The Cervantes Institute organized for International Women’s Day more than 80 activities in its centers network
He Cervantes Institute He has paid tribute to women in culture by depositing three legacies of the authors Luisa Carnés (which includes an unpublished work) and Ángela Figuera (with several of its originals), together with the Orellana Circle Associationin the box of the letters of the institution, within the framework of International Women’s Day, which is celebrated this March 8, and for which it has organized more than 80 activities in its centers network.
In the case of the writer and journalist Luisa Carnés (Madrid 1905- Mexico 1964), exiled after the Civil War, her legacy has been deposited by her granddaughter, Paloma Puyol, who has delivered an unpublished manuscript of the novel ‘The closed door’.
This work was written in 1956 and deals with the Mexican Revolution. The author herself was ordering her writings in these black folders of the time, but died in a traffic accident in 1964, at a time when she worked in her theatrical version, a text that now enters the box number 1,616 of the battleship chamber.
It has also delivered a copy of the magazine ‘Level’, of May 25, 1964, with a necrological text by the poet Ramón Xirau enlightened with a portrait of the author drawn by Arturo Souto. I have also deposited specimens of the first editions of ‘Birthday’ and ‘The fear vendors’, both works of 1966, edited by Finisterre in a posthumous way.
The content of the legacy has been extended with a premium sheet with the postal seal dedicated to Luisa Carnés in 2024 and a copy of the Mexican magazine of culture of July 8, 1951 with the theatrical monologue ‘Birthday’. Another edition of ‘Tea Rooms’ is also included (the author’s best known work, adapted to television in the ‘Modern’ series) in facsimile edition, which reproduces the first edition of 1934 edited by the Lance of Lance’s Association of Madrid. This work is accompanied by another edition of ‘Tea Rooms’ of 2016 of can.
Also, the box has received several photos of photos from Luisa Carnés and a drawing by Arturo Souto, in addition to other current editions of ‘Tea Rooms’ and ‘Natacha’, his first novel.
Carnés was one of the most prominent authors of the generation of 27, but suffered a long forgetfulness due to his double condition as a woman and exiled. The journalist joined the world of work from a young age and worked in a hat and in a bakery. It was not until 1923 when he started writing self -taught. His first published story, ‘Mar in’, appeared in ‘La Voz de Madrid’ in 1926.
Committed to social justice, he joined the Communist Party in 1936 and collaborated with Republican publications during the Civil War. In 1939, after the Republican defeat, he exiled in Mexico, where he continued writing under the pseudonym of ‘Clarita Montes’. Among the recovered documents, they found a letter addressed to the women of Spain, dated March 4, 1964, a few days before the premature death of Luisa Carnés.
March 8: “The hands of all women narrow”
“Dear friends, on this day of March 8, in which the hands of all women in the world narrow for affection and understanding, We are pleased to express our endearing solidarity and our hope in the windy future for all of us, inside and outside the heart of Spainwhose name you have managed to enhance with your effort and sacrifice, “said the letter, which has been read for his granddaughter during the act.
Likewise, the 1,600 box has received the legacy of the poet Ángela Figuera, among whose deposited works it stands out ‘in the thin edge’, with a facsimilar edition of the mecan -written specimen with annotations that the author herself sent to the poet Carmen Conde in 1950.
It also collects the total anthology of the Basque writer, with the reproduction of the letter that Pablo Neruda directed to the Spanish poets of the time. The legacy of this author is completed with a handwritten poetry directed with humor to her children, Magi, as well as two editions of mud women, her first book edited in 1948.
Among other specimens deposited in memoriam by the family are those of the poems ‘Soria Pura’, ‘Cruel beauty’, ‘He touched the earth’, in addition to the poem ‘eve of life’, edited between the 50s and 60s. The titles of ‘Time stories for ready children’, ‘Songs for the whole year’ and its ‘Complete works’, all edited in the 80s, close this legacy of Figuera.
Ángela Figuera (Madrid 1902-1984), considered one of the most relevant voices of postwar social poetry in Spain, suffered the censorship of Franco and raised in her poetry the figure of the working woman, in addition to denouncing the injustices of the time. Bachelor of Philosophy and Letters, she exercised as a teacher until, after the civil war, she lost her job and dedicated to writing, using poetry as a resistance tool.
He published works such as ‘Mud Woman’ (1948), ‘Soria Pura’ (1949) and ‘Cruel Beauty’ (1958), among others, all marked by the complaint of social injustices and the claim of the role of women, so she stands as a key author within the committed literature of the twentieth century.
His granddaughter, Ana Figuera, has delivered the legacy and recalled that her grandmother was not only a poet, but also a librarian and defender of culture as a tool for social transformation. “Beyond the poet and the activist, my grandmother was a woman who believed in the power of education and culture. Her work in libraries was an extension of her commitment to society. Knowing that her work will be preserved in the box of letters is a way to ensure that her voice will never be silenced,” he said.
Rescue women from oblivion
The act has concluded with the delivery of the legacy of the Orellana circle, a non -profit association founded in 2015 that promotes female talent and the visibility of women in history. Its president, Leticia Espinosa de los Monteros, has deposited a set of documents, publications and a symbolic brooch carried by the members of this civil society and that represents the union of them.
Specifically, these are two volumes of the ‘Semblazas’ collection that collects the meetings within the Spanish ‘Cycle to discover’, the book ‘Female Talent and Civil Society: Testimonies from the circle of Orellana’ with 30 life stories and a box-book with the content of the programs carried out by the circle of Orellana for ten years.
Finally, a blank book of the Orellana Circle has been deposited in the box number 1,593 with a dedication of thanks to the Cervantes Institute and as a “future symbol to continue discovering great women references of life.” “This legacy is not only a recognition to the past, but a commitment to the future,” said Espinosa de los Monteros, who stressed the importance of rescuing “those women who have been silenced throughout history and deserve to be remembered.”
Finally, the director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero, has celebrated entry in this special act of the three legacies, recalling the importance of this type of acts. “A democracy is much more than being able to vote every four years: it is the transformation of social values that help a coexistence in respect and equality. Therefore, a fundamental part of this commitment is to make historical memory and remember the value and quality of characters that in the dictatorship were erased, because they enrich us,” he concluded.