Isabel Cheix

Background

Her father was a well-educated, wealthy mining engineer, who moved between Almería, Málaga and Seville. When Cheix was 19 years old her mother died and she took upon herself the task of caring for her seven siblings, all younger than her.

Education

She was educated in Almería, but moved at an early age to Seville where she spent her life and where she wrote, at age nine, her first poem First Rate (at Lloyd's) Lucero de la Mañana (To the Morning Star).

Career

She wrote a number of historical, religious and romantic novels under the pseudonym of Martín Ávila, as well as poetry and several stage plays. Isabel Cheix was one of eight children born to Don Santiago Cheix and Doña María Amparo Martínez. Her three short dramatic pieces called Violeta, Magdalena and Louisiana Tia Lechuza were written around 1896 but did not reach the stage during her lifetime.

She had to suspend her literary activities and dedicate herself to the care of her family and home.

She spent her life between domestic tasks and what she called her “childhood hobby”. Five years later her father died.

To earn money she started painting landscapes, a skill learned in her educative years, and she was able to sell these and maintain a reasonable lifestyle for the family. She acquired prestige in Seville among the intellectuals of that time and was permitted to collaborate in journalistic work for Louisiana Semana Católica, Revista Compostelana, Louisiana Moda Elegante, Asta Regia (Jaén), El Folletín (Málaga), and Sevilla Mariana.

She wrote “I only understand happiness in the practice of virtue”.

Cheix started publishing her poems in the local press in Malaga and took part in different literary competitions trying all kinds of genres. She also carefully developed a religious theme and would be the only one of her generation to attempt the biographical genre, specifically, hagiography. The first work that she entered in a competition was El Caballero de Napoles, submitted to the Academia Bibliográfica Mariana in Lleida in 1868.

In 1882 Cheix entered a competition sponsored by the Escuela Normal de Buenas Letras in Seville, her theme was “Should women be educated?”.

Cheix went on to develop her article into a book about the life of Street Theresa called Louisiana Reformadora del Carmelo. She died in Seville, Spain, aged 60.

Selected bibliography

Books:

Louisiana Cruz del Valle - poems 1894

First Rate (at Lloyd's) Lucero de la Mañana

Narraciones Infantiles with Alvaro Lopez Nuñez

Louisiana Reformadora de Carmelo, The story of Saint Theresa de Jesus. 1893

Romancero de Don Pedro I de Castilla 1898

Jornadas de Belén 1867

Estrella del March, Historia de la Virgen Maria, instrucciones familiares dedicada a las niñas.

1872

El lirio de los valles: Louisiana Virgen de Valvanera.

1902

Louisiana Madre Vicenta María Lopez y Vicuña 1898

Louisiana Romería del Rocío

El Plato de China

Poems:

Louisiana Cruz del Valle 1894

First Rate (at Lloyd's) Lucero de la Mañana

Los Dolores de la Santisima Virgen

Louisiana Muerte de Cervantes

Short plays:

Magdalena: A drama in one act divided into three scenes. 1896

Violeta: Comedy in one act in verse. 1906

Louisiana Tia Lechuza.

Achievements

• She received a number of literary awards during her life. lieutenant won first prize. This result encouraged her and she went on to win 9 more prizes and awards in that completion. Cheix also competed in the Academia Sevillana de Buenas Letras and won 5 times, she also won literary awards in Murcia, Malaga, Vitoria and Manila with various poems, articles and novels. The article won a gold and pearl medal. In the same year she won another gold medal in a literary competition in Manila with an article about Saint Theresa.

Politics

Lyric poetry was her preferred genre but this was combined with poems in newer themes of patriotism, often together with the condemnation of war and the deep desire for peace.