BENAVENTE, Y MARTI NEZ, Jacinto, Spanish dramatist: b. Madrid, 12 Aug. 1866. His father, Mariano Benavente, was a specialist in children's diseases, and enjoyed high repute in Madrid. He studied at the University of Madrid, at first intending to follow the law, but failed to complete the course. For a time he traveled with a circus and subsequently appeared upon the stage, upon which he has ever since been an occasion al performer. His first publication was a vol ume of poems (1893), which was followed by (Vilanos) (or (Thistledown)), (Figurines) and (The Ladies' Letter Writer,' impression istic sketches of great subtlety and delicacy of worlananship, which display strong French influence. These works have the same sig nificance in the renascence of Spanish letters as the early canvases of Sorolla, exhibited at Madrid in the year 1893, in the rebirth of Spanish painting. In this year also Ignacio Zuloaga completed his sojourn of apprentice ship in Paris. Benavente produced his first play, 'El Nido Ajeno) ((Thy Brother's House)), in 1894. Two years later (Gente Conocida) ((In Society') established his repu tation. 'The Banquet of Wild Beasts) (1898) placed him at the head of Spanish play wrights. It was succeeded by a remarkable senes of satirical comedies, as also by a num ber of plays of serious import, the effect of which was for a time obscured by the dazzling brilliance of his satire. As editor of La Vida Literaria, a periodical in which he gathered about him the writers whose names were to become famous in the new Spain, Benavente gave form and substance to the modern move ment, of which he assumed intellectual lead ership. In (Autumnal Roses' and 'The Evil
Doers of Good' (1905), he reached the ma turity of his powers, and (The Bonds of In terest' ((Los intereses creados)) (1907) and 'Princess Bebe,' acted in 1909, established his hegemony among the writers of the Spanish spealdng world. His plays are to-day the most popular and frequently performed in the Spanish repertory. In 1913 he was admitted into the Spanish Academy upon the occasion of the performance of his fine peasant trag edy (La Malquerida.> He is a lecturer and contributor to the periodical press on a wide variety of topics and has made translations from the English, Catalan and French. In his (Nuevo Coloquio de los Perms) (1916) he deliberately challenged comparison with the dialogue of the same name by Cervantes, with whose work his OWil has much in common. The drarna of Benavente is a drama of char acter, with predominant human and social in terest. He has done away with all melo dramatic artificiality, in which respect the theatre as it exists in Spain to-day must be regarded as his creation. Consult Bonilla y San Martin, (Jacinto Benavente) (Ateneo, Madrid, I, No. 1, 1906); (Plays by Jacinto Benavente,' with an introduction by John Gar rett Underhill (New York 1917i_et seq.).