José Echegaray

José Echegaray y Eizaguirre was born on 19 April 1832 and trained as a civil engineer and mathematician before turning to statecraft and then, unexpectedly, to the stage. In the last quarter of the 19th century he became one of Spain's leading dramatists, writing plays the Nobel committee would later describe as numerous, individual, and original in manner. Those works brought the great traditions of Spanish drama back to life at a time when the form had faded. In 1904 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for that body of work. He died on 14 September 1916, having spent a life moving b…