Background
He was born in Barcelona, Jan. 5, 1931, to a literary family of Basque, Spanish, and French roots, in which an older brother, JoséJose Agustín,Agustin, became a poet, and a younger brother, Luis, a novelist and short-story writer. He studied law at the universities of Barcelona and Madrid and spent much time in Paris, where, for most of the time after the early 1950's, he lived in self-imposed exile.
For Goytisolo the Spanish novel, in order to again enjoy universal appeal, must be Hispanized, humanized, and returned to the people. Rejecting the earlier concept of the philosopher JoséJose Ortega Y Gasset of an elitist, dehumanized literature that appeals only to select minorities, he employs a sharp objective realism in portraying the life of the contemporary Spaniard. One of the main influences on his work has been the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).