Gines Perez de Hita
Ginés Perez de Hita (1544?–1605?), Spanish
novelist and
poet, was born at Mula (
Murcia) about the middle of the
16th century.
He served in the campaign of 1569–1571 against the Moors, and in 1572 wrote a rhymed history of the city of Lorca which remained unpublished till 1889. He owes his wide celebrity to the
Historia de los bandos de Zegries y Abencerrajes (1595–1604), better known as the
Guerras civiles de Granada, which purports to be a chronicle based on an Arabic original ascribed to a certain Aben-Hamin.
Abed-Hamin is a fictitious character, and the
Guerras de Granada is in reality a historical novel, perhaps the earliest example of its kind, and certainly the first historical novel that attained popularity.
In the first part the events which led to the downfall of
Granada are related with uncommon brilliancy, and Hita's sympathetic transcription of life at the
Emir's court has clearly suggested the conventional presentation of the picturesque, chivalrous
Moor in the pages of Mlle de Scudéry, Mme de Lafayette, Chàteaubriand and
Washington Irving.
The second part is concerned with the author's persona experiences, and the treatment is effective; yet, though Calder's play,
Amar después de la muerte, is derived from it, the second part has never enjoyed the vogue or influence of the first. The exact date of Hita's death is unknown. His
blank verse rendering of the
Cronica Troyana, written in 1596, exists in manuscript.
