Edad Contemporánea > Movimientos literarios y culturales desde finales del s. XIX > Literatura de posguerra
Edad Contemporánea > Movimientos literarios y culturales desde finales del s. XIX > Literatura desde el último tercio del s. XX
Grupos por ámbito de dedicación
Escritoras > Poetas
Escritoras > Narradoras
Escritoras > Ensayistas
Personaje
Maria Beneyto Cuñat
València 14-05-1925
‖ València 15-03-2011
Periodo de actividad: Desde 1947 hasta 2003
Clasificación geográfica:
Europa > España
Movimientos socio-culturales
Edad Contemporánea > Feminismo
Edad Contemporánea > Movimientos literarios y culturales desde finales del s. XIX > Literatura de posguerra
Edad Contemporánea > Movimientos literarios y culturales desde finales del s. XIX > Literatura desde el último tercio del s. XX
Grupos por ámbito de dedicación
Escritoras > Poetas
Escritoras > Narradoras
Escritoras > Ensayistas
Contexto de creación femenina
She should be related with writers like Carmen Laforet, Ana Maria Matute, Elena Quiroga or Carmen Martín Gaite or the Valencian Francisca Aguirre. She is contemporary with other post-war writers, such as Carmelina Sánchez-Cutillas, Beatriu Civera, Maria Ibars, Maria Dolors Orriols, Cèlia Viñas, Montserrat Abelló, Matilde Llòria and Mercè Rodoreda.
Reseña
Poetess, novelist, storyteller and columnist. Although Maria Beneyto started her career during Francoism, she published in Valencian and Spanish. Her poetry evolved from realism denouncing linguistic, genre, social class or political ideology injustices to experimental and symbolist poetry. Her novel La dona forta (1967) was the deciding boost in formal and thematic restoration of Valencian narrative during the post-war period. Reflection on female condition from both a personal and a collective point of view remains throughout her work.
España > Lengua Catalana y Literatura > 4º ESO > Reflexión sobre la lengua
Justificaciones
Prolific writer, with a solid and constant career, in Valencian and in Spanish.
She was versatile: poetess, storyteller and novelist. Restorer of Valencian narrative during the post-war period.
Realistic Style: she denounces social and genre inequalities and shows empathy with the most disadvantaged groups.
Feminist work: radically feminist poetic voice and deep reflection about being a woman; the main characters in her narrative are women.
Firm commitment to Valencian language and culture during Francoism.
She gave unprecedented prominence to the female characters of her work.
Biografía
Maria Beneyto i Cuñat was born in València on May 14, 1925. When she was two years old, her large family (she was the only daughter of seven children) moved to Madrid because her father wanted to start a career as theatre actor, but he did not succeed. It was a period of extreme deprivation that affected growing, education and health of the future writer. Despite these conditions, Beneyto started trying to write literature at school and learned Spanish metrics through self-study. In 1937, when the Republican government moved to València, her family came back to her city of origin, where her father, openly republican was wounded and died in 1938. The first years of the post-war period were extremely difficult: Beneyto did not have the resources to survive. In addition, she suffered the consequences of being part of the losing side of the war, "los rojos" (the reds): her mother’s hair was cropped and she was incarcerated for three months, and became almost blind due to cataracts, her brothers were forced to do the military service again and she suffered from extreme anaemia. She worked in anything she could: cleaning, babysitting, helping in different workshops or writing letters to illiterate people, prisoners, etc., a job that she loved in particular.
About 1944, her economic situation completely changed thanks to the help of a Valencian businessman who had been helped by her father during the war and he wanted to return the favour; this new stability allowed Maria Beneyto to live with her mother and work as professional writer. In the early fifties, she was friend with poets that wrote in Spanish, such as Alejandro Gaos or Ricardo Orozco and started to publish in some cultural magazines and successfully participate in contests. At that time, she also met writers of Valencian movements like Carles Salvador, Francesc Almela i Vives, and brothers Xavier and Vicent Casp, who encouraged her to write in Valencian, a language that she spoke, but she learned to write autonomously. She published her two first poem compilations in the publishing house Torre: Altra veu (1952) and Ratlles a l'aire (1956). The second one was awarded with the Ciutat de Barcelona prize that year. Due to her style, realistic but with a strong personality, Maria Beneyto is usually considered as a member of the Generation of '50, together with Carmelina Sánchez-Cutillas or Vicent Andrés Estellés.
The lack of narrative tradition in the Valencian territory is highlighted during the dictatorship period, but writers Maria Ibars, Beatriu Civera, Carmelina Sánchez-Cutillas and Maria Beneyto cultivated this genre and modernised it. Indeed, it is especially thanks to them that we can speak about the continuation of novels and storytelling in the Valencian Country during Francoism. Beneyto published the stories compilation La gent que viu al món (1966) and the novel La dona forta (1967), one of the most interesting novels published in the Valencian Country in the sixties, because of its form and content. It is a novel with different voices, with women as main characters, and which tackles different topics considered taboo during the dictatorship, like abortion, lesbianism, professional and economic independence of women, marital breakdown, feminist reflection, etc. The author explains that she was inspired by a female residence that she knew when she lived in Madrid during the thirties. Having written in both languages generated criticism towards the writer. Consequently, after having published her collection of poems Vidre ferit de sang (1977), awarded with Ausiàs March prize of Gandia in 1976, Maria Beneyto decided to plunge into an internal exile and keep away from public literary life for thirteen years. However, in 1990, La dona forta is republished successfully, and in 1992 won the Premi de les Lletres Valencianes, which encouraged her to resume her literary life and continue publishing; her works Poemes de les quatre estacions (1993), for children, Després de soterrada la tendresa (1993), Elegies de pedra trencadissa (1997), and finally Bressoleig a l'insomni de la ira (2003), which won the Premi de la Crítica in Catalan poetry, would follow. Poems of her last period enter into a symbolic and troubling dimension of formal and topic experimentation. In 2007, the City Hall of València published her complete poems and put her name to a library and a square. She died in València on 15th of March 2011.
Obras
NARRATIVE
(1958). La promesa. Alcoi: Institut Alcoià de Cultura.
(1960). El río que viene crecido. València: Diputació Provincial.
(1966). Lagent que viu al món. València: L'Estel.
(1967). La dona forta.València: Senent.
(1969). Antigua patria. València: Prometeo.
(1999). De la inconforme resignación y otras historias. Madrid: Huerga y Fierro Editores S.L.
POETRY
(1947). Canción olvidada. València: Edició d'autor
(1952). Altra veu.València: Torre.
(1952). Eva en el tiempo.El sobre literario.
(1954). Criatura múltiple.València: Alfons el Magnànim.
(1993). Poemes de les quatre estacions. València: Tàndem.
(1993). Després de soterrada la tendresa. Alzira: Bromera.
(1993). Hojas para algún día de noviembre. València: Ajuntament.
(1994). Para desconocer la primavera. Madrid: Torremozas S.L.
(1996). Días para soñar que hemos vivido. Castelló: Alcap
(1997). Elegies de pedra trencadissa. Alzira: Bromera.
(1952-1993) (1997²). Poesia. València: IVEI Alfons el Magnànim.
(2001). Casi un poco de nada. València: Diputació.
(2003). Bressoleig a l'insomni de la ira.Alzira: Bromera.
Bibliografía
Ballester Roca, Josep; Ibarra Rius, Noelia (2016). «La escritura de la identidad femenina y feminista: la voz pionera de María Beneyto», Tonos Digital. Revista de Estudios Filológicos, n. 31, vol. II, (retrieved on 02-12-2022), http://www.tonosdigital.es/ojs/index.php/tonos/issue/view/38
Jato, Mónica (2008). María Beneyto. El laberinto de la palabra poética, Alfons el Magnànim, València.
Lacueva Lorenz, Maria (2019). Les dones fortes. La narrativa valenciana sota el franquisme, Alfons el Magnànim, València.
She can be studied in the subjects of Catalan/Valencian language and literature and Spanish language and literature because she wrote in both languages.
- 1st and 2nd of ESO: her work Poemes de les quatre estacions. can be studied.
- 1st and 2nd: an excerpt of «Una hora curta», from the collection La gent que viu al món can be used to work about dialogue.
- 4th of ESO: contemporary literature, post-war. All the poems and narrative of Beneyto.
She is also an author to be studied in Spanish language and literature. Some of her poems can be worked in history and ethical values (post-war, suffragism).
Documentos
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