Camilo José Cela
Spanish novelist, poet, essayist (1916–2002)
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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".
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. He was the oldest child of nine. 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."
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.
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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, La familia de Pascual Duarte (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.
Cela became a censor in Francoist Spain in 1943. Perhaps his best-known work was produced during a period where his own writing came under scrutiny from his fellow censors, including La colmena (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. 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 La colmena. Cela remained loyal to Francoist Spain, even working as an informer for the Spanish secret police by reporting on the activities of dissident groups and betraying fellow intellectuals.
From the late 1960s, with the publication of San Camilo, 1936, Cela's work became increasingly experimental. In 1988 he wrote Christ Versus Arizona (Spanish: Cristo versus Arizona), 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. Cela had already scandalized Spanish society with his Diccionario secreto (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".
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".
In 1994, he was awarded the Premio Planeta, although some question the objectivity of the awards, and winners on occasion have refused to accept it. 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". In 1995 he was offered the prize, which he accepted.
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.
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.