María Dolores de Gortázar Serantes (1868-1936) was a Spanish writer, journalist, education activist, feminist militant and political propagandist. In the 1910-1920s she enjoyed some popularity as a novelist; currently her literary contribution is considered of very little value. Over decades she contributed to some 40 periodicals and launched a short-lived feminine review on her own. Briefly engaged in setting up schools for the middle- and low-class girls, later she remained active advocating the presence of females in public life, especially in culture and education. Politically she sided with the Carlists, for decades contributing to their periodicals. All her activities were flavored with zealous Catholicism.
Family and youth
The Gortázar family is one of the oldest ones in Spain, its first representatives noted in the 12th century as related to Vizcaya.named Juan López de Gortázar y Mendoza, see 1000 años de Genealogía Vasca, [in:] Gortázar-Villela web service, available here Over centuries the Gortázars held various civil and religious posts in Biscay, Alava and Cantabria; the family became very branched and scattered across the North of Spain, some branches renamed to Cortázar.in some sources instead of "Dolores Gortázar Serantes" the spelling version of "Dolores Cortázar Serantes" is systematically preferred, compare Córtazar Serantes, Dolores entry, [in:] Real Academia Galega service, available here. Since all her books and almost all her signed press contributions are signed with the "Gortázar" version, it is followed also here It is not clear which branch the Dolores ascendants belonged to, apart that they were linked to Santander and Biscay.La Ilustración Nacional 30.06.01, available here Her father, Carlos Gortázar y Campillo (b.Torrelavega),Carmen Ramírez Gómez, Mujeres escritoras en la prensa andaluza del siglo XX (1900-1950), Sevilla 2000, , p. 177 was member of the urban middle-class. He joined the press corps, working as reporter and journalist; in the late 1850s and early 1860s he contributed from La Habana,he travelled to Cuba in 1857, Boletín oficial de la provincia de Santander 01.09.57, available here later settling in León,Alonso Zamora Vicente, Años difíciles: Valle-Inclán y la Fundación San Gaspar, [in:] Boletín de la Real Academia Española 75 (1995), p. 468 and he married a local girl, Juliana García Serantes y de Cadórniga (1837-1916),Heraldo Militar 06.10.16, available here, La Correspondencia de España 05.10.16, available here descendant to a Leonese family distinguished especially along her maternal line.compare Emilio Gancedo, El León con más señorío, [in:] Diario de León 09.01.11, available here
The couple settled in León; it is not clear how many children they had, though it is likely that Dolores was the only one.necrological notes of Juliana Serantes de Cadórniga mention only Dolores as her grieving child; Dolores, who used to dedicate poems to various family members, has not dedicated one to any sibling She frequented the Carmelitan college in León, where she grew upConcha Casado, Dolores Gortazar Serantes, [in:] Filandón 22.10.1995, p. 4, La Ilustración Nacional 30.06.01, available here and from childhood demonstrated a talent for letters. Her 1882 poem, dedicated to Jesus, was published in local press;El Genio Médi-o-quirurgico 15.06.82, available here, Casado 1995, p. 4 her 1884 comedy was played at the Carmelitan theatre in León; her religious polemics was also acknowledged in print.La Tradición 16.06.00, available here In 1888 she got married;Ramírez Gómez 2000, p. 177, María del Camino Ochoa Fuertes, Dolores Gortázar Serantes, [in:] Filandón 07.12.1997, p. 8 none of the sources consulted offers any information on motives for such an early decision. The groom was Fernando Valcárcel Saavedra Fajardo Ladrón de Guevara (1858–1893), descendant to a nobleValcarcel entry, [in:] ABCgenealogia service, available here , Francisco Javier Guillamón Alvarez, Nobleza titulada relacionada con el concejo de Murcia (1750-1833), [in:] Estudios románicos 6 (1987-1989), pp. 1654-1656 Levantine family; the couple settled in Mula.Boletín Oficial de la provincia de Murcia 26.06.91, available here. Dolores Gortázar has developed a strong sentiment for Valencian region and later preferred to describe herself as a Valenciana rather than a Leonesa, Mujeres españolas 22.12.29, available here, Las Provincias 12.06.27, available here Valcárcel was soon diagnosed with mental disorderZamora Vicente 1995, p. 468 and in 1892 he was placed in a psychiatric hospital,Boletín Oficial de la provincia de Murcia 14.12.92, available here where he died in 1895.El Correo Español 07.06.00, available here, El Album Ibero-Americano 14.05.00, available here, Ochoa Fuertes 1997, p. 8 Dolores’ only child, Carolina, was born either posthumously or shortly before Valcárcel's death.ABC 08.02.36, available here
Dolores returned to León; with her father already defunct,he died between 1891, see La Justicia 08.03.91, available here, and 1896, see Revista Gallega 87 (1896), available here she joined her mother in the native city; she resumed education, training to be a teacher. In 1899 she completed the curriculum in León, becoming Maestra Superior;La Tradición 16.06.00, available here; she graduated with 12 sobresalientes, La Ilustración Nacional 30.06.01, available here. The title entitled her to a salary of at best 825 ptas, El magisterio español 20.04.01, available here in 1903 she reportedly became Maestra Normal in Burgos,Ramírez Gómez 2000, p. 177 though her title was later questioned.see Gortázar’s correspondence with Menendez Pelayo, Manuel Revuelta Sañudo, Pedro Sainz Rodríguez (eds.), Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo. Epistolario, vol. 12, April 1908 – April 1910, Madrid 1989 , p. 314 She referred to herself as "doctora in filosofia y letras",Revista Hispano-Lusitana 2 (1932), available here yet it is not known whether, when and where she graduated. In 1910 Dolores remarried with a Madrid lawyer and Catholic writer Francisco Pol.El Porvenir de León 07.09.10, available here The groom either died shortly or the couple separated, as the last information on the couple comes from 1915;Pol is not mentioned in any of the family-related press pieces, usually obituaries and necrological notes, e.g. the one related to the 1916 death of Dolores’ mother, the one related to the 1936 death of Dolores’ daughter or the one related to the 1936 death of Dolores herself. The last note identified which mentioned the couple comes from 1911 and refers to a common religious enterprise, see La Correspondencia de España 23.04.11, available here Dolores’ personal life is vaguely described as "larga serie de calamidades". The last of these calamities was the premature 1936 death of Carolina; Dolores died two months after her daughter. At that point she had 5 grandchildren,Carolina Valcarcel Gortázar married Florencio Salamero Castellvi, ABC 08.02.36, available here, La Correspondencia de España 21.09.15, available here born since 1918;ABC 28.11.18, available here none of them grew to prominence. The best known, Anselmo Salamero Valcárcel, was a Catholic missionary who held various managerial teaching positions, also in Latin America.Anselmo Salamero Valcárcel (1929 – 2008) entry, [in:] Vicencianos service, available here Another one, José Salamero Valcárcel, worked for the Madrid monarchist daily ABC.La Prensa Alcarreña 26.09.82, available here
Writer
Gortázar wrote poetic pieces throughout all of her life. They are scattered across various periodicals from the 1890s to the 1930s, sometimes featured on front pages;El Día 03.11.04, available here the only majorin 1931 she wrote collection of poems, titled Collar de flores, which remained unpublished, El Imparcial 10.12.31, available here volume she published was Nimias (1898).a collection of her 25 early poems. It is available online on Biblioteca Digital Hispanica service, available here. In 1929 Gortázar published also a single lengthy poem, Novena al Santo Cristo de Lego (32 pp), El Cruzado Español 13.12.29, available here Her poetry keeps revolving around Christian virtues, advantages of family life, beauty of Spain and patriotic values; fairly conventional if not banal in terms of style, in terms of content it advances the praise of traditional orthodoxy, even if at times flavored with some melancholy. One more literary genre she followed was drama; she is known to have written two one-act comediesMargarita (1890) and En el buen retiro (1909) featuring "tipos y costumbres leonesas", played in LeónLa Tradición 16.06.00, available here, El Pueblo 10.06.09, available here. Some scholars claim they were inspired by Zorilla and Campoamor, Ochoa Fuertes 1997, p. 8 and perhaps also in Madrid.Noticiero Salmantino 06.02.00, available here
In terms of public and scholarly recognition Gortázar was first noticed as a translator; her Spanish El arte poética (1901) version of Horace's Ars poëticain the prologue she noted that it was death of her father and husband which inspired her, Casado 1995, p. 5 won awards at the León Juegos FloralesLa Tradición 16.06.00, available here, La Correspondencia de Valencia 13.03.25, available here and was acknowledged with praise by Real Academia Española.ABC 17.02.23, available here. Some sources claimed the translation was allegedly rewarded by the Royal Academy, compare Mujeres españolas 22.12.29, available here, or Ochoa Fuertes 1997, p. 8; in fact, it was only acknowledged in its bulletin She tried her hand in historiography, especially in paleography; entrusted with specific tasks by Real Academia de la Historia,La Correspondencia de Valencia 13.03.25, available here she published two studies on San Miguel de Escalada (1899)San Miguel de Escalada. Nuevos monumentos y documentos, [in:] Boletín de la Real Academia de Historia XXXIII (1889) and the Valvanera monastery (1907).El monasterio de Valvanera. Indices de su Becerro y Archivio á mediados del siglo XVII, [in:] Boletín de la Real Academía de la Historia LI (1907) Other historiographic works were a mid-size biographical study on St. Frances of Rome (1911)Dolores Gortázar, Francisca Romana Vida de Santa Francisca Romana, viuda de Ponciano, Madrid 1911 and a piece on Incarnation (1902).Dolores Gortázar, El mistero de la Encarnación del Hijo de Dios, Madrid 1902