La obra literaria de María Cegarra en su entorno vital

Abstract

El objetivo fundamental de esta investigación ha consistido en dar a la luz un corpus textual poético importante de la obra de María Cegarra, hasta el momento inédito. He querido dar a conocer un poco más la obra de la escritora unionense, especialmente en lo que respecta a este corpus no publicado. Lo hemos llevado a cabo respetando la idea de su familia de poderlo editar en un futuro completo, sobre todo en que se refiere a la prosa lírico-narrativa, materializada en algunos cuentos y estampas eminentemente líricas. El trabajo ha consistido en una larga labor de búsqueda, a través de familiares, amigos y personas cercanas a la autora que han tenido la gentileza de facilitarme los textos, incluso permitirme el acceso al despacho de la autora, para que personalmente los examinara. He accedido pues directamente a sus escritos –casi siempre a mano, en ocasiones en papeles sueltos y casi ilegibles– que posteriormente he tenido que transcribir, con gran dificultad utilizando lupa y otros instrumentos accesorios (presentados un número de ellos en apéndice). El soporte mismo de los textos era en ocasiones de lo más variopinto, cuartillas descoloridas, incluso en servilletas de papel, en reversos de hojas ya utilizadas para otros menesteres; y casi siempre en avanzado estado de deterioro. Creo modestamente que tal vez mi intervención al localizarlos y guardarlos ha hecho posible que no se hayan perdido para la posteridad. He sido en numerosas ocasiones la primera estudiosa que ha accedido a poemas suyos, con la dificultad que ello conlleva. He tenido que resolver cuestiones sobre la datación de textos no fechados, elección del texto matriz -ante numerosas versiones y gran cantidad de variantes textuales- etc.

En cuanto a las Cartas de Carmen Conde a María Cegarra, son todas inéditas, así como la mayor parte de los textos contenidos en el Capítulo de Miscelánea. Es la primera vez que se presenta un intento de clasificación de estos géneros hijos de las greguerías. Asimismo presentamos en el apéndice una gran cantidad de textos manuscritos, de la propia autora, como hemos señalado anteriormente, muchos sin editar.

He pretendido un acercamiento directo a la obra, desde la estética y sentimiento de la autora, por ello se ha prescindido de los posibles estudios de teoría y crítica literaria que serían objeto de otro trabajo. El estudio se ha realizado atendiendo fundamentalmente a su evolución, ya que está inextricablemente unida su obra a sus experiencias personales, al entorno más cercano y cotidiano, a su preparación profesional, así como a sus preocupaciones, afectos y emociones de alegría y dolor.

Pienso que he aportado nuevas consideraciones sobre su obra, que con los textos he podido confirmar, como, entre otros, su relación con el poeta oriolano Miguel Hernández, dando por probado que María Cegarra estuvo siempre enamorada de él, aunque fuera de forma platónica si se quiere. Muestro cómo la autora no es explícita sobre esta relación durante su etapa de juventud y mientras vivió Miguel Hernández. Pero su actitud cambio en su etapa de senectud, ya desinhibida por la edad y también por la larga ausencia y lejanía de la figura del poeta –Poema por ejemplo “Presencia de Miguel” (1979)-; y que no siempre ha sido clarificado por los estudiosos sobre el tema.

Finalmente, creo cumplido mi objetivo primordial –perseguido durante más de veinte años de dedicación: el de dar a conocer los textos inéditos de María Cegarra. Y, sobre todo, hacerlo tras el contacto con ella, a la que tuve el privilegio de conocer, charlar y comunicarle este proyecto de hacer una tesis doctoral sobre su vida y su obra, que hoy por fin veo cumplido. Así como el de darla a conocer un poco más e interpretarla desde la expresividad sencilla y directa, en la que la misma autora se adscribía. Ella reivindicaba, como he apuntado en este trabajo, su libertad ante sílabas y métricas. Sería su manera directa de sentir y expresarse la que imperaría en su obra. Mi objetivo ha sido editar lo que todavía no ha visto la luz y adentrarme, con los mismos recursos de sencillez y expresividad directa en sus textos. The main goal of this research is to bring to light an important poetic textual corpus of María Cegarra’s work, unpublished until now. My intention is to make a little better known the work of this writer from La Unión, especially what relates to that unpublished corpus. This was carried out respecting her family’s idea of its complete edition in the future, most of all the edition of everything concerning lyrical-prose fiction, materialized in some noticeably lyrical “stories” and “pictures.”

The present work consisted of a long search process, through family members, friends and people close to the studied author, who were kind enough to provide me with the texts or even to give me access to the author’s office so that I could personally examine those documents. Thus, I was able to directly access those writings—mostly written by hand, occasionally on nearly illegible pieces of paper—which I had to transcribe afterwards, with great difficulty and by using a magnifying glass and other instruments (a number of which are shown in the appendix). The texts were occasionally found written in a really wide range of formats: on faded sheets of paper, even paper serviettes, on the back of sheets that had been used for other purposes… and most of which were in an advanced state of deterioration. In my humble opinion, my involvement by locating and keeping them may have possibly saved them from being lost to posterity. In many cases, I have been the first scholar to access her poems, with the subsequent difficulty it entailed. I had to solve issues concerning the dating of undated texts, how to choose the original definitive text—between different versions and a large number of text variations—, etc.

Regarding Carmen Conde’s letters to María Cegarra, they are all unpublished, just like most of the texts included in the chapter on Miscellaneous. It is the first time that an attempt to classify those genres, sons of the so-called greguerías, has been presented. As well as that, the appendix shows a great amount of handwritten texts, by the author herself, many of which are unedited, as previously remarked.

I intended a direct approach to the mentioned work from the author’s aesthetics and feeling. Therefore, I ignored literary criticism and theory which would possibly be

the object of study for another project. This study was carried out by focusing mainly on the evolution of the author’s work, as it was inextricably linked to her personal experiences, her routine and closer surroundings, her professional training, as well as to her concerns, affections and emotions of joy and sorrow.

I believe I contributed new considerations of María’s work that were confirmed through the texts. Among others, an example can be her relationship with Orihuela’s poet Miguel Hernández, since it was proven that María Cegarra was always in love with him, even though it was in a platonic way, if you will. I showed how the author was not explicit about this relationship throughout her youth and while Miguel Hernández was alive. By contrast, her attitude changed in her old age, when she was already relaxed and untroubled by age and also by the male poet’s long absence and distance—poem “Presencia de Miguel” (1979) is a clear example; all that was not always clarified by those scholars who studied that topic.

Lastly, I think my essential goal—pursued for over twenty years of devotion— has been achieved: make María Cegarra’s unknown texts public and, above all, do it after my contact with her, whom I was honoured to meet, talk to and inform of this project involving a doctoral dissertation about her life and works—a project I have seen accomplished, at last, today; another part of that goal was to make her better known and to interpret her from simple and direct expressiveness, features that she assumed herself. She claimed, as I pointed out in this work, her freedom with respect to syllables and meter. It was her straight way to feel and express herself that would prevail in her work. My objective was to edit what has not come to light yet and go in depth into her texts by using the same direct expressiveness and simplicity as resources