Rosa Chacel
Rosa Chacel (1898-1994) was a prominent Spanish writer known for her contributions to literature and her connection to the surrealist movement. Born into a frail childhood, she initially pursued sculpture at the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de San Fernando but transitioned to writing due to health issues. Chacel's marriage to Timoteo Pérez Rubio led them to Rome, where she encountered surrealist ideas, which influenced her literary style upon her return to Spain in 1927. The onset of the Spanish Civil War prompted her family's exile through France, Greece, and ultimately Argentina, where she forged important artistic connections.
Chacel’s notable work includes her acclaimed Acrópolis trilogy, which is both autobiographical and experimental, reflecting her deep engagement with various art forms. Although she spent many years abroad and published extensively outside Spain, she remained committed to publishing her poetry solely in her homeland. Her cultural impact was formally recognized when she was named poet laureate of Madrid in 1980 and awarded the Premio Nacional de las Letras Españolas in 1988, solidifying her legacy within Spanish literature.
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Rosa Chacel
Author
- Born: June 3, 1898
- Birthplace: Valladolid, Spain
- Died: July 7, 1994
Biography
Rosa Chacel was a frail child, and during her early years she was educated at home by her mother. An aptitude for sculpture led her to study the art form at Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, where she met her future husband, Timoteo Pérez Rubio. Poor health forced Chacel to leave after three years, however, and she switched her creative energies to literature.
After their marriage, Chacel and Pérez Rubio moved to Rome, where they taught for five years. During a side trip to France, Chacel became acquainted with André Breton’s surrealist manifesto. When she and her husband returned to Spain in 1927, Chacel began introducing surrealist elements into her own work and formulating the principles of the Generation of 1927, an artistic movement giving equal weight to style and content. After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Chacel and her husband and their son, Carlos, moved first to France, then to Greece, and finally to Argentina, where Chacel had literary and artistic contacts. Chacel did not return to Spain until 1961, and she spent two disappointing years there under the auspices of the Guggenheim Foundation. Then, a decade later, she returned to Spain to stay—albeit in a separate household from that of Pérez Rubio.
She spent the next fifteen years writing what some regard as her masterpiece, a trilogy set in the Barrio de Maravillas, the Madrid neighborhood in which Chacel grew up and which supplied the title for the first volume of her Acrópolis trilogy. The trilogy is both an autobiographical and an experimental work, incorporating aspects of painting, poetry, music, and myth as reflections of Chacel’s lifelong commitment to all the arts. Chacel, who is often thought of as a writer in exile and who certainly published work outside Spain, always declined to publish her poetry anywhere other than her native land. Formal recognition of her cultural significance to her home came in 1980, when she was named poet laureate of Madrid and again in her ninetieth year, when the Spanish government awarded her with the Premio Nacional de las Letras Españolas, given in recognition of her worldwide reputation.