padre Cobos and other newspapers. He acted as secretary for Martinez Campos when the latter was Prime Minister. The Spanish Academy made him one of its members.^[1]

Selgas belongs among the minor writers. His repute depends upon his lyrics and his short tales rather than upon his more ambitious novels. The best of his verse, which is generally marked by a gentle melancholy, will be found in the two collections, "La Primavera" and "El Estio", both put forth in 1850. After his death there appeared the volume of poems entitled "Flores y Espinas". Of his longer novels there may be mentioned the "Dos Rivales" and "Una Madre", both rather tedious compositions.

A number of his journalistic articles have been brought together in several of the volumes of his collected works, as "Hojas sueltas", "Estudios sociales", etc.

• Obras completas, ed. Dubrull (15 vols., Madrid, 1887);
• Garcia, La Literatura espanola en el siglo XIX, pt. I, ii.

• Works by José Selgas at Project Gutenberg
• Works by José Selgas at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Works by or about José Selgas at the Internet Archive

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "José Selgas y Carrasco". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.