Camilo José Cela
Camilo
José Cela, in full Camilo José Cela
Trulock (b. May 11, 1916, Iria Flavia,
Spain—d. January 17, 2002, Madrid),
Spanish writer who won the Nobel Prize
for Literature in 1989. He is perhaps
best known for his novel La familia de
Pascual Duarte (1942; The Family of
Pascual Duarte) and is considered to
have given new life to Spanish
literature. His literary
production—primarily novels, short
narratives, and travel diaries—is
characterized by experimentation and
innovation in form and content. Cela is
also credited by some critics with
having established the narrative style
known as tremendismo, a tendency to
emphasize violence and grotesque
imagery.
Cela
attended the University of Madrid before
and after the Spanish Civil War
(1936–39), during which he served with
Franco’s army. His first novel, Pascual
Duarte, established his European
reputation. Traditional in form, it was
both a popular and a critical success.
His second novel, La colmena (1951; The
Hive), with its fragmented chronology
and large cast of characters, is an
innovative and perceptive story of
postwar Madrid. It solidified Cela’s
critical and popular reputation. Another
of his better-known avant-garde novels,
San Camilo, 1936 (1969), is one
continuous stream of consciousness. His
later novels include Cristo versus
Arizona (1988; “Christ Versus Arizona”)
and the Galician trilogy—Mazurca para
dos muertos (1983; Mazurka for Two Dead
People), La cruz de San Andrés (1994;
“St. Andrew’s Cross”), and Madera de boj
(1999; Boxwood).
Cela’s
acute powers of observation and skill in
colourful description also are apparent
in his travel books, based on his trips
through rural Spain and his visits to
Latin American countries. The most noted
of these are Viaje a la Alcarría (1948;
Journey to the Alcarría), Del Miño al
Bidasoa (1952; “From the Miño to the
Bidasoa”), and Judíos, moros y
cristianos (1956; “Jews, Moors, and
Christians”). He retraced the itinerary
of his first travel book for Nuevo viaje
a la Alcarría (1986). Among his numerous
short narratives are Esas nubes que
pasan (1945; “The Passing Clouds”) and
the four works included in the
collection El molino de viento, y otras
novelas cortas (1956; “The Windmill and
Other Short Fiction”). Cela also wrote
essays, poetry, and memoirs and in his
later years made frequent television
appearances.
In 1955
Cela settled in Majorca, where he
founded a well-respected literary
review, Papeles de Son Armadans
(1956–79), and published books in fine
editions. He began in 1968 to publish
his multivolume Diccionario secreto, a
compilation of “unprintable” but
well-known words and phrases. He became
a member of the Spanish Academy in 1957.
