A Woman Unknown

by Lucia Graves

This beautifully nuanced memoir is a profound meditation on the three cultures-Spanish, English, and Catalan-that have shaped Lucia Graves's life and thought. It is also a complex portrait of Spain under Franco. The author explores the patterns of love, sacrifice, and forbearance that mark not only her own life but those of many other Spanish women she has known.

Genres: Spain, Memoir, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Lucia Graves was born in England in 1943, but was taken to Mallorca by her parents in 1946, after the end of WWII. She studied in Switzerland, England and Spain, and graduated in Modern Languages from St. Anne’s College, Oxford. In 1967 she married a Catalan musician and settled in Spain, living mainly in Barcelona. They had three daughters. Lucia currently lives in London with her second husband.

She has had a successful career as a literary translator, translating much of the work of her father, the writer Robert Graves, as well as the works of other authors, such as Anais Nin and Katherine Mansfield. In addition to her talks, articles, and reviews, she has written many pop-music lyrics. In 1995 she edited The Complete Short Stories of Robert Graves.

Her first book, A Woman Unknown: Voices from a Spanish life, was published in 1999, in the UK. It has been translated into Spanish, Catalan, Dutch and French and ha also appeared in the USA. The Memory House, her first novel, was published in Spain a La Casa de la Memoria (1999).

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whilst reading about the First World War last year, Robert Graves inevitably crossed my path. I discovered that one of his daughters, Lucia, was also a writer and a translator. So, knowing very little about her, I ordered this on a whim and I am very glad I did.
This is an autobiographical work, but told in an interesting way. The first two thirds of the chapters pick out a particular woman in Lucia’s early life and focuses on her and does so very effectively. Graves was brought up on the island of Majorca, where her father and mother moved in 1946, after the war. Lucia consequently learnt English, Spanish and Catalan, which she has used to great effect in later life as a translator. Graves also writes about her own mother, who was Robert Graves’s second wife and 19 years his junior; she devoted herself to him and her family so he could write. Lucia describes her as “standing back to make room for others”.
Graves grew up during the Franco regime and at a time when the Catholic Church was powerful and influential. She recalls the nuns who taught her and the pressure put on her to become a Catholic (her parents were firmly agnostic and she was the only non-Catholic in the school); particularly the fact that she had not been baptised which meant that if she died she would burn in eternal fire. She was reminded of this regularly. One priest even went as far as to say that she ought to be baptised without telling her parents.
We meet a series of colourful and inspiring women, the local midwife (Blanca, a remarkable woman who married in a civil ceremony during the Republic, which meant that under Franco her marriage was not recognised), a prima ballerina, numerous villagers and Graves also tells a few historical tales about Catalan history and culture. The shadow of Franco looms large though and negative effects the regime had on the role of women;
"Over the years I saw them fight to become the individuals they'd have been had they not been submitted to that prudish upbringing, long repression and clipping of their wings. Unlike their mothers, who had a memory of the Republican days when women were encouraged to fight for equality, Spanish women of my generation had no memory of freedom."
Graves outlines the struggles and makes them real with the vignettes of the women she knew.
Graves also says some interesting things about her father. These are asides and tend to relate to how she experienced him; as a child and later as an adult when she translated his works into Spanish. Robert Graves had spent much time studying classical mythology. He had concluded that in preclassical times in Europe there was a matriarchal system in place. This, he believed was replaced by the Greek patriarchal system, which was still in place and was the cause of most of our problems. Male logical and scientific thinking had taken over from a female instinctive system, changing the world from the way it was meant to be. Interesting theory which I wouldn’t have expected from Robert Graves. Lucia Graves says her father’s theories helped her to move towards the feminist movement of the 1960s.
Graves writes in a lucid and poetic style drawing together the links between memory and emotion. She has the ability to view Spain in a particular way; both as an insider and outsider. Beautifully written and moving and a fascinating insight into the lives of women in Franco’s Spain.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written memoir/autobiography by Lucia Graves, the daughter of the famous poet and novelist, and a talented writer in her own right. She gives a fascinating account of her life, from her British heritage, to her Spanish schooling during the time of Franco, to her life in Catalonia as the wife of a Catalan - and all the bits in between. What I found especially interesting were the complexities involved in trying to come to terms with her identity and sense of belonging in such a multicultural life.

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I derived deep enjoyment from reading this book. Lucia Graves, daughter of the poet and novelist Robert Graves, grew up in Mallorca, went to university in Oxford, and then married a Catalan and brought up her family in a village just outside Barcelona. This position gives her a unique and piercing insight into Catalan culture and society during and after the Franco years -- both an inside view, from her Mallorcan childhood and education in a Catholic school, like any other young Spanish girl, and simultaneously an outsider's view -- like Persephone, she lives in two worlds. I was already an adult when I moved to France, but much of what she says about the fine line inside her head between her different languages and cultures resonated with me. She's both observant and astute, painting a vivid picture of changing Catalan society.

It's not a conventional autobiography -- rather than a sequence of events, it's a series of meditations on events in her life, and the lives of the women around her, from the village midwife to an exiled Latvian prima ballerina, reduced to running a ballet school in Palma. She skilfully reveals their hidden strengths and their ways of coping with oppressive Spanish mores during the dictatorship. There's a lot of sadness and stifled potential in these women's stories. The book is also about translation -- hardly surprising that this became her career, and she writes well both on the challenges of finding the right nuances when translating between languages, and on the difficulties she herself faced reconciling her English upbringing with the restrictions of life in Spain. Belonging or not belonging is a strong theme: feeling at home, yet being seen as a foreigner. If you have ever felt like this, you will enjoy this book.

[André · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucia Graves, de dochter van de bekende Britse schrijver (I Claudius) en dichter Robert Graves (1895-1985) bracht haar jeugd door op Mallorca. Haar ouders waren agnostici maar toch volgde zij les op een katholieke school omdat er geen ander onderwijs bestond. Spanje zuchtte toen volop onder de dictatuur van Franco waar alleen plaats voor katholieken was en niet voor andersdenkenden.. De scheiding van kerk en staat die in voege was ten tijde van de Republiek werd opgeheven en daardoor werden alle burgelijke huwelijken en echtscheidingen ongeldig verklaard.
In deze moeilijke omstandigheden groeide Lucia Graves op. Mocht haar vrijzinnige background al een obstakel zijn, het zwalpen tussen twee culturen en de drietaligheid waarin ze werd opgevoed maakten haar jong meisjesleven soms tot een hel. Ze had de Britse nationaliteit, sprak vloeiend Engels, Spaans en Catalaans maar was meer vertrouwd met Spanje waar ze woonde en was opgegroeid.
Na haar studies aan Oxford waar ze voor vertaalster studeerde en ook nog Spaanse en Catalaanse literatuur meepikte wou Lucia met Ramon een Catalaan trouwen. Dit werd een netelige kwestie. In Spanje was alleen het huwelijk voor de Rooms-katholieke kerk geldig. En dat huwelijk werd enkel voltrokken als je gedoopt bent.Lucia weigerde zich echter te laten dopen. Na heel wat discussie kon het huwelijk toch plaatsvinden.
Lucia wordt echtgenote van een Catalaanse man, krijgt kinderen en doet het huishouden. Aanvankelijk helpt ze haar man met zijn werk maar dat wordt alsmaar moeilijker omdat Ramon veel uithuizig is. Ze is dan ook dolgelukkig als ze Angelsaksische literatuur in het Spaans en Catalaans kan gaan vertalen.
Na in december 1985de laatste hand gelegd te hebben aan de Spaanse vertaling van haar vaders boek Wife to Mr. Milton (1943) krijgt ze zijn overlijdensbericht te horen.
De dood van haar vader brengt heel wat veranderingen in haar teweeg. Zij voelt zich ook en meer loskomen van dat Spanje dat nooit haar eigen land heeft kunnen vervangen. Op haar huwelijk is na vijfentwintig jaar de sleet gekomen.Zonder dat er iemand schuldig aan is zijn Ramon en zij uit mekaar gegroeid. Ze verlaat Ramon en Spanje om een nieuw leven te beginnen.
Een niet bij name bekende vrouw is het verhaal van een leven, een dubbele identiteit, een dictatuur maar vooral is het een fenomenaal mooi uitgewerkte hommage aan al dan niet bij name bekende vrouwen.

[Claire Abs]

to-read

[Jackie Stafford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable way to learn about the Spanish, Catalan and Mallorcan traditions and history. Well written.

[Hanne Neyt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read about the life of Lucia Graves, growing up in Mallorca, having English parents and afterwards being married to a Catalonian man. Good insight about the linguistic and cultural differences between Castilian, Catalonian and English.

[Trinidad Ortega · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm grateful for learning so much about my own country through someone else's eyes... Someone that is not either foreign or local, that is kind of in-between.... A respectful and critical memoir.

[Julie Thomason · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fascinating and worthwhile. I lived for over twenty years in Spain from post transition to fully fledged EU member. I was able to resonate with her experiences within a Spanish family, ruled by rigid rules in contrast to the modernity on the outside. This book was a breath of fresh air and in fact liberating for me. Beautifully written and a compelling read. I can still remember her comments on the Spanish custom of buying books by the meter. A set of books, with matching covers, to fit in the ubiquitous all in one china cabinet / side drawer found in many Spanish flats. Often cleaned more than read.

[Ilse Wouters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Autobiografisch boek van de hand van Lucía Graves, dochter van... . Van het opgroeien in het Mallorca van de jaren ´50 tot het leven tijdens de dictatuur van Franco over de transitiejaren naar het moderne Catalonië / Spanje...interessant en de nostalgie druipt van het boek af, maar om de een of andere reden kan de "loop" van het boek me niet echt boeien. Het lijken me eerder hoofdstukken met elk een eigen thema dan een "globaal" verhaal. Ik denk verder dat het feit dat ik dit boek in het Nederlands gelezen heb ook niet bijdraagt aan een vlotte lezing : de vertaling is stijf en rigide (tenzij het oorspronkelijk boek dat ook is, natuurlijk, en dan treft de vertaling geen blaam).

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucia Graves is Robert Graves' (the Claudius novels and poetry, etc.) daughter. I like the way she goes about this memoir, telling stories of everyday people she met living in Spain, where she spent most of her life. Lots I, of course, never knew about Franco and life after his revolution and, through the memories of others, life in the 30s and during the Second World War. Some very nice snapshots.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I managed to avoid Spanish history as a Spanish major in favor of Latin American literature. This book served as a great introduction to Spanish geography and history w/ a special focus on Franco-era Spain as presented through the eyes of Lucia Graves, daughter of the poet Robert Graves.

[Becky Mears · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re read this book about the life of Lucia Graves, daughter of Robert Graves. She grew up in mallorca and lived and brought up children in Barcelona. It's a great insight into Catalonia and the feeling behind Catalan independence.

[Tim Stafford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well written memoir of Spain and Catalonia. Graves comes off as somebody hard to like--she's pretty often miserable and terribly introspective. But her description of Spain, the impact of the Civil War and the Franco dictatorship, and the mindset of Catalonia are all quite vivid and personal.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunning prose - this is a really delicious read. Lucia Graves' mastery of language left me drooling over her descriptions and I just felt 'better' after reading this gorgeous book.

[Mariana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book by the daughter of Robert Graves. She had many of the same struggles that I had as a multicultural woman.