# Rosa Chacel

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**Rosa Clotilde Chacel Arimón** (3 June 1898 – 27 July 1994) was a Spanish [writer](/source/Writer). She was a native of [Valladolid](/source/Valladolid).

## Early life

Chacel was born in [Valladolid](/source/Valladolid), the daughter of a teacher who sent her to live with her grandmother in [Madrid](/source/Madrid). Chacel's move to Madrid occurred in 1908. Because of her weak health, she was home-schooled by her mother.

By 1909, Chacel's mother enlisted her at Madrid's *Escuela de artes y oficios* to study [drawing](/source/Drawing), but, soon after, Chacel followed her teacher, Fernanda Francés, to the newly built *Escuela del hogar y Profesional de la Mujer*, also in Madrid. It was while in the latter school that Chacel began to take some [feminist](/source/Feminist) views. In 1915, Chacel, intrigued by the world of [sculpture](/source/Sculpture), enrolled at the [Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de San Fernando](/source/Real_Academia_de_Bellas_Artes_de_San_Fernando), but she soon lost interest in the aforementioned topic and abandoned the school by 1918.[1]

Chacel then went on to become a regular at the [Cafe Granja del Henar](/source/Cafe_Granja_del_Henar) and at the [Ateneo de Madrid](/source/Ateneo_de_Madrid). These two places were favorite locations for aspiring writers from all over Spain and other European countries. She delivered a controversial speech there, after a conference about women and their possibilities. Like much of the world at that era, [machista](/source/Machista) views predominated in Spain, and Chacel's dialogue on that conference were considered off base or nonsensical by many members of Madrid's society.

Chacel, nevertheless, went on championing feminism as a new way to live for modern women, and, in 1921, she married a famous painter of the time, [Timoteo Perez Rubio](/source/Timoteo_Perez_Rubio). In 1922 the couple settled in [Rome](/source/Rome) after Pérez Rubio was granted a scholarship at the *Academia de España.* That same year, Chacel wrote her first article for the *Ultra* magazine. In 1927, she and her husband returned to Madrid.

In 1930, Chacel wrote her first [novel](/source/Novel), *Estacion, Ida y Vuelta*. That same year, the Perez Rubio-Chacel couple had a child, Carlos. For the next three years, Rosa dedicated herself to [motherhood](/source/Motherhood) and to promoting her novel. In 1933, she lived alone for six months in [Berlin](/source/Berlin,_Germany), to recover from her mother's death and a creative crisis. Soon after her return to Spain, the [Spanish Civil War](/source/Spanish_Civil_War) broke out. Pérez Rubio enlisted in the Republican Army and Chacel performed, among other things, as a nurse. During the same period she also contributed literary magazines *[Hora de España](/source/Hora_de_Espa%C3%B1a_(magazine))* and *[Revista de Occidente](/source/Revista_de_Occidente)*.[2]

This new, political problem, forced Chacel to move multiple times with her son, and she lived in [Barcelona](/source/Barcelona), [Valencia](/source/Valencia), [Paris](/source/Paris). In the meantime, her husband had the responsibility of moving out of the country the treasuries of the [Museo del Prado](/source/Museo_del_Prado) to preserve them from the war devastation. After the end of the war, the family reunited and travelled to [Brazil](/source/Brazil), where they lived for three decades, with short stays in [Buenos Aires](/source/Buenos_Aires).[3]

## Exile

The next years Chacel lived in relative obscurity: a well-known writer but one who had made no new projects in years. This changed in 1959, however, when she won a [Guggenheim Fellowship](/source/Guggenheim_Fellowship),[4] which allowed her to travel to [New York City](/source/New_York,_New_York) and return to writing. Chacel worked in New York until 1961, when, with her home country living a calmed down social state, she returned to Spain. In May 1963, Chacel returned to Brazil, where she remained until 1970, when she returned to Spain for a short stay. She would live in Brazil for three more years, as, in 1973, she made her second return to her home country.[5]

## Return to Spain

In 1977, her husband of 56 years died, and Chacel, who was a very frequent [flyer](/source/Flight) between Madrid and [Rio de Janeiro](/source/Rio_de_Janeiro), decided to stay in Spain for good. She used her newly found status as a widow to try to rescue some of her old works and to write more novels.

Her works include *Acrópolis*, published in 1984 and in which she writes about the [Sapphic Circle of Madrid](/source/Sapphic_Circle_of_Madrid), of which she was a member along with [Victorina Durán](/source/Victorina_Dur%C3%A1n), [Elena Fortún](/source/Elena_Fort%C3%BAn), and [Matilde Ras](/source/Matilde_Ras).[6]

## Death and legacy

She died peacefully in Madrid on 7 August 1994, aged 96.[7]

The Spanish national airline [Iberia Airlines](/source/Iberia_Airlines) – a company which Chacel perhaps saw as it grew – just like in [Luisa Carvajal y Mendoza](/source/Luisa_Carvajal_y_Mendoza)'s case, decided to honor Chacel by naming an [Airbus A340](/source/Airbus_A340) jetliner [airliner](/source/Airliner) after her.[8][9] Perhaps ironically, the "Rosa Chacel Airbus A340" flies very frequently between Madrid's [Barajas International Airport](/source/Barajas_International_Airport) and Buenos Aires' [Ezeiza International Airport](/source/Ezeiza_International_Airport) or Rio de Janeiro.

## Awards and honors

- [Guggenheim Fellowship](/source/Guggenheim_Fellowship)
- Chacel was granted a [Doctor Honoris Causa](/source/Doctor_Honoris_Causa) degree by the University of Valladolid (1989).
- Towards the end of her life, she won various prestigious awards, some of whom were given by King [Juan Carlos](/source/Juan_Carlos_of_Spain).
- In 1987, she received the "National Award of the Letters (writing)", an award reserved for the very best writers of Spain.
- In 1990, she received the "Premio Castilla y Leon de las letras" ("Castilla y Leon award of the letters"), an award whose winners are chosen by the King.

## Works

### Novels

- *Estación. Ida y vuelta*, 1930.
- *Teresa*, 1941, Buenos Aires, Nuevo Romance.
- *[Memorias de Leticia Valle](/source/Memorias_de_Leticia_Valle)*, 1945, Buenos Aires, Emecé.
- *La Sinrazón*, 1960, Buenos Aires, Losada.
- Trilogy *Escuela de Platón*: - *Barrio de Maravillas*, 1976, Barcelona, Seix Barral. - *Acrópolis*, 1984, Barcelona Seix Barral. - *Ciencias naturales*, 1988, Barcelona, Seix Barral.
- *Novelas antes de tiempo*, 1981, Barcelona, Bruguera.

### Short Story

- *Sobre el piélago*, 1952, Buenos Aires, Imán.

- *Ofrenda a una virgen loca*, 1961, México, Universidad de Veracruz.

- *Icada, Nevda, Diada*, 1971, Barcelona, Seix Barral.

- *Balaam y otros cuentos*, 1989, Relatos infantiles, Barcelona, Mondadori.

- *Narrativa Breve*, 2003, Valladolid, Fundación Jorge Guillén (Obra Completa; 7).

### Poetry

- *A la orilla de un pozo*, 1936.
- *Versos prohibidos*, 1978, Madrid, Caballo Griego para la Poesía.
- *Poesía (1931-1991)*, 1992, Barcelona, Tusquets.

## Notes

1. [Global Britannica](https://global.britannica.com/biography/Rosa-Chacel)

1. Germán Bleiberg; Maureen Ihrie; Janet Pérez (eds.) (1993). [*Dictionary of the Literature of the Iberian Peninsula (Volume 1)*](https://books.google.com/books?id=bsvkun_p3SgC&pg=PA399). Westport, CT; London: Greenwood Press. p. 399. ISBN 978-0-313-28731-2.

1. [*New York Times*, Eric Pace, "Rosa Chacel, 96, A Spanish Novelist Exiled for 36 Years", August 2, 1994](https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/02/obituaries/rosa-chacel-96-a-spanish-novelist-exiled-for-36-years.html)

1. ["Rosa Chacel"](https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/rosa-chacel/). *John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation*

1. (es) [hispanicexile.bham.ac.uk](http://www.hispanicexile.bham.ac.uk/people/57) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20120315170628/http://www.hispanicexile.bham.ac.uk/people/57) 2012-03-15 at the Wayback Machine

1. Solà Gimferrer, Pere (28 April 2017). ["Ser mujer y que te gustasen las mujeres en 1928"](https://www.lavanguardia.com/series/20170428/422094444531/las-chicas-del-cable-lesbianismo-bisexualidad-anos-20-ana-fernandez.html) (in Spanish). *[La Vanguardia](/source/La_Vanguardia)*. Retrieved 27 October 2024.

1. (fr)[Le Monde, Obituary, 29 July 1994](http://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1994/07/29/mort-de-l-ecrivain-espagnol-rosa-chacel_3821005_1819218.html#Ck3liZR1q1GV3kRv.99)

1. [El Pais, Obituary, 28 July 1994](http://elpais.com/diario/1994/07/28/cultura/775346409_850215.html)

1. [Independent.co.uk, James Kirkup, Friday 29 July 1994,Obituary](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-rosa-chacel-1416940.html#)

## Books and newspapers

- [*Rosa Chacel: premio nacional de las letras españolas, 1987*](https://books.google.com/books?id=jn2oPwIvEKYC&q=memoria+fuente+material+por+autores+&pg=PA106) (in Spanish). Anthropos Editorial. 1990. ISBN 9788476582169..
- Jueves (1994-07-28). ["Muere Rosa Chacel, maestra de la aventura íntima"](http://elpais.com/diario/1994/07/28/cultura/775346409_850215.html) (in Spanish). *El País*.
- Staff Le Monde (1994-07-29). ["Mort de l'écrivain espagnol Rosa Chacel"](http://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1994/07/29/mort-de-l-ecrivain-espagnol-rosa-chacel_3821005_1819218.html#Ck3liZR1q1GV3kRv.99) (in French). *Le Monde*.
- Kirkup, James (1994-07-29). ["Obituary: Rosa Chacel"](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-rosa-chacel-1416940.html#). *The Independent*.
- Page, Eric (1994-08-02). ["Rosa Chacel, 96, A Spanish Novelist Exiled for 36 Years"](https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/02/obituaries/rosa-chacel-96-a-spanish-novelist-exiled-for-36-years.html). *The New York Times*.
- Santa, Àngel; Didier, Béatrice; Fouque, Antoinette; Calle-Gruber, Mireille (2013). "Chacel, Rosa (Valladolid 1898 - Madrid 1994)". *Le dictionnaire universel des créatrices* (in French). Éditions des femmes. p. 818..

## External links

- [Escritoras, about Chacel (in Spanish)](http://www.escritoras.com/escritoras/escritora.php?i=100)
- [Fundacion Jorge Guillen, about Chacel (in Spanish)](http://fundacionjorgeguillen.com/fondo-documental.php?id=000000001T)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Rosa Chacel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Chacel) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Chacel?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.