Glory Strong

Gloria Fuertes García (Madrid, July 28, 1917-Madrid, November 27, 1998) was a Spanish poetess included in the Generation of '50, after the literary movement of the first generation of postwar period. Her poetic work was reinforced in Spain from the 1970s onwards by her collaborations in children's and youth programs on Spanish Television such as Un globo, dos globos, tres globos or La white kite . In her poetry she defended women, pacifism and the environment. In 2017, on the occasion of the celebration of the centenary of her birth, her role in the Spanish poetry of the century was claimed.

Biography

Fuertes was born in the Lavapiés neighborhood. His father was a bedel and his mother a seamstress and servant. She attended the Instituto de Educación Profesional de la Mujer obtaining diplomas in Shorthand, Typing, Hygiene and Childcare.Her interest in letters began at the early age of five, when she was already writing and drawing her own stories. Interest that she maintained despite the lack of encouragement from her family, as she herself would write:

When my mother saw me with a book, she hit me. No one of my family ever said to me, "write, daughter, write, you do well..." Nobody. I have nothing to thank my family. But when you want one thing, even if your family doesn't help you, you get it. If you're really worth it and you want something with all your desires, you're going ahead for sure.

Gloria Strong.

In 1932, at the age of fourteen, her first poem was published: "Childhood, Youth, Old Age". In 1934, when her mother died, Gloria began working in Metallurgical Workshops, where she combined her tasks accounting with the writing of poems. A year later, in 1935, she published her first verses in a children's magazine and gave her first poetry recitals on Radio Madrid. Thus, at barely 17 years old, she would write her first book of poems, Ignored Island , which would not be published until 1950.

From 1938 to 1958, she was an office secretary, a job that from 1939 to 1953 she combined with that of editor of the children's magazine Maravillas, where she published weekly stories, comics and poems for children. In her work as an editor, she met the poet Carlos Edmundo de Ory in 1942 -one of the founders of Postismo- when he sent a sonnet to the magazine that Fuertes decided to publish; From this contact they establish a relationship of friendship and intellectual exchange, which later and for a time was, apparently, 'as a couple'.

Between 1940 and 1945, several of his children's theater works and poems were staged in various theaters in Madrid. Also between 1940 and 1953 he began to collaborate in children's magazines, Pelayos, Boys, Girls: the 17-year-old magazine, Chiquitito , and the children's supplements of Flechas y Pelayos (Maravillas) and the newspaper Arriba, for which he published the i>Coletas and Pelines, a nine-year-old girl and a six-year-old boy, respectively, who achieved great popularity among children. In 1949 she published the book Songs for children and in 1950 Pirulí (Verses for toddlers) , also organizing the first Mobile Children's Library in small towns.

Parallel to her dedication to children's literature in magazines, plays and staged poems, in 1951 she founded, together with María Dolores de Pablos and Adelaida Las Santas, the female group «Versos con faldas» that for two years performed frequently readings and recitals in cafes and bars in Madrid. He also collaborated in adult magazines such as Rumbos, Poesía Española and El Pájaro de Paja. Already In 1950 he had participated with Antonio Gala, Julio Mariscal and Rafael Mir in the creation of the poetic magazine Arquero which he directed until 1954.

In 1952, his first play in verse premiered at the Theater of the Institute of Hispanic Culture: Prometeo, which received the Valle-Inclán Award.

From 1955 to 1960 he studied library science and English at the International Institute of Madrid, where he met the American Hispanist Phyllis Turnbull, with whom he had a relationship for fifteen years. There he worked as a librarian from 1958 until 1961 when he obtained the scholarship Fulbright in the United States to teach Spanish Literature at Bucknell University, and it was -he said- the first time he set foot in a university. Later, he taught classes at Mary Baldwin College and at Bryn Mawr College, until his return to Spain in 1963. Upon his return from the United States, he taught Spanish for Americans at the International Institute. In 1972 she was awarded a new scholarship from the Fundación Juan March de Literatura Infantil.

Starting in the mid-1970s, his collaborations in various children's programs on TVE, such as Un globo, dos globos, tres globos, La mansión de los Plaff and La cometa blanca earned her great popularity as a children's poet, which would come to eclipse her poetic career in a certain way. For her work on television, she was awarded the Silver Ring on several occasions. From this period on, she was the protagonist, continuously and tirelessly, in readings, recitals and tributes, and continued to publish poetry, both for children and for adults. At the height of his popularity, the comedians of Tuesday and Thirteen made him a homage-parody for the New Year's Eve Special 1986 .

She died on November 27, 1998 of lung cancer and was buried in the South Cemetery in Madrid. In her will, she left her fortune (100 million pesetas) to the orphanage known as Ciudad de los Muchachos of Father Jesús Silva. In 2001 her mortal remains were transferred to the La Paz de Alcobendas Cemetery (Madrid).

Literary work

Although she always defined herself as "self-taught" and & # 34; poetically unschooled & # 34;, critics have linked her name to the literary movement of the generation of the 50s and to Postismo.

He is united with those of the Generation of the 50s by having published at that time and the type of poetry of moral denunciation that Celaya, Blas de Otero, José Hierro, García Nieto, Ángel Crespo or Bousoño made among others, whose themes are: loneliness, pain, social injustice, love, God, death... However, the main difference between Gloria Fuertes and these poets is that, although the poems of both come from pain, heartbreak and love Neither they nor the 'postistas' knew how to reach the town the way Gloria Fuertes did. She said that before counting the syllables, poets have to tell what happens

In 1942 he met Carlos Edmundo de Ory, joining the poetic movement called Postismo and collaborating in the group's magazines, such as La Cerbatana, together with Eduardo Chicharro and Silvano Sernesi.

In his poetic work there is no clear division between autobiography and fiction. Sometimes the poet created a "Gloria" fictitious to which she attributed apparently real data, but which were not true, and in others she incorporated autobiographical information, she also narrated experiences of herself and others, some occasionally prohibited by Franco's censorship.

The Spanish Civil War left a deep mark on her. Anti-war and the protest against the absurdity of civilization are categorically present in her poetry. She herself recognized that "without the tragedy of the war she might never have written poetry."

A significant fact is that Gloria Fuertes and Gabriela Mistral are the only women included in the Norton anthology that brings together one hundred poets in the Spanish language, and that she was the only woman present in the Anthology of new Spanish poetry compiled by Batlló, whose first edition was published in 1968. Jaime Gil de Biedma also selected his verses along with fellow generations such as Gabriel Celaya, José Agustín Goytisolo or José Hierro. Francisco Nieva highlighted his "invention of images, twists and sounds full of quality and surprise".

Subsequent feminist movements have vindicated the importance of Gloria Fuertes as one of the few voices of postwar female poetry, along with Carmen Conde and Ángela Figuera.

Gloria Fuertes and gender equality

Her folksy and deliberately everyday orality distanced her from the accepted poetic pattern, especially from culturalist poets, says researcher Sharon Keefe Ugalde of the University of Texas. Several experts point out that another of the circumstances against the triumph of Gloria Fuertes was being a woman, lesbian and poor. Reyes Vila-Belda from Indiana University points out that she opened the poetic space to the concerns of those who had no voice: women, workers and poor.

She claimed the rights of women starting with the right to read, write, work or be a poet in a historical moment in which they were reduced to the domestic space. “Being a writer meant going against the current and required great commitment and looking for alternative paths behind closed doors. Numerous of her poems record gender inequality in her time and constitute a way of fighting against the limits imposed ”, says Keefe Ugalde.

She also questioned the traditional female models by presenting a new female model during the Franco regime. “Francoism promoted a patriarchal society and a conservative culture that excluded women from professional and cultural life,” Vila-Belda points out. “ Fuertes presented a new model of a woman who celebrated her marginality and, in this way, affirmed her identity. She thus became the link to recover and continue modernity ”.

This is the framework for the publication in 1978 of "Tres reinas magas: Melchora, Gaspara y Baltasara", currently considered a classic of children's literature. Faced with the impossibility of Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar going to Bethlehem, their wives take their place on the trip and have a leading role in the story in contrast to the post-war society that relegated women to the home. Mothers are magic queens too, because the fathers have gone to war and someone has to follow the star and adore the child with her gifts.

In addition to being a defender of gender equality, Fuertes was a pacifist -opposing the wars in Vietnam, Cambodia and the Spanish Civil War- and an environmental defender.

Personal life

Gloria Fuertes portrayed herself in her autobiographical poetry as a poet and castiza, in love and a chain smoker, single and lonely, religious and lesbian, pacifist and feminist.

Her first love was with a boy named Manolo, her boyfriend, “who volunteered for the war and never returned”; and whom he describes thus in the poem "Carta de la eme": "Manolo mío: mi madrileño marchoso, maduro peach malleable". suggest the poems that crossed; thus, in "Los brazos desiertos" he tells her: «I love you, even if life doesn't want it!».

But his great love was Phyllis Turnbull, an American Hispanist whom he met in 1953 at the headquarters of the International Institute in Madrid. The relationship lasted 15 years. Paloma Porpetta, president of the Gloria Fuertes Foundation, explains that the poet did not hide it: «She did not hide her lesbianism, her friends knew about it and, although in her work she talks about love in general, she sometimes mentions it, like when she says &# 34;they named me patron saint of forbidden loves'". The relationship with Phyllis ended in 1970, a year before the Hispanist's death. She lost what she would remember like this in many of her autobiographical verses:

All mine have died years ago
And I'm more alone than myself.

Gloria Strong.

Legacy and Tributes

Ceramic plate in Estepona.

Praised and studied abroad, Fuertes comes from North American Hispanicism (Andrew P. Debicki, Mandlove, Sherno, Persin, Capuccio, Browne...). In the United States there are up to 12 specialized studies on it and they have been carried out there numerous doctoral theses.

Victoria (La Cala del Moral, Valladolid) have dedicated plaques, streets and urban areas to it.

In 1996 he received his great living tribute. It was on February 18 and was attended by several young poets, including Pablo Méndez, Sergio Rodríguez, Alfonso Berrocal, Antonio Lucas, Alfonso Gota. The act was used to present the book I recommend drinking thread, number one from the publishing house Ediciones Vitruvio.

In the year 2000 the Gloria Fuertes Foundation was created by the writer Luzmaría Jiménez Faro, manager of her copyrights after her death. In 2015 Jiménez Faro passed away and these passed to the foundation. Gloria Fuertes' assets were bequeathed to a children's institution. The foundation was approved and registered in the Registry of Cultural, Educational, Research and Sports Foundations of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports on June 1, 2000.

On July 28, 2016, Google marked the 99th anniversary of Gloria's birth with a Google Doodle on its home page, depicting the writer telling stories to children. That same year, the Norwegian airline Norwegian Air Shuttle honored the poet with a portrait on the vertical stabilizer of one of its Boeing 737-800.

Commemoration of the centenary

The celebration of the centenary of his birth in 2017 served to recover his role in post-war Spanish poetry beyond his production in children's literature.

Among the commemorative publications are The book of Gloria Fuertes, with more than 300 poems and a biography by Jorge de Cascante. Blackie Books, Human Geography and Other Poems; Gloria Fuertes with a prologue by Luis Antonio de Villena published in Nórdica and Me crece la barba. Poems for adults and children. Glory Strong. from Reservoir Books.

An exhibition was held at the Fernando Fernán Gómez Cultural Center Gloria Fuertes 1917-1998 covering the life and work of the poet through photographs, poems, documents and other personal objects.

Awards

Gloria Fuertes obtained the following awards and recognitions throughout her career:

• 1947 First Prize for “Letras para canciones” by Radio Nacional de España.
• 1958 First Mention of the Spanish International Poetry Competition, with It's scary..
• 1959 Accent Prize with Unpublished Book In peace.
• 1965 Guipúzcoa Award No shooting, no poison, no knife.
• 1966 Lazarillo Award Cangura for everything.
• 1968 Diploma of Honor, Andersen International Prize for Child Literature, Cangura for everything.
• 1969 Accésit Vizcaya Prize, with How to tie moustaches to tiger.
• 1972 Best Letra Canción de la Paz Award, Valladolid.
• 1976 Aro de Plata de Radio Televisión Española.
• 1994 Cervantes Chico granted by Alcala de Henares City Council to his career.

Literary work

Childish

Poetry

• "bad dream" (1954)
• 'You see, nonsense. (1948)
• Songs for children (1949)
• Villancicos (1956)
• Pirulí (1956)
• Cangura for everything (1968). Honorary mention at the Hans Christian Andersen Prize for Child Literature
• Don Pato and Don Pito (1970)
• Aurora, Brígida and Carlos (1970)
• The bird paints (1972)
• The fairy caramelada (1973)
• Candelita (1973)
• The Chundarata cat and other stories (1974)
• The crazy oca (1977)
• The camel cojito (1978)
• The Dragon Tragon (1978)
• The mummy has a cold (1978)
• Three tigers with wheat (1979)
• That's me. (1980)
• Months (1980)
• Monto and Lío get in trouble. (1980)
• The squirrel and his gang (1981)
• Monto and Lío meet their uncle (1981)
• Monto and Lío get in the river (1981)
• Crazy book. A little bit. (1981)
• The dog that didn't know bark (1983)
• Coleta the poet (1982)
• The domador bit the lion (1982)
• Donosito the bear (1982)
• The Beast of Don Hilario (1983)
• Pio Pio Lope, the miope chick (1986)
• Trabalenguas to swallow your tongue (1988)
• The distracted cook (1994)
• Fried vegetables (1994)
• Nicolas and his brother Bruno
• The school at the bottom of the sea

Theater

• The princess who wanted to be poor (1942)
• Chin-cha-té (1955)
• Petra, a gentleman asks for you (1970)
• The Three Wise Queens (1978)

Television

• One balloon, two balloons, three balloons
• The Plaff Mansion
• The white comet
• Big Vand
• Little children attack again

Adults

Poetry

• Isle ignored (Madrid: New Musa, 1950)
• Anthology and poems of the suburb (Caracas: Spanish Lyrics, 1954)
• I recommend drinking yarn (Madrid: Arquero, 1954)
• It's scary. (Caracas: Spanish Lyric, 1958). First mention of the Spanish International Poetry Competition
• ...that you are on earth (Barcelona: collioure, 1962)
• No shooting, no poison, no knife (Barcelona: El Bardo Collection, 1965). Guipuzcoa Prize 1965.
• Poet of guard (Barcelona: El Bardo Collection, 1968)
• How to tie the tiger moustaches (Barcelona: El Bardo Collection, 1969). Accésit Vizcaya Award
• Poetry anthology (1950-1969)
• Sola in the room (Zaragoza: Javalambre, 1973)
• When you love you learn geography (Malaga: Higher Philology Course, 1973)
• Incomplete works (Madrid: Chair, 1975)
• History of Glory: (love, humor and disavouring) (Madrid: Chair, 1980)
• Woman of verse in chest (Madrid: Chair, 1995)
• We fought like angels (Madrid: Torremozas, 1997)
• Glories (Madrid: Torremozas, 1998)
• It's hard to be happy one afternoon (Madrid: Torremozas, 2005)
• They drink the light (Madrid: Torremozas, 2008)
• Right of passion (Madrid: Cuadernos del Laberinto, 2008)
• The deserted arms (Madrid: Torremozas, 2009)
• Practical Poems More Than Theoretic (Madrid: Torremozas, 2011)
• I grow my beard. Poems for older and younger. (Barcelona: Editions Reservoir Books, 2017)
• Human Geography and Other Poems (Madrid: Nordic Editions, 2017)

Story

• The Rastro (Madrid: Torremozas, 2006)

Theater

• The madhouse (2010)

Children's Literary Press

• Pelayos (1938)
• Guys (1938-)
• Wonders (1940)
• Arrows and Pelayos (1942)
• Chiquitito (1942-)
• Girls: the 17-year-old magazine (1950-)
• Journal Up

Edits about her

• Pablo Méndez. What I learned from Gloria Fuertes. Editorial Nostrum, 2000. 2a ed, 2016
• Cascante, Jorge. The book of Gloria Fuertes. Barcelona: Editorial Blackie Books, 2017
• July Santiago. My Love, Strong Glory. Madrid: Cuadernos del Laberinto, 2017
• Kings Vila-Velda. Gloria Fuertes: poetry against silence Vervuert, 2017