Camilo José Cela
Camilo José Cela was a prominent Spanish novelist, born on May 11, 1916, in Iria Flavia del Padrón, Spain. He gained early recognition with his debut novel, *The Family of Pascual Duarte* (1942), which is a dark exploration of the psyche of a convicted murderer. Cela is often regarded as one of the greatest Spanish writers of the 20th century, celebrated for his masterful use of Castilian prose and his innovative narrative techniques. His later works, such as *The Hive* (1951), showcase a departure from traditional storytelling, presenting an impressionistic view of urban life with a multitude of characters and fragmented narratives.
Throughout his career, Cela's literature reflected a pessimistic view of humanity, depicting moral decay and societal corruption. In 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, recognized for his "rich and intensive prose," which conveys a deep sense of human vulnerability. A prolific writer, Cela produced novels, short stories, poetry, and works of nonfiction, while he also faced censorship in Spain, influencing his decision to live in Mallorca for many years. Cela passed away on January 17, 2002, leaving behind a substantial legacy in the Spanish literary canon.
Camilo José Cela
Spanish novelist, short-story writer, and poet
- Born: May 11, 1916
- Died: January 17, 2002
Biography
Camilo José Cela was born May 11, 1916, in Iria Flavia del Padrón, Spain. His father, Camilo Cela, was a customs official who wrote during his spare time. Young Cela attended the University of Madrid from 1933 to 1936, interrupting his higher education to enlist in the rebel army of Francisco Franco. He served for three years and rose to corporal. After the conclusion of the Spanish Civil War he returned to Madrid, attending the university from 1939 to 1943. His first novel, The Family of Pascual Duarte, was published in 1942 and brought him immediate renown. He was widely called Spain’s greatest twentieth century writer of fiction and was considered a master of Castilian prose, with an infallible ear for the language as it is lived and spoken.
Cela is also known for his formal experimentation. The Family of Pascual Duarte is the memoir of a convicted murderer awaiting execution; it is remarkable for its sustained atmosphere of brooding horror and for its insights into the character Duarte, a psychopath who has been compared with certain of Fyodor Dostoevski’s creations. Although it may be classed as an example of the traditional novel, succeeding works have gradually dispensed with most conventional novelistic devices in an effort to produce an imitation of life as Cela comprehends it. The Hive, the second novel to appear in English translation and the work that confirmed his reputation in the English-speaking world, is a relatively unstructured work. It is an impression of the swarming life of a city. Its pages are filled with a multitude of characters, some of whom reappear from time to time, but there is no sustained narrative thread, and the many incidents depicted are not necessarily connected. In his later novels, such as San Camilo, 1936 and Mazurka for Two Dead Men, Cela’s use of free form is even more pronounced. His characters are not the well-developed, fully rounded individuals traditionally expected in first-class fiction; instead they are largely depersonalized, gaining whatever importance they may have through identity with the society to which they belong.
Cela’s view of humankind and the world is strongly pessimistic, and his works form a general indictment of human society. He sees people as moral and ethical degenerates upholding institutions that are invariably rotten. Nevertheless, upon his being awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Swedish Academy cited his “rich and intensive prose, which with restrained compassion forms a challenging vision of man’s vulnerability.” After winning the Nobel Prize he returned to the Spanish mainland to live (he had lived on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca for many years), and in 1991 he divorced his wife of almost fifty years, María del Rosario Conde Picavea, to marry Marina Castaño.
Cela was an enormously prolific writer for many years, and the list of his works is a long one. In addition to his many novels he produced short stories, poetry, books of travel, and various works of nonfiction, including several lexicons of sexual and vulgar language. Widely admired throughout the Spanish-speaking world, he nonetheless felt the pressure of censorship in his own country; it was largely for that reason that he adopted Mallorca as his home for many years.
Cela died on January 17, 2002, at the age of eighty-five.
Author Works
Long Fiction:
La familia de Pascual Duarte, 1942 (The Family of Pascual Duarte, 1946)
Pabellón de reposo, 1943 (Rest Home, 1961)
Nuevas andanzas y desventuras del Lazarillo de Tormes, 1944
La colmena, 1951 (The Hive, 1953)
Mrs. Caldwell habla con su hijo, 1953 (Mrs. Caldwell Speaks to Her Son, 1968)
La Catira, 1955
Tobogán de hambrientos, 1962
Vísperas, festividad y octava de San Camilo del año 1936 en Madrid, 1969 (San Camilo, 1936: The Eve, Feast, and Octave of St. Camillus of the Year 1936 in Madrid, 1991)
Oficio de tinieblas, 5, 1973
Mazurka para dos muertos, 1983 (Mazurka for Two Dead Men, 1993)
Cristo versus Arizona, 1988
El asesinato del perdedor, 1994
La cruz de San Andres, 1994
Madera de Boj, 1999 (Boxwood, 2002)
Short Fiction:
Esas nubes que pasan, 1945
El bonito crimen del carabinero, y otras invenciones, 1947
El gallego y su cuadrilla, 1949
Baraja de invenciones, 1953
El molino de viento, 1956
Nuevo retablo de don Cristobita, 1957
Historias de España: Los ciegos, los tontos, 1958
Los viejos amigos, 1960, 1961 (2 volumes)
Gavilla de fábulas sin amor, 1962
Once cuentos de fútbol, 1963
El solitario, 1963
Toreo de salón, 1963
Izas, rabizas y colipoterras, 1964
El ciudadano Iscariote Reclús, 1965
La familia del héroe, 1965
El hombre y el mar, 1990
Historias familiares, 1998
Poetry:
Poemas de una adolescencia cruel, 1945 (also known as Pisando la dudosa luz del día, 1960)
María Sabina, 1967
Cancionero de la Alcarria, 1987
Poesía completa, 1996
Nonfiction:
Mesa revuelta, 1945
Viaje a la Alcarria, 1948 (Journey to Alcarria, 1964)
Del Miño al Bidasoa, 1952
Judíos, moros y cristianos, 1956
Cajón de sastre, 1957
La rueda de los ocios, 1957
La obra literaria del pintor Solana, 1958
La rosa, 1959 (volume 1 of La cucaña Cela’s unfinished memoirs)
Primer viaje andaluz, 1959
Cuatro figuras del ’98, 1961
Las compañías convenientes, 1963
Garito de hospicianos, 1963
Páginas de geografía errabunda, 1965
Viaje al Pirineo de Lérida, 1965
Viaje a U.S.A., 1967
Al servicio de algo, 1969
A vueltas con España, 1973
Vuelta de hoja, 1981
El juego de los tres madroños, 1983
El asno de Buridán, 1986
Galicia, 1990
Blanquito, peón de Brega, 1991
Memorias, entendimientos y voluntades, 1993
El color de la mañana, 1996
Miscellaneous:
Obra completa, 1962-1983
Nuevas escenas matritenses, 1965-1966
Bibliography
Busette, Cedric.“La Familia de Pascual Duarte” and “El Túnel”: Correspondences and Divergencies in the Exercise of Craft. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1994. Busette compares and contrasts the debut novels of Cela and Ernesto Sábato, analyzing their narrative, language, protagonists, and other aspects of the two novels.
Cela, Camilo José. “Eulogy to the Fable.” The Georgia Review 49 (Spring, 1995): 235-245. The text of Cela’s speech upon receiving the Nobel Prize, December 8, 1989.
Cela, Camilo José. Interview by Valerie Miles. Paris Review 38, no. 139 (Summer, 1996): 124-163. A lengthy interview in which Cela discusses his personal life and career, including his family and academic background, literary training, some of his works, and thoughts on censorship.
Charlebois, Lucile C. Understanding Camilo José Cela. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1998. A thorough but difficult study of Cela’s progressively difficult novels. Each chapter focuses on one of the novels, beginning with The Family of Pascual Duarte through La cruz de San Andres. Includes a chronology and a select bibliography.
Henn, David. C. J. Cela: La Colmena. 1974. Reprint. London: Grant & Cutler, 1997. An eighty-page brief study of The Hive, usually recognized as Cela’s masterpiece. Part of the Critical Guides to Spanish Texts series. This reprint includes an updated bibliography.
Hoyle, Alan. Cela: “La familia de Pascual Duarte.” London: Grant & Cutler, with Tamesis Books, 1994. Another book in the Critical Guides to Spanish Texts series, providing an analysis of Cela’s first and best-known novel.
Kerr, Sarah. “Shock Treatment.” The New York Review of Books, October 8, 1992. A review and article discussing Cela’s novels The Family of Pascual Duarte, Journey to Alcarria, The Hive, Mrs. Caldwell Speaks to Her Son, and San Camilo, 1936.
Kirsner, Robert. The Novels and Travels of Camilo José Cela. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1963. An early survey notable for its consideration of Cela’s travel works.
McPheeters, D. W. Camilo José Cela. New York: Twayne, 1969. An accessible, though dated, overview of Cela’s work, part of the Twayne World Authors series. Includes a chronology and a useful bibliography of secondary sources.
Mantero, Manual. “Camilo José Cela: The Rejection of the Ordinary.” Georgia Review 49, no. 1 (Spring, 1995): 246-250. Mantero provides an appreciation of Cela’s most representative works, describing the author’s use of humor and names, characterization, and refusal to accept the routine or ordinary.
Peréz, Janet. Camilo José Cela Revisited: The Later Novels. New York: Twayne, 2000. Peréz updates and expands McPheeters’s 1969 overview. Concentrates on Cela’s novels. Includes biographical material, an index, and an annotated bibliography for further study.
Turner, Harriet, and Adelaida López de Martínez, eds. The Cambridge Companion to the Spanish Novel: From 1600 to the Present. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Cela’s work is discussed in several places, particularly in chapter 11, “The Testimonial Novel and the Novel of Memory.” Helps to place Cela’s work within the broader context of the Spanish novel.