Review

Pilar Monzó Pons is one of the most important Valencian playwrights during the Second Spanish Republic and understands theatre as a fundamental tool for the consolidation of the Catalan Renaissance. For this reason, she will be involved in improving the conditions of the Valencian theatre circuit and will work to gain autonomy in the face of state centralism. She is the author of a novel and nine farces, which will be a huge hit with audiences and critics alike. With deep moral convictions linked to equality between people, Monzó focuses her work on the humblest strata of society and gives great prominence to female characters who face the injustices they must suffer for their status as women.

Justifications

• Valencian novelist and playwright during the Second Spanish Republic.
• She writes and premieres nine farces, that is, popular and costumbrist plays.
• Her works are a great success among the public and critics.
• She writes a novel, "Rafel", which was awarded and published in 1930.
• Special interest in female characters and the injustices they must suffer because of their status as women.
• She focuses on the humblest strata of society and their specific problems.
• Her works reflect the different linguistic registers of the society of that time (Valencian spoken in the city, in the fields, diglossia, etc.).
• Activist in favour of the rights of Valencian writers. In 1934 she took part in the creation of the Valencian Society of Authors.

Biography

Pilar Monzó Pons was born in Valencia, but the exact date of birth has not yet been determined. She spent a few years as a child in Utiel and then moved back to Valencia. She was a woman of deep religious beliefs, which she linked to social justice. She married José de la Cuadra in 1906 and they had at least one son. We know from her husband that she enjoyed a good financial position and was linked to the city of Xàtiva. The couple shared a great fondness for theatre.
In 1929, Pilar Monzó won the third secondary award in the Golden Viola of the Floral Games organized by Lo Rat Penat. From then on, she will be linked to this Valencian entity and will take part in events in favour of the Valencian language and culture. On 26 March, 1930 Monzó premiered, at the Novedades Theater, her first play in Valencian, the farce La falta de Marieta; it was a resounding success, and her career as a writer was brief but intense.

In 1930 she won the prize for the magazine Nostra Novel·la with Rafel, Monzó’s only narrative work. On 13 November, 1930, Visanteta premiered, also much applauded by the public and critics. Monzó dedicated the play to the actress Vicenta Silvestre. On 6 February 1931, El chénit de Tana was premiered, in this case dedicated to the contemporary Valencian writer Milagro Espí Soler. La nòvia de Paquito premiered on 1 April 1932, and Calor de niu premiered on 7 April 1933, applauded for its plot to regenerate an alcoholic mother. In 1933, her children's play Els xiquets de l'estoreta was performed. 

Monzó writes during the years in which the Castellón Rules (1932) were agreed upon, which set the rules for the Valencian language, and for this reason she presents the typical orthographic hesitations between writers of the time. Thus, if we currently write their titles according to the regulations, El chénit de Tana would be El geni de Tana, Visanteta would be Vicenteta or El amo would be L’amo. Monzó was also an activist in favour of the rights of Valencian writers and took part in the creation, in 1934, of the Valencian Society of Authors, independent of the Sociedad General de Autores de España established in Madrid.

Monzó’s work conforms to the farce’s own customary character and stands out for providing a good portrait of the different linguistic registers of the time (Valencian spoken in the city, in rural areas, Spanish, etc.). Her work focuses on the humblest strata of society and its problems. She criticizes double standards, frivolity, superficiality, and class self-hatred. Her female characters have a particular interest, as they often face the injustices they have to endure as women. 

Pilar Monzó is one of the most important female figures of the 1920s and 1930s in terms of the cultivation of Valencian theatre, understood as a fundamental tool for the consolidation of the Catalan Renaissance, but she will not be the only woman involved in this sense: we have information on other authors at the time, such as Empar Royo, Conxeta Ruiz, Elvira Urios or Vicenta Matalí. The coup d’état of 1936 and the harsh circumstances of the subsequent Franco dictatorship removed the figure of Pilar Monzó from the public scene and we do not know where or when she died.
 
Source: Lacueva Lorenz, Maria (2022). Pioneres. Dones i valencianisme (1900-1939). València: Nexe.
 

Works

Catalan

• La falta de Marieta

Bibliography

March, Robert (2020). «Pilar Monzó de la Roca, dona sainetera». Revista valenciana de Filologia, n. 4, pp. 95-108. 

Roig, Rosa; Lluc, Violeta (2019). «Pilar Monzó de Roca i les saineteres valencianes. Reparació d’un oblit», Una metàfora de la vida. Associació Cultural Bda. Sda. Família Corea, https://issuu.com/llibretcorea2019/docs/llibret_corea_2019, (Retrieved on 10-02-2022).

Didactic approach

- This author should be worked on based on the proposal of Rosa Roig indicated in the bibliography, who has made a faithful but updated version of the original La falta de Marieta. 

- Dialogue, reading aloud and theatrical performance can also be practised. 

- She should also be included as a contemporary writer of the 1930s, with the outbreak of authors during the Second Spanish Republic and whose production was cut short due to the war and the Franco dictatorship. 

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