Aurora Bertrana i Salazar (October 29, 1892,

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

– September 3, 1974, Berga, Barcelona) was a Catalan

cellist The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

, notable for her exotic stories and novels. She lived in

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Bertrana's republished memoires combining ''Memòries fins al 1935'' (1973) and ''Memòries del 1935 al retorn a Catalunya'' (1975) provide a detailed account of her life.

Early years

Born in

in 1892, she was the daughter of the modernist writer, Prudenci Bertrana. After finishing school in Girona, she wanted to be a writer, but her father opposed the decision and sent her to study the cello under Tomás Sobrequés, Girona's best cello teacher, then in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

where she made a living playing the cello with a women's trio in the city's nightclubs. She continued her music studies in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

in 1923 where she earned a living playing in the Jazz Women ensemble at the Hotel Chamonix, the first jazz band made up entirely of women. Bertrana began a friendship with the exile Lluís Nicolau d'Olwer, who later encouraged her to write. During a performance, she met Denys Choffat, an electrical engineer, whom she married in 1925.

Career

In 1926, after reading ''Le Mariage de Loti'' by

Pierre Loti Pierre Loti (; pseudonym of Louis Marie-Julien Viaud ; 14 January 1850 – 10 June 1923) was a French naval officer and novelist, known for his exotic novels and short stories.This article is derived largely from the ''Encyclopædia Britannica Ele ...

, she decided to live in

. As a result of that experience, she wrote her first book, ''Paradisos Oceanics''. As a woman who wrote about mythical Polynesian women, she made a strong impression. Returning to Catalonia in 1930, Bertrana continued to write novels, lecturing and collaborating on various publications. Although her father had opposed Bertrana's writing career, they later collaborated by writing a novel together, dividing the chapters between them. ''L'illa perduda'' (The Lost Island) combined the elements of adventure and romance characteristic of the literature of the South Seas. In 1933, she stood as a candidate for

Republican Left of Catalonia The Republican Left of Catalonia (, ERC; ; generically branded as ) is a pro-Catalan independence, social democratic political party in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia, with a presence also in Valencia, the Balearic Islands and t ...

, but was defeated and left politics. In 1935, she moved alone to Morocco to study Muslim women, visiting harems, brothels and prisons, after which she wrote ''Sensual Marroc i Fanatic''. When the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

broke out in 1936, she returned to Barcelona, where she served as the editor of ''Companya'', the women's magazine of the Catalan party. Choffat went to the Francoist zone and since then, they were separated. In 1938, alone, she became an exile. In Switzerland, she was a contributor to publications in Geneva and Lausanne. She wrote in French and Catalan, and translated into

Castilian Spanish In English, Castilian Spanish can mean the variety of Peninsular Spanish spoken in northern and central Spain, the standard form of Spanish, or Spanish from Spain in general. In Spanish, the term (Castilian) can either refer to the Spanish langu ...

. Her experiences of World War II were captured in a collection of works, ''Camins de somni'' (Dream Roads), ''Tres presoners'' (Three Prisoners) and ''Entre dos silencis'' (Between Two Silences). For a time, she lived in

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while visiting her mother in

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. Here, she had a relationship with

Pablo Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), known in English as Pablo Casals,Pompeu Fabra Pompeu Fabra i Poch (; Gràcia, Barcelona, 20 February 1868 – Prada de Conflent, 25 December 1948) was a Catalan engineer and grammarian. He was the main author of the normative reform of contemporary Catalan language, and is the namesa ...

. Her novel ''Vent de grop'' (1967) was one of the first to be centred on the phenomenon of tourism. In the 1970s, the book became a film starring

Joan Manuel Serrat Joan Manuel Serrat Teresa (; born 27 December 1943) is a Spanish musician, singer, and composer. He is considered one of the most important figures of modern, popular music in both Spanish and Catalan languages. Serrat's lyrical style has b ...

titled ''La larga agonía de los peces fuera del agua''. Bertrana's recently republished memoirs combining ''Memòries fins al 1935'' (1973) and ''Memòries del 1935 al retorn a Catalunya'' (1975) provide a detailed account of her life.

Selected works

The DUGIFons Especials at the

University of Girona The University of Girona ( (); ;) is located in the city of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Its real origin dates back to its creation in 1446, but it was reestablished as a new university in 1991. As of 2021, it consists of several campus and buildings ...

contains a comprehensive online collection of published and unpublished documents relating to the life and works of Aurora Bertrana. Among her published works are: * ''Paradisos oceànics'', 1930 * ''Islas de ensueño'', 1933 * ''Peikea, princesa caníbal i altres contes oceànics'', 1934 * ''L'illa perduda'' (together with Prudenci Bertrana), 1935 (also ''La isla perdida'', 1954) * ''El Marroc sensual i fanàtic'', 1936 * ''Edelweiss'', 1937 * ''Fenua Tahiti'', 1943 * ''Camins de somni'', 1955 * ''Tres presoners'', 1957 * ''Entre dos silencis'', 1958 * ''La nimfa d'argila'', 1960 * ''Ovidi i sis narracions més'', 1965 * ''Fracàs''. 1966 * ''Vent de grop'', 1967 * ''La ciutat dels joves: reportatge fantasia'', 1971 * ''Memòries fins al 1935'', 1973 * ''Memòries del 1935 fins al retorn a Catalunya'', 1975

References

Literature

* * Gómez, Maribel; Bertrana, Aurora: ''Encís pel desconegut'', Barcelona: Pòrtic, 2003. . (Catalan language)

External links

*
Aurora Bertrana
at Diccionari Biogràfìc de Dones {{DEFAULTSORT:Bertrana, Aurora 1892 births 1974 deaths People from Girona 20th-century travel writers Spanish travel writers Women travel writers Novelists from Catalonia Spanish cellists Spanish women novelists Spanish expatriates in France 20th-century Spanish novelists 20th-century Spanish women writers 20th-century Spanish musicians Women cellists 20th-century Spanish women musicians 20th-century cellists Catalan Anti-Francoists Catalan-language writers Women writers from Catalonia