Words in Space: The Exile Diary of Zenobia Camprubí

Abstract

Married to Spanish poet Juan Ramón Jiménez, Zenobia Camprubí Aymar’s life was the life of an intellectual in perpetual transit. Since early childhood, her life was marked by travel, mobility and nomadism, particularly after she and her husband had to exile themselves upon the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. From 1936 to 1956, their exile took them to three different geographical locations—Cuba, the United States and Puerto Rico. Whereas Jiménez suffered constantly from depression and neurasthenia, Camprubí was a pragmatic, energetic woman who found herself at home in both the Old and New World, used as she was to crossing geographical, cultural and linguistic boundaries. For 20 years (2 March 1937–13 September 1956), Camprubí kept a diary, writing it in English (while in Cuba) and in Spanish (during her stay in the United States). Her three-volume diary remains a precious exile document and a vivid depiction of the life of a woman who was sensitive to space and to the vibrant materiality of the world. This chapter explores the impact of the more-than-human world on Camprubí’s life, psyche and self-fashioning as articulated in her exile diaries while focusing on her intellectual alertness and sensitivity to natural and cultural objects, organic and inorganic bodies.