Camilo José Cela

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Template:Short description Template:Family name hatnote Template:Infobox writerTemplate:Conservatism in Spain

Camilo José Cela y Trulock, 1st Marquess of Iria Flavia (Template:IPA; 11 May 1916 – 17 January 2002) was a Spanish novelist, poet, story writer and essayist associated with the Generation of '36 movement.

He was awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Literature "for a rich and intensive prose, which with restrained compassion forms a challenging vision of man's vulnerability".<ref name=nobel>Template:Cite web</ref>

Childhood and early career

Camilo José Cela was born in the rural parish of Iria Flavia, in Padrón, A Coruña, Spain, on 11 May 1916.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was the oldest child of nine.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> His father, Camilo Crisanto Cela y Fernández, was Galician. His mother, Camila Emanuela Trulock y Bertorini, was a Galician of English and Italian ancestry. The family was upper-middle-class and Cela described his childhood as being "so happy it was hard to grow up."<ref name=":0" />

He lived with his family in Vigo from 1921 to 1925, when they moved to Madrid. There, Cela studied at a Piarist school. In 1931 he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and admitted to the sanatorium of Guadarrama, where he took advantage of his free time to work on his novel Pabellón de reposo. While recovering from the illness Cela began intensively reading works by José Ortega y Gasset and Antonio de Solís y Ribadeneyra.

The Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936 when Cela was 20 years old and just recovering from his illness. His political leanings were conservative and he escaped to the rebel zone. He enlisted as a soldier, and was wounded and hospitalized in Logroño.

Career

The civil war ended in 1939; after the war, Cela became indecisive about his university studies and ended up working in a bureau of textile industries. It was here where he began to write what would become his first novel, Template:Lang (The Family of Pascual Duarte), which was published when he was 26, in 1942. Pascual Duarte has trouble finding validity in conventional morality and commits a number of crimes, including murders, for which he feels nothing. The novel is of particular importance as it played a large part in shaping the direction of the post-World War II Spanish novel.Template:Citation needed

Camilo José Cela (right) in 1988.

Cela became a censor in Francoist Spain in 1943.<ref>El censor censurado; cien años de Camilo José Cela</ref> Perhaps his best-known work was produced during a period where his own writing came under scrutiny from his fellow censors, including Template:Lang (The Hive) which was published in Buenos Aires in 1951. It was banned in Spain because of the perceived immorality of its erotic themes, and his name could no longer appear in the printed media.<ref>The Paris Review</ref><ref>The modern novel: Camilo José Cela: La colmena (The hive)</ref> The novel portrays more than 300 characters in a style showing the influence of both Spanish realism and contemporary English- and French-language authors. Cela's signature style—a sarcastic, often grotesque, form of realism—is epitomized in Template:Lang. Cela remained loyal to Francoist Spain, even working as an informer for the Spanish secret police by reporting on the activities of dissident groups<ref>Unearthing Franco's Legacy, p.15 University of Notre Dame Press, Template:ISBN</ref> and betraying fellow intellectuals.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

From the late 1960s, with the publication of San Camilo, 1936, Cela's work became increasingly experimental. In 1988 he wrote Christ Versus Arizona (Template:Langx), which tells the story of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in a single sentence that is more than one hundred pages long.

In his later years Cela became known for his scandalous outbursts; in an interview with Mercedes Milá for Spanish state television he boasted of his ability to absorb litres of water via his anus while offering to demonstrate.<ref name="La Voz">Template:Lang Template:Webarchive, Luis Ventoso, Template:Lang, 18 January 2002.</ref> Cela had already scandalized Spanish society with his Template:Lang (Secret Dictionary, 1969–1971), a dictionary of slang and taboo words. In 1998, Cela expressed discomfort towards the presence of homosexual groups at the commemoration of Federico García Lorca's centenary, stating that, "For me, I would prefer a more straightforward and less anecdotal commemoration without the support of gay groups. I have nothing against gays, I just do not take it up the ass".<ref>Artículo homófobo sobre Lorca</ref>

Distinctions

On 26 May 1957, Cela was appointed a member of the Royal Spanish Academy and given Seat Q. He was appointed Royal Senator in the Constituent Cortes, where he exerted some influence in the wording of the Spanish Constitution of 1978. In 1987, he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature.

Cela was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1989 "for a rich and intensive prose, which with restrained compassion forms a challenging vision of man's vulnerability".<ref name=nobel/>

In 1994, he was awarded the Premio Planeta,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> although some question the objectivity of the awards, and winners on occasion have refused to accept it.Template:Citation needed Two years later, in recognition of his contributions to literature, Cela was ennobled on 17 May 1996 by King Juan Carlos I, who gave Cela the hereditary title of Marquess of Iria Flavia in the nobility of Spain. On his death the title passed to his son Camilo José Cela Conde.

After winning the Nobel Prize Cela described the Spanish Cervantes Prize for lifetime achievement as a writer as being "covered with shit".<ref name="El Mundo">Template:Cite news</ref> In 1995 he was offered the prize, which he accepted.

Cela's arms as 1st Marquess of Iria Flavia (1996)

Death

Cela died from heart disease on 17 January 2002 at the Hospital Centro in Madrid, aged 85. He was buried in his hometown at the parish cemetery of Santa María de Adina.<ref>BBC obituary</ref>

Cela's will was contested because he favoured his widow and second younger wife, Marina Castaño, over his son Camilo José Cela Conde from his first marriage to Rosario Conde; Conde was awarded two-thirds of his father's estate.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Selected works

Spanish

Novels

Short-story collections

Drama and poetry collections

Travel writing

Essays

Criticism

Reference works

Memoirs

Correspondence

  • Template:Cite book (Cela's correspondence with 13 exiled Spanish writers: María Zambrano, Rafael Alberti, Américo Castro, Fernando Arrabal, Jorge Guillén, Max Aub, Emilio Prados, Luis Cernuda, Manuel Altolaguirre, León Felipe, Corpus Barga, Francisco Ayala, Ramón J. Sender.)
  • Template:Cite book

Collected works

  • Template:Cite book (Volumes published as completed since 1962.) Volume 1: Las tres primeras novelas (1942—44); Volume 2: Cuentos (1941—53); Volume 3: Apuntes carpetovetonicos. Novelas cortas (1941–56); Volume 4: Viajes por España, 1 (1948—52); Volume 5: Viajes por España, 2 (1952—58); Volume 6: Viajes por España, 3 (1959—64)l Volume 7: Tres novelas más (1951—55); Volume 8: Los amigos y otra novela (1960—62); Volume 9: Glosa del mundo en torno. Articulos, 1. (1940—53). Mesa revuelta. 5. ed.; Volume 10: Glosa del mundo en torno. Articulos, 2. (1944—59). Cajón de sastre. 4. ed; Paginas de geografía errabunda. 3. ed.; Volume 1:. Glosa del mundo en torno. Artʹiculos, 3 (1945-1954). Las compañías convenientes y otros fingimientos y cegueras. 3a ed. Garito de hospicianos o Guirigay de imposturas y bambollas. 4a ed.; Volume 12: Glosa del mundo en torno. Artículos, 4 (1943—61). La rueda de los ocios. 4a ed. Cuatro figuras del 98. 2a ed.; Volume 14: Enciclopedia del erotismo, 1. Aachen—Cirene; Volume 15: Enciclopedia del erotismo, 1. Cirial—Futrʹosofo; Volume 16: Enciclopedia del erotismo, 3. Gabacho—Óvulo; Volume 17: Enciclopedia del erotismo, 4. Pabst—Zurrucarse.
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English translations

See also

References

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