Issue date: 15 Sep, 2017
ANNIVERSARIES. CENTENARY OF THE BIRTH OF CELA
In 2016, Camilo José Cela would have been 100 years old. Correos is issuing a new stamp to mark the occasion, dedicated to the writer who contributed so much to world literature.
He was born on 11 May 1916 in Iria Flavia, La Coruña province, the first child of the Cela-Trulock family, and was named Camilo José Manuel Juan Ramón Francisco de Jerónimo.
He moved to Madrid with his family, and while confined to a sanatorium to treat tuberculosis, he spent his time reading the complete works of Ortega y Gasset and the Rivadeneyra collection of Spanish classics.
He began studying medicine, and although the world might have lost a great doctor, it gained a brilliant writer. In the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts he met other writers, such as Pedro Salinas, Alonso Zamora Vicente, Miguel Hernández, María Zambrano and Max Aub.
His body of work includes Trampling on the Doubtful Light of Day, The Family of Pascual Duarte, Journey to the Alcarria and the unforgettable novel The Hive, which was first published in Argentina due to censorship in Spain.
But according to his son, Camilo José Cela was not just a writer: he was also a bullfighter, actor, artist, book collector, publisher and even an honorary postman.
He was given this last honorary title by Correos in 1982, joining an exclusive “club” with five other members: Mariano Pardo de Figueroa, better-known as Doctor Thebussem; Rafael Álvarez Sereix; Ramón Carande; Antonio Mingote; and Queen Sofia.
Camilo José Cela earned great recognition and achievements, winning the most important awards in the literary field. In 1987 he received the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts. Two years later, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, then the Planeta Prize in 1994, and the Cervantes Prize a year after that.
The new stamp depicts an engraving of the writer’s face. It includes his signature and some of the hand-written notes he used to make for his novels.
Rate A - €0.75. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, up to 20 g.
Rate A2 - €0.85. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, between 20 g and 50 g.
Rate B - €1.65. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to Europe (including Greenland), up to 20 g.
Rate C - €1.75. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the rest of the world (except USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand), up to 20 g.
Rate D - €2.10. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, up to 20 g.