Literary heritage

The writer Josep Pla is one of the most important prose writers in Catalan literature of the 20th century. Despite his travels, he did not forget his native Palafrugell. For this reason, in 1973 he donated his library to a newly created organisation, the Josep Pla Library Private Foundation, linked to the municipality. Since 1995, this literary heritage is to be found in the house of the writer’s birth, the current headquarters of the Fundació Josep Pla (Josep Pla Foundation).

At 49, Carrer Nou de Palafrugell, where the journalist spent his early childhood, you can immerse yourself in the life and work of the author of El Carrer Estret. In addition to being the custodian of his personal library, the Foundation has a bibliographical collection specialising in Josep Pla which is continually updated. This is complemented by the material of the Documentation Centre, which includes the author's manuscripts and personal documentation, articles from the newspaper library, a collection of images and videos and an art collection.

Since 2000, a permanent exhibition about Josep Pla (1897-1981) has been on display at the house of his birth, a survey of the personal and professional journey of the writer framed within the historical context of the 20th century. It ends with a room that illustrates the process of creating El Quadern Gris, Pla’s masterpiece, from his first notes in the original manuscript to the first edition of the text.

Bernat Metge (1346-1413) was the first representative of humanism in Catalan literature and introduced the Renaissance style. Intelligent and sharp, he was the author of one of the principal works of ancient Catalan literature, Lo Somni (The Dream, 1399).
 
He received his first training in natural philosophy from his father, the apothecary Guillem Metge. When his natural father died, his mother married Ferrer Saiol, an official in the Royal Chancellery. His step-father introduced him to the art of writing and to a brilliant career in the service of the state which led him to become Royal Secretary to King John I and later to the king's brother, Martin the Humane.
 
Among his early works there are Llibre de Fortuna e Prudència (The Book of Fortune and Prudence - 1381) and Valter e Griselda, a translation from the Petrarch’s Latin version of the story from the Decameron. Also the satirical works El Sermó (The Sermon) and Medicina apropiada a tot mal (Medicine for Every Ill).
 
Lo Somni came preceded by scandal. After the death in murky circumstances of King John, in a hunting accident in 1396, a conspiracy incriminated the ministers and courtiers, including Metge. He was accused of corruption, betrayal and affront to the King. Even though he was acquitted by Martin I when he took the throne, this episode left its mark on his life and work.
 
Lo Somni presents a dialogue between Bernard, King John I and the mythological figures Orpheus and Tiresias. The monarch is located in purgatory, on the road to salvation and Bernard, the alter ego of the author, appears to him. The goal that Metge pursued in writing the work was to prove his innocence of the charges made against him, although the result is a multi-faceted work that breaks with all that had gone before.

Rafael d'Amat i de Cortada (1746-1819), Baron of Maldà, is one of the most significant figures in Catalan culture of the 18th century and the greatest exponent of memoiristic and autobiographical prose of the age. This is because, for 50 years, he wrote a diary in which he described, in detail, everything that was happening around him, the Calaix de sastre (Miscellany), which has become one of the most important historical documents.

The Baron of Maldà belonged to the minor nobility of Barcelona and, as such, he was a deeply religious and conservative man, in addition to being avowedly anti-French. He had no great love of reading and never displayed any great cultural education. Even so, he had a vocation as a chronicler. From 10th July, 1796 until a few days before his death, he filled more than seventy volumes on various topics, from personal facts and facts about his everyday life to social, political and cultural events.

He used a popular and colloquial language, even careless at times. It is significant that it was written in Catalan as, in the 18th century, Spanish was the language of prestige. The reason for this was that the Calaix de sastre was never published at the time, but rather its purpose was to be read at social gatherings with circles of friends and acquaintances.

This extensive diary offers an unprecedented approach to a fledgling journalism and enables one to see at first hand what life was like in 18th century Catalonia and, in particular, Barcelona. At the same time, Calaix de sastre was considered one of the most important examples of Catalan Rococo. In addition to the diary, other manuscripts from the Baron have been preserved, such as L'explicació de la ciutat de Barcelona (An Explanation of the City of Barcelona) and Successos de Barcelona des de lo any 1750 fins al de 1769 (Events in Barcelona from 1750 to 1769).

It doesn't matter that it is not a public holiday. Every 23rd April, the streets, ramblas and squares around the country are filled with books, roses and flags to celebrate the Diada de Sant Jordi (the Day of Saint George), a day of participation in which the written and spoken word takes the leading role.

But the Festival of the Book has not always been linked to the patron saint of Catalonia. Driven by the publisher, Vicent Clavel, to promote the book in Catalonia, the first Book Day was on 7th October 1927. Two years later, the booksellers held it on 23rd April, and the success led to the change of date, which coincided with the death of Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare.

Declared a Festa Nacional de Catalunya (National Festival of Catalonia), the Day of Sant Jordi has contributed since its inception to promote the production and marketing of books in Catalan. In addition, readers can interact with their favourite writers. Strolling amongst the book stalls and the tradition of giving roses just adds to the day.

The consolidation of Sant Jordi as the Festa del Llibre, internationally as well, comes with the proclamation by Unesco of 23rd April as World Book and the Rights of the Author Day.

In the 18th and 19th centuries a new social class, the bourgeoisie, pursued a more personal, emotional, original and, above all, rebellious art and claimed identification with a homeland and common roots.

In Catalonia, Romanticism had clear political connotations: the Catalan literati claimed the right to restore the language, literature, and popular culture.

The first romantic poem in Catalan language was Oda a la Pàtria, by Bonaventura Carles Aribau (1833), but it didn’t become ingrained until the coming of Lo Gaiter del Llobregat, by Joaquim Rubió i Ors. In the novel, the first romantic works in Catalan were by authors such as Antonio de Bofarull and Martí Genís i Aguilar. With regard to the theatre, the exponents were playwrights such as Víctor Balaguer, Edward Vidal and Frederic Soler, known as "Pitarra".

The Renaixença shares with Romanticism the will to revive the national consciousness after a period of decline, and in fact the two movements coexisted together throughout the 19th century.

In Catalonia two factions that coexisted were: the conservative (Bofarull), and the reclamatory (Balaguer). They shared the desire to restore the Jocs Florals (floral games) as an instrument to promote Catalan socially and to stimulate literary production. The definitive push of this literary event arrived in 1877, when Jacint Verdaguer and Àngel Guimerà were awarded prizes.

New against the old. Modern instead of Modernism. Noucentisme, the cultural and political movement of the early 20th century (1906-1923) was born with the aim to overcome the Catalan art scene that had dominated until then. According to the principles defined by Eugeni d’Ors, it had to recover the roots of the classical world and create a new language and iconographic universe.

The essay and poetry were the main literary genres of Catalan Noucentisme, and names such as Josep Carner, Enric Prat de la Riba and Pompeu Fabra mark the beginnings of the movement.

If the Noucentisme broke with modernism, the Avant-gardes broke with the Noucentisme. It arose in Europe between the first and second world wars as a reaction against the power and the aesthetic tastes of the bourgeoisie. It included artistic movements such as Cubism, which reinterpreted space and used geometric shapes; Futurism, which challenged classical beauty; Dadaism, characterised by negation and confusion; and Surrealism, which focused on the absence of reason in the creation.

In Catalonia the leading names of the avant-garde literary movement were poets such asJoan Salvat-Papasseit, Carles Sindreu, Joan Josep M. Junoy and J.V. Foix.

Breaking with established social and artistic values and transforming them into a modern and national culture with new ideas. These were the objectives of modernism from the late 19th century to the first decade of the 20th century and applied to all the arts, including literature.

The first steps of this movement in Catalonia were linked to the appearance of L'Avens (The Advance), the cultural magazine from Valentí Almirall, with the collaboration of Àngel Guimerà, Narcís Oller, Jaume Brossa, Joaquim Casas-Carbó and Jaume Massó. The disagreements within the publication led to the emergence of two distinct tendencies: the Regenerationist, concerned with changing society and headed by Jaume Brossa, and the Aesthetic, driven by Santiago Rusiñol and Raimon Casellas, defenders of Art for Art’s sake.

With the turn of the century the differences were overcome with the emergence of new organs of modernist expression (the magazine, Catalonia and the weekly, Joventut), which encouraged a more moderate and participatory discourse.

This was the stage that gave rise to the most diverse and highest quality literary work: Els sots feréstecs (Raimon Casellas), Solitud (Víctor Català), L’auca del senyor Esteve (Santiago Rusiñol) and Josafat (Prudenci Bertrana). Among the poets, the leading figure of the Catalan modernism was Joan Maragall, responsible for renewing the genre, making the language more colloquial and less grandiloquent.

The four great Chronicles were written in the late 13th and 14th centuries and form the finest histographical collection from medieval Europe. Their authors, Jaume I, Bernat Desclot, Ramon Muntaner and Pere el Cerimoniós, aimed to leave a record of facts which they intended would be of educational value. The works of Jaume I and Pere el Cerimoniós are considered to be the only autobiographies of medieval monarchs.

In the first of the Chronicles, the Llibre dels feits, King Jaume I tells of the facts of his life, leaving out those that might have harmed the image he wanted to convey of a heroic and courtly monarch.

In the Llibre del rei En Pere, Bernat Desclot, there is no direct evidence of what he relates. Although it is noted for its careful documentation, its story offers a clearly interpretative vision of Pere el Gran.

Although there is direct evidence many of the facts told in the Llibre de Ramon Muntaner, the author manipulates history. He also doesn’t hide his enthusiasm for monarchs, whom he considers to be supernatural beings protected by divine grace.

The fourth of the Chronicles, the Llibre del Rei Pere III, is noted for its literary quality. However, it has always been the least appreciated because of its distance from the epic and chivalrous spirit and presents a King obsessed with imitating and surpassing his predecessors.

The codices of the four major Chronicles are preserved in the Biblioteca de Catalunya.