The present Doodle praises the centennial birthday of Spanish writer Carmen Laforet, most popular for her no frills, realist prose. Carmen Laforet Díaz was brought into the world on this day in 1921 in Barcelona, Spain. Her 1945 novel Nada (Nothing) is still generally viewed as one of Spain’s most significant contemporary novels.
She spent her initial a very long time in the Canary Islands—a place of refuge from the disturbance of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). At 18, she got back with her family to Barcelona to study philosophy before moving to Madrid where she discovered a city scrambling to recover from domestic unrest.
It was in this tumultuous climate that Laforet composed the manuscript for Nada- – the account of a 18-year-old vagrant’s battle in post-war Barcelona. The story’s real existentialist narration portrayed the time’s cruel real factors according to a new point of view with a straightforward writing style, differentiating the tangled composition that described numerous Spanish works at that point.
Laforet’s innovative novel won her the main Nadal Prize, an honor for unpublished authors that is today viewed as one of Spanish writing’s most prestigious honors. As well as observing Laforet’s work, the prize included the publication of Nada, which quickly turned into a national sensation.
Laforet’s frank, realist prose reinvigorated the literary arts of a war-torn country while inspiring a new generation of woman novelists. Alongside a few assortments of short stories, a novella and travel guides, Laforet published three extra novels into the last part of the 1960s. Nothing has never left print, retaining its position in the nation’s literary life.
Happy Birthday, Carmen Laforet!