Francesca Torrent Boschdemont (

Agullana Agullana () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Alt Empordà, Girona, Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia o ...

Alt Empordà Alt Empordà (; ; "Upper Empordà") is a Comarques of Catalonia, comarca (county) located in the Comarques Gironines, Girona region, in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of two comarques into which Empordà was divided by the comarca division of Catalo ...

, April 18, 1881 –

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 ...

, April 15, 1958) was a Spanish writer in the

Catalan language Catalan () is a Western Romance languages, Western Romance language and is the official language of Andorra, and the official language of three autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Balearic I ...

. She sometimes used the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

Miosotis.

Early life and education

Francesca Torrent Boschdemont was born at the Can Genís farmhouse in Agullana, into a family of rural landowners. After an early education that included religious and moral training, she moved to

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 ...

to study teaching, although she never worked as a teacher.

Career

From a very young age, influenced by her paternal grandfather, the poet Joaquim Torrent, she began publishing poetry and prose on rural and traditional themes in publications such as ''El Correo de Gerona'', ''Lo Geronés'', ''Gente Nueva'', ''El Deber'', and ''El Tradicionalista''. Coinciding with the appearance of the first Catalan-language magazines for women, Torrent began contributing to ''Oro y Grana'' and '' Feminal''. In 1907, she married Jeroni Figa Sala, with whom she had 10 children. The couple, who moved to

Banyoles Banyoles () is a city of 20,168 inhabitants (2021) located in the province of Girona in northeastern Catalonia, Spain. The town is the capital of the Catalan ''comarca'' " Pla de l'Estany". Although an established industrial centre many of th ...

and later to Girona, suffered financial difficulties as the family grew. During the 1920s and 1930s, she wrote tenaciously, her poetry centered on family events. She also published regularly in newspapers and magazines such as ''Avant'', ''Joventut Obrera'', ''El Eco de Gerona'', and ''El Nord de Girona'', among others. She also contributed to ''El Semanario de Banyoles'', ''Marinada'', ''Vida Banyolina'', and ''Tiempos Críticos''. Torrent's prose and poetry, mostly rural, traditional, and religious, remained outside the cultural currents of the 20th century, as her main inspiration came from the

Renaixença The ''Renaixença'' (; also written ''Renaixensa'' before spelling standardisation), or Catalan Renaissance, was a romantic revivalist movement in Catalan language and culture through the mid 19th century, akin to the Galician '' Rexurdimento ...

and popular poetry. His social position and conservative ideology conflicted with the ideals of the Second Republic, affecting her literary output, which, over the years, took on an increasingly religious tone. During 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 ...

, two of her sons, enlisted in the Terç de Requetès de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat, and died on the front lines. This, followed by the ban on publications in

, led to her not publishing her work again until 1953, when she agreed to write the opening speech for the Agullana Festival, which included four verses written in Catalan.

Death and legacy

Francesca Torrent died in Barcelona on April 15, 1958. A voluminous prose work and several collections of her poetry remain unpublished and are housed in the Figueras Regional Historical Archive. Narcís-Jordi Aragó dedicated the article "Francisca Torrent, Rural Costumisme i Poesia Popular" to Torrent, as well as an anthology of women's poetry, ''Las cinco ramas'' (The Five Branches) (1975), which includes Torrent's biography and a poem. In 2011, her name was included in the 1st Congress of Women in the Literary Field: The State of the Art.

Awards and honours

She won several awards throughout her career. Her 1910 novel ''Almas pariones'' won an award at the Banyoles Floral Games. In 1955, she won a prize from the Girona Provincial Council in the Marian Contest in

Figueres Figueres (; ) is the capital city of Alt Empordà county, in the Girona region, Catalonia, Spain. The town is the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí, and houses the Dalí Theatre and Museum, a large museum designed by Dalí himself which att ...

for her work, ''Sonets marians''.

Selected works

* 1910 - ''Almas pariones: assaig de novela'' * 1955 - ''La Mare de Déu de la Salut d'Empordà.''

References

External links

Una escritora y poetisa ampurdanesa, 1908
(An Empordà writer and poetess, 1908) (in Catalán) {{DEFAULTSORT:Torrent, Francesca 1881 births 1958 deaths 19th-century Spanish writers 19th-century Spanish women writers Catalan-language writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers Women religious writers