Rodoreda, Mercè, 1908-1983

Mercè Rodoreda i Gurguí (Catalan pronunciation: [məɾˈsɛ ruðuˈɾɛðə]; 10 October 1908 – 13 April 1983) was a Catalan novelist, who wrote in the Catalan language. She is considered the most influential contemporary Catalan language writer, as evidenced by other authors' references to her work and her international reputation, with translations into more than thirty languages. She also has been called the most important Catalan female novelist of the postwar period. Her novel La plaça del diamant ('The diamond square', translated as The Time of the Doves, 1962) has become the most popular Catalan novel to date and has been translated into over 30 languages. Some critics consider it to be one of the best novels published in Spain after the Spanish Civil War. After her death, another of her artistic talents was discovered, painting, which had remained in the background due to Rodoreda prioritizing writing: I write because I like to write. If it didn't seem like an exaggeration, I would say that I write to please myself. If others like what I write, the better. Perhaps it is deeper. Perhaps I write to affirm myself. To feel that I am ... And it's over. I have spoken of myself and essential things in my life, with a certain lack of measure. And excess has always scared me.