Nobel-winning author Cela dies

Cela: One of the best-known writers in Spain and Latin America

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spanish writer Camilo Jose Cela, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1989, has died at the age of 85.

He died in a Madrid hospital from complications due to his chronic heart and respiratory problems, attending physician Dr. Mariano Malillos, of the Clinica Cemtro, told CNN partner network CNN+.

Cela was one of the best-known writers in Spain and Latin America.

His works included "The Family of Pascual Duarte," ("La Familia de Pascual Duarte"), a 1942 novel about a man condemned to death, and "The Hive," ("La Colmena"), a 1951 novel portraying decadence and poverty in Spain after the Civil War of 1936-1939.

"The Hive" was first published in 1951 in Argentina because it was banned in Spain at the time under the right-wing dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

"We have lost probably the most universal writer Spain had in the second half of the 20th century," Spanish Culture Minister Pilar del Castillo told national radio.

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Del Castillo stressed Cela's freedom of thought, which led him to shun fashion and political correctness.

Announcing the award of the Nobel literature prize to Cela in 1989, the Swedish Academy said it was rewarding "the leading figure in Spain's literary renewal during the post-war era."

It said his work could be included in an old Spanish tradition of "hiliarious grotesqueness."

Cela, born in the town of Iria Flavia in the northwestern region of Galicia, sprung to prominence with the publication in 1942 of "The Family of Pascual Duarte."

According to the academy, the novel had "almost unparalleled impact" despite being banned and censored.

From an early age, Cela nursed the ambition of being a writer and worked in a wide range of literary genres, including poetry and essays as well as novels.

He won Spain's most prestigious literary awards, such as the Prince of Asturias prize for Letters, the Miguel de Cervantes prize and the National Literature Prize and was awarded honourary degrees by several universities.

He was the fifth Spanish author to win the Nobel literature prize, following Jose Echegaray, Jacinto Benavente, Juan Ramon Jimenez and Vicente Aleixandre.

Tributes poured in for Cela, who was expected to be buried in his home town in Galicia.