Late modern period / Contemporary period > Literary and cultural movements since the end of the 19th century > Post-war literature > Social literature
Late modern period / Contemporary period > Literary and cultural movements since the end of the 19th century > Literature since the last third of the 20th century
Groups by dedication
Humanistics > Historians
Writers > Poets
Writers > Story writers
Writers > Essayists
Writers > Journalists / Chroniclers
Character
Carmelina Sánchez-Cutillas i Martínez
Madrid 23-06-1921
‖ València 22-02-2009
Period of activity: From 1957 until 2000
Geographical classification:
Europe > Spain
Socio-cultural movements
Late modern period / Contemporary period > Literary and cultural movements since the end of the 19th century > Post-war literature > Social literature
Late modern period / Contemporary period > Literary and cultural movements since the end of the 19th century > Literature since the last third of the 20th century
Groups by dedication
Humanistics > Historians
Writers > Poets
Writers > Story writers
Writers > Essayists
Writers > Journalists / Chroniclers
Context of feminine creation
She belongs to the generation of post-war writers in Catalan language, such as Maria Ibars, Maria Beneyto, Beatriu Civera, Maria Dolors Orriols, Cèlia Viñas, Montserrat Abelló or Matilde Llòria.
With her narrative and informative articles in the press, she connects and dialogues with the female genealogies of the Crown of Aragon, highlighting, for example, Isabel de Villena. Sánchez-Cutillas took an active part in the reconstruction of the Catalan language and literature in the Valencian Country with a quality that took time to be recognized.
Review
Carmelina Sánchez-Cutillas is one of the benchmarks of post-war literature in Catalan language and, despite her invisibility and the difficulty to access her work over many years, her complete work has already been published (2021). Matèria de Bretanya, Matter of Britain, (1976) represents an excellent poetic prose that achieved great social and cultural relevance and has been a bestseller for three decades. Her poetic work shows an intense voice full of reflection on her identity as a woman, as a Valencian. Her studies and informative articles in the press focus, above all, on aspects of the medieval history of the Crown of Aragon, especially on the figure of King James I, ladies and monarchs such as Maria of Castile or Sibila de Fortià or on Valencian Golden Age writers. Joan Borja compares her with prestigious writers such as Mercè Rodoreda.
Justifications
Writer of a vast culture, she is a reference in post-war literature in Catalan language.
She cultivates poetry, narrative and informative essays.
Her research work as a historian makes her internationally known for her publications and talks.
She recovers women's memory from genre awareness with an art of poetry which she uses to rise up against the ideology of patriarchy and she vindicates her own identity as a Valencian woman.
Her work is rooted in the landscape and culture of the Valencian region of La Marina.
A selection of poems from Un món rebel (A Rebel World) and Conjugació en primera persona (First Person Conjugation) were translated into English in 1969 by the University of Kentucky under the title A Rebel World.
She collaborates with prominent organizations and publications involved in the recovery of language and culture.
Biography
Carmelina Sánchez-Cutillas i Martínez del Romero lived with a similar passion her work as a student of Valencian medieval history and her literary creation.
Granddaughter of the historian Francesc Martínez Martínez, she was born in Madrid on June 23, 1921, and, after a short stay in Barcelona, she spent her childhood between Valencia and Altea (Marina Baixa region), a city that would later become the scene of some of her most famous books. She studied Philosophy and Arts at Universitat de València and once she finished her studies, she began to collaborate in the cultural section of the newspaper Levante, with articles on medieval history and literature. She belongs to the generation of post-war Valencian poetesses, along with Maria Ibars, Matilde Llòria and Maria Beneyto, among others.
In her poetic side, the collections which stand out are Un món rebel (1964), Conjugació en primera persona (1969), Els jeroglífics i La pedra de Rosetta (1976) and Llibre d'amic i amada (1980). The publication of all of them is a remarkable event in the poetry written in the Valencian Country during the last years of the Franco regime and the Spanish transition to democracy. From classical roots, but with a clear will to live her time, from the first poems in Un món rebel we find a voice that connects with the aspirations of freedom and restoration of the culture of her people, but without forgetting her inner world, the doubts and insecurities of a writer of the second half of the 20th century. The poetic prose of Els jeroglífics i La pedra de Rosetta is also an unavoidable point of reference for later generations.
This poetic prestige is outshined by the success of the novel Matèria de Bretanya (1976), winner in 1975 of the Narrative Octubre-Andròmina Award, convened by the publishing house Tres i Quatre. The novel is a reflection on memory with a vision of childhood and her land that remains strongly in the hearts of readers and that, at present, has been edited over ten times, the last edition being in 2016, by Carme Manuel. A unique introductory book, written with a clear and intense language at the same time, which occupies a preferred place in the recovery of the Valencian culture and language that the Valencian Country has experienced since the 1970s.
Much accurately, Estellés wrote: “The voice of Carmelina Sánchez-Cutillas - a serious, impressive awareness of loneliness - passes like a hand would on the wood of familiar furniture; pulls out the accounts of the day, and instinctively, as when fists or teeth are clenched, it can't help, in the face of the usual mildness of the weather and the city, to experience a sudden exasperation."
She was awarded the "Valencian Woman of the Year 2008" by the Huguet Foundation, and was an honorary member of the Catalan Language Writers Association.
Del Romero Sánchez-Cutillas, Luis (2020). La meva cambra més estimada. València: Vincle.
Gascon, Anna i Gargallo, Olga (2020). Carmelina Sánchez-Cutillas. Unitats didàctiques d'infantil a batxillerat. ACPV https://acpv.cat/correllengua-2020/ (retrieved on 17-03-2022).
Lacueva Lorenz, Maria (2019). Les dones fortes. La narrativa valenciana sota el franquisme, València: Alfons el Magnànim.
Unitats didàctiques d’Acció Cultural del País Valencià per a Infantil, Primària, ESO i Batxillerat https://acpv.cat/correllengua-2020/ retrieved on 17/03/2022 (DIDACTIC UNITS- Kindergarten, Primary and Secondary school, and Bachillerato)
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