Altaba (Rebeles), Dolors 1934-
(Dolors Altaba-Artal)

PERSONAL: Born April 22, 1934, in Barcelona, Spain; daughter of Ricardo and Josefina (an accountant; maiden name, Artal) Altaba; married second husband, Charles G. Rebeles, 1981; children: Marté, Cristian, Ariel. Ethnicity: "White." Education: University of California San Diego, B.A. (English and American literature), 1983, M.A., 1985; University of Barcelona, B.A. (Catalan philology), 1986; State University of New York Stony Brook, Ph.D., 1992. Religion: "Roman Catholic." Hobbies and other interests: Art (painter, with fifteen solo exhibitions and various group shows), classical music, swimming, gymnastics.

ADDRESSES: Home—2085 Mesquite Ave., Apt. 44, Lake Havasu City, AZ 86403; (summers) Pl. Joaquim Pena 1, pl. 2 pt. 2, 08017 Barcelona, Spain. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Altaba Jewelry, Mexico City, Mexico, sales representative, 1968-70; Altaba Jewelry, Lloret de Mar, Spain, business director, summers, 1970-85; Suffolk County Community College, Selden, NY, teacher of English and Spanish, 1985-90; writer, 1990-. Also teacher at an adult school in Santee, CA, 1981-85, and at University of California San Diego, 1983-85, and State University of New York Stony Brook, 1986-90.

WRITINGS:

More than Friends (three-act play), 1997.

(Under name Dolors Altaba-Artal) Aphra Behn's English Feminism: Wit and Satire, Susquehanna University Press (Cranbury, NJ), 1999.

Steps Ahead (two-act play), 1999.

Idle Fears (play), 2003.

Author of a novel, Bound to Freedom; author of children's stories. Contributor to books, including Embryonic Landscapes, edited by Ariel Ruiz-Altaba, ACTAR (Barcelona, Spain), 2001. Contributor to scholarly journals, including Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Theatre Research.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Waning Pride, a novel of colonial and occupied New York City in the 1700s.

SIDELIGHTS: Dolors Altaba told CA: "Two reasons motivate me to express myself in writing: the awareness of having things to say and the engaging challenge that writing entails. The novels of Jane Austen and Virginia Woolf and the comedies of Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw have influenced me deeply, but I enjoy reading many contemporary authors, from John Updike to Jane Feather.

"Although I wrote stories as a child and short plays in high school, I went through a long process to find that writing was my career. While fully dedicated to painting, I enrolled in literature courses. At first, literature became the source for new painting themes, but gradually my interest turned to writing. Literary essays led to a master of arts thesis and culminated with a doctoral dissertation. Then, papers for Restoration and eighteenth-century seminars gave way to my nonfiction book Aphra Behn's English Feminism: Wit and Satire.

"From scholarly writing I ventured into play writing. Steps Ahead, which has had one reading, is an imaginary rendering of Aphra Behn's later years and her relationship with the Spanish writer Maria de Zayas.

"Interested in colonial America, I moved into fiction. Today's perspective upon past events encourages me to picture past everyday life. Bound to Freedom is an historical novel set in New York from 1776 to 1781. Through a woman's point of view, it explains the endurance of an entrepreneur-patriot's family and includes the political effervescence and events that led to the American Revolution.

"I write cautiously to endow meaning, picture real life, and convey the emotions of characters."