A collection for discovering the multifaceted viewpoints of foreign writers on Barcelona
Barcelona Llibres (Barcelona City Council) launches a new editorial collection, “Barcelona in universal literature”, the main aim of which is to analyse Barcelona's role in literature and open up new perspectives on Barcelona’s literary heritage. It was presented on Thursday 22 May at the Museu Frederic Marès with a conversation between the authors of the first two volumes, Ricard Ripoll and Amaranta Sbardella; the curator of the collection, Joan Ferrarons, and arts and culture journalist David Guzmán. The councillor for Culture and Creative Industries, Xavier Marcé, welcomed the launch of the new collection.
“Language is the essential material of literature, and in Barcelona, we enjoy a multilingual reality. The identity of a city is also this interplay of perspectives”, explained Joan Ferrarons, curator of the collection. The collection doesn’t follow a set recipe. It is not a catalogue of writers and works that feature the city, but rather a personal reading of each author and an invitation to discover them.
Xavier Marcé, councillor for Culture and Creative Industries, highlighted the fact that Barcelona is “a city which is attractive enough to enter on the list of imaginary dreams that give rise to pieces of writing”, and recalled turbulent episodes from our history as a city, such as Tragic Week (Setmana Tràgica) and the Civil War.
Solare, notturna e sonora
Amaranta Sbardella, author of Solare, notturna e sonora, revealed that the title of the book is inspired by words written by Massimo Bontempelli about the city in 1921. “Solare for the luminosity, notturna for the villainous double life and sonora for the intense noise of the productive city”. Circulating through its planes are everyone from circus characters to opera singers or construction workers. “I didn’t want to lose the thread of that migratory phenomenon, totally different from the current diaspora, which you find in an open and cosmopolitan city” the author remarked.
The book is set in the 19th century and is constructed around a series of pieces of information that enable us to weave together the cultural relations between Barcelona and Italy.
La ciutat incandescent
La ciutat incandescent, by Ricard Ripoll, captures the presence of Barcelona in French literature from the 20th century. “The city featured in avant garde magazines and, for example, it was at the Ateneu Barcelonès where André Breton gave a lecture, which marked the official split between surrealists and dadaists”, recalled Ripoll.
The most important episodes happened in the 1930s and 1940s, when various writers set their stories in Barcelona. “Perhaps it was Jean Genet, with his gritty portrait of Chinatown, who served as a pull factor. In contrast, during the Franco regime, very little was written about Barcelona. There were just some poor quality detective novels, set in a grey, decadent and poverty-stricken environment”, the author pointed out.
The perspective of Latin American writers
At the end of the year, a new book will be added to the collection. Viajes, tránsitos, hogar, by María Teresa Vera-Rojas, which highlights the role of Latin American writers who rewrote Barcelona from 1880 to 2020.
These first three titles are just the start of a project that aims to continue exploring other languages and traditions. An invitation to read Barcelona from the outside to better understand it from within.
