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Gerald Brenan has streets named after him in several towns. SUR
Gerald Brenan: A Brit inextricably linked with Malaga
Foreign influencers in southern Spain

Gerald Brenan: A Brit inextricably linked with Malaga

Gerald Brenan first came to Spain in 1919 and spent seven years in Yegen in Granada province but eventually settled in Churriana and then Alhaurín el Grande

Jennie Rhodes

Malaga

Friday, 26 July 2024, 16:04

Gerald Brenan is probably one of the most famous British names associated with Malaga province.

There are monuments and streets named after the British writer and hispanist, but probably the most important landmark is Casa Gerald Brenan, the writer's home, now a cultural centre, in Churriana, where he lived from 1958 until 1968.

At home in Churriana. SUR

In Malaga province there is also a secondary school in Alhaurín de la Torre (IES Gerald Brenan), streets in Malaga city, Alhaurín el Grande, Alhaurín de la Torre and Colmenar as well as an avenue in the new 'Sup-T 12' area to the west of Torre del Mar. Alhaurín el Grande has also been hosting an international short story competition named after the writer for 20 years. The house where he stayed in Yegen is also a museum named after him, 'Casa Gerald Brenan'.

Brenan first came to Spain in 1919 after the First World War and initially settled in the tiny village of Yegen in Granada province's Alpujarra. His book South of Granada, which was also made into a film in Spanish (Al Sur de Granada) in 2003, relates the seven years he spent there, the friends who visited him, including the English painter Dora Carrington and writer Lytton Strachey, and the relationships he forged.

His other books about Spain include The Spanish Labyrinth and The Face of Spain.

Brenan married American poet Gamel Woolsey in 1931 and during Spain's Civil War the couple returned to England. They came back in 1958 and settled this time in Churriana in Malaga.

They stayed there until Woolsey's death in 1968 and the writer moved to Alhaurín el Grande where he lived until his death. Brenan died at his home in Alhaurín el Grande aged 92 on 19 January 1987. His body was taken to the University of Malaga to be used for research at his own request, famously telling a friend that it would save on funeral costs. He was eventually buried in the English Cemetery in Malaga city alongside Woolsey in 2001.

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surinenglish Gerald Brenan: A Brit inextricably linked with Malaga