Camilo José Cela
(1916-2000), Spain, Nobel Prize in Literature,1989

Camilo José Cela is probably the most charismatic of all Spanish-speaking authors and playwrights. From his magnificent LaFamilia de Pascual Duarte, 1942, to La Colmena, 1951, to Mazurca para Dos Muertos, 1983, Cela has had an immense influence in the literature of the Hispanic world. He is the father of the "tremendismo" literary movement and his style covers the gamut of modern narrative. He uses lineal develoment, flashbacks, the use of the subconscious incorporated in the text, and as little as one protagonist (Pascual Duarte), or as many as 296 (La Colmena).