The emotional debates of a woman in the 1930s

Teresa or the love life of a woman, published in 1932 in Llibreria Catalònia – the same year it appears Am I an honest woman? of Mercè Rodoreda, where one of the three narrators is also named Teresa–, was the only novel written by Carme Montoriol i Puig (1892–1966), a versatile author who was widely recognized in her time but who, until very recently, has been almost forgotten by the most canonical historiography. in the novel, and now Adesiara contributes another with a luminous and extensive introduction by Neus Real and cover by Francesc Vayreda. She was a complete artist ahead of her time, a successful pianist and playwright, the first translator of the Sonnets by Shakespeare in 1928, committed to the cause of the Republic and an activist in the feminist struggle of the 1930s.

Teresa, a young, cultured and sensitive woman who leads a quiet life with her husband, Lluís, receives a disturbing anonymous note from Figueres that she hesitates whether to read or not, but finally does. The note announces that her husband is having an affair with another woman whom everyone knows as Mulata (a prostitute called Lola), and that, furthermore, he has a daughter: Montoriol, as Neus Real states in the introduction, designs "two antithetical feminine models of young woman, clearly differentiated by what they are based on." The note is "a sheet of pink paper, with tight, small handwriting that I didn't know. The handwriting was a woman's." This unexpected setback, in a time still dominated by rigid social conventions, forces Teresa to make a decision and consider a new life with the help of Marcela, the third essential female character in the novel, who symbolizes the modern, independent girl.

The emotional tensions experienced by the protagonist continue, trapped by the social conventions of an era that limited women's freedoms and subjected to the rigid norms of a patriarchal society. Teresa struggles to find her place of happiness while debating between obeying certain rules and her education and the need to acquire professional and emotional independence in this patriarchal environment: "I had a strange feeling of suffocation." When Teresa makes the change, Montoriol's prose accelerates, despite the constant presence of the patriarchal system (and the figure of the husband), which prevents the protagonist from living a completely autonomous life. The epilogue emphasizes these obstacles typical of the era.

A simple, rich and colloquial Catalan

Written in a lively prose with simple, rich, and colloquial language characteristic of the time in which the book was written and which this edition has respected, the author—with many family ties to Figueres and the Alt Empordà—draws, through 19 chapters and an epilogue, the rift that often strangled bourgeois morality. Its stages: from the initial self-denial consenting to the husband's relationship with a Mulata, to falling in love with another man and renouncing motherhood of the daughter of the now-dead adulterer. Her anxiety is continually emphasized, even while walking through Barcelona: "She kept them open so much, and her ears could be heard full and buzzing."

As Domènec Guansé wrote in his diaryAdvertising, the character of Teresa is "among the best female figures that our imaginative literature has created to date." At the level of Colometa de la Rodoreda, to put it mildly. Teresa or the love life of a woman There are many elements of modernity, such as the urban setting in Barcelona, ​​Paris, Figueres, or Roses, sex, a vision of bourgeois women, and the ever-present Freudian imprint in all of this, approaches that also run through Montoriol's theatrical work. Carme Montoriol's novel addresses themes such as identity and the construction of the self. Teresa is in a process of personal discovery, where she tries to define herself beyond the traditional roles of woman and mother, which generates an emotional tension that is reflected in her way of relating to others. Her search for meaning and authenticity leads her to constantly question everything, which generates anguish or confusion, but also personal growth.

Another relevant psychological aspect is the way the novel portrays her romantic relationships, which are complex and often marked by insecurity and the search for validation. These relationships reflect her need for love and acceptance, but also her fear of vulnerability and rejection. Teresa's love life becomes a space of internal conflict, where desires and fears clash and overlap. Teresa or the love life of a womanIt is a work that offers a profound analysis of female psychology, featuring a character struggling to find her place in the world and, in particular, in the swampy territory of what we call love. She comes to the conclusion that she will only find love if she surrounds herself with creatures and shelters herself "with her innocence."