José María Gironella Pous, known in Catalan as Josep Maria Gironella i Pous (31 December 1917 in

Darnius Darnius is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Alt Empordà in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The first document where is related Darnius was dated in 983, and the written name was ''Darnicibus''. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the main ...

– 3 January 2003 in Arenys de Mar) was a Catalonian Spanish author best known for his

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

al work ''The Cypresses Believe in God'' (''Los cipreses creen en Dios''), which was published in Spain in 1953 and translated into English in 1955 by Harriet de Onís (1899-1969), a translator who usually specialized in Latin-American fiction.

Biography

Born on December 31, 1917, in

, Girona. From a humble family, he studied in a seminary between the ages of 10 and 12, and worked in different jobs (drugstore clerk, liquor factory worker, bank clerk, etc.). He was a member of the Federation of Young Christians of Catalonia. At the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, he fled the republican territory in France and entered the Franco zone to join Franco's army, specifically the

Terç de Requetès de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat Terç de Requetès de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat ( es, Tercio de Requetés de Nuestra Señora de Montserrat) was a battalion-type Carlist infantry unit, forming part of Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist troops during the Span ...

. In December 1936 he joined the Military Information and Police Service (SIPM) in the area of

Pallars Pallars is a historical and natural region of Catalonia. Located in the Pre-Pyrenees and Pyrenees area, most of its territory is mountainous. The Noguera Pallaresa river is named after this region. Geography The physiography of the Pallars natu ...

and the Aran Valley, and carried out smuggling operations. Upon being discovered, he was imprisoned in Figueres in 1940. In 1946 he married Magdalena Castanyer, and published his first book of poetry, ''Ha llegado el invierno y tú no estás aquí'' (The Winter has Come and You are not Here). His first mainstream success came that same year when his novel ''Un hombre'' (A Man) won the Premi Nedal, a prestigious literary prize in Spain. Gironella's principle work, his trilogy about the Spanish Civil War—''Los cipreses creen en Dios'' (''The Cypresses Believe in God''), 1953; ''Un millón de muertos'' (One Million Dead), 1961; and ''Ha estallado la paz'' (The Peace has Burst), 1966—attained remarkable success. Gironella lived in Paris and Helsinki. He died in 2003 due to a cerebral embolism, three days after his 85th birthday, at his home in Arenys de Mar, where he had retired. He was buried in Arenys de Munt cemetery.

''The Cypresses Believe in God''

The book is a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

in two parts, and is the first novel of four, written from a Roman Catholic viewpoint, by its Catholic author, who had been educated in a seminary — but who attempted to approach the many nuances and subtleties among all the factions on the eve of war in a fair, even-handed manner. The story is set in Girona, a city in eastern Catalonia, and follows the life of a family, from 1931 until the Spanish Civil War breaks out in 1936. The

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

is the son of an atheist from Madrid, who is married to a devout Basque woman, and has a younger brother and sister also caught up in the conflict. In a sequel to ''Cypresses'', ''One Million Dead'' (''Un millón de muertos''), translated by Joan MacLean, Gironella follows the Alvear family through the war. The next novel is ''Peace after War'', published in English in 1969, and was also translated by MacLean. The fourth novel, ''Los hombres lloran solos'' (Men cry alone), has not been translated into English. While Gironella hated the polarization that led to Civil War, he supported the Spanish Nationalists who rallied around

Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ...

and himself joined the Carlist unit, Requetés (short for "Tercio de Requetés de la Madre de Dios de Montserrat"). In '' The New York Times Book Review'', Gerald Brenan, an expert on Spanish literature, called the work absorbing and remarkably objective; yet many modern scholars have strongly objected to the errors, omissions and unforgivable modifications made by Gironella regarding the speech by the University of Salamanca's dean, philosopher Miguel de Unamuno, against the military rebels. In its pages, he said, "The sane and the moderate, caught helplessly in a dilemma they did not ask for, must throw in their lot with one violent party or another till mercifully the passions of the war submerge them and confirm their decision. It is this tragic unfolding of events which concerns this novel."

References

1917 births 2003 deaths People from Alt Empordà Writers from Catalonia Spanish people of the Spanish Civil War (National faction) Spanish male writers Spanish military personnel of the Spanish Civil War (National faction) Spanish Roman Catholics {{Catalonia-writer-stub