Edited on the occasion of the seminar Camilo José Cela. La palabra y la imagen, held at CGAC on 4 and 5 June 2021, this volume brings together a collection of essays that explore the work of the Nobel Prize–winning author through the relationship between his narrative production—short stories, notas carpetovetónicas (texts rooted in a distinctly traditional vision of Spain), travel books, pseudo-emblematic tales, photo-narratives, kaleidoscopic texts, and even novels—and the visual arts. The contributions examine his dialogue with painters (Picasso, Esplandiú, Zabaleta, and Lloveras), illustrators (Lorenzo Goñi), and photographers (Wlasak, Fontserè, and Palazuelo).
If there is one defining feature of Cela’s work, it is his constant desire to engage in conversation with images—at times in a spirit of affinity, at others through irony or parody—always seeking to subvert them through the written word.