Catalonia - Art and Culture 2018

In 1904, Joaquim Miret, a historian spe- cialised in the study of mediaeval Catalan , went into the archives of the rectory of a small village in the Pyrenees called Organyà. While examining the documents kept there, he dis- covered a parchment book. It was a text writ- ten in Catalan from the 12th century, which made it the oldest known document written in this language. It was the religious Homilías de Organyà . Literature in inspiring Catalonia Famous knights, well-known detectives, and even a world- renowned wizard fill the pages of books written in or inspired by Catalonia.

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the basilica of santa MARIA

Those three pages started a long literary history which includes authors born in Catalonia, as well as in Valencia and the Balearic Islands. Therefore, the poems of the Valencian Ausiàs March or chivalric romances like Tirant lo Blanc , by the Valencian Joanot Martorell, are considered treasures of universal literature, just like the creations of the Majorcan Ramon Llull who, from 12th-century Majorca, would be- come famous for his philosophical and religious reflections. And in the 19th and 20th centuries, numerous authors wrote in Catalan, including novelists, dramatists, and poets like Jacint Verdaguer, Àngel Guimerà, Mercè Rodoreda, Carles Riba, Salvador Espriu, Josep Vicenç Foix, and Joan Salvat-Papasseit, whose works are considered canonical literature. The Majorcan author Llorenç Villalonga published the novel known as Bearn or The Dolls’ Room in 1956. Joan Sales, the author of Uncertain Glory , a highly applaud- ed novel set during the Civil War, is one of the writers whose work has recently been recov-

ered. The works of contemporary authors such as Quim Monzó, Albert Sánchez Piñol, and Mar- ta Rojals attest to the literary vitality of modern Catalonia. narrative in Spanish Other great literary creations written in Catalo- nia are in Spanish, but remain fundamental ele- ments of Catalan culture. The post-war novel by Carmen Laforet (Nada) , the bourgeois and mar- ginal city portrayed by Juan Marsé (Últimas tar- des con Teresa) or the story of Barcelona be- tween the 19th and 20th centuries, described by Eduardo Mendoza in The City of Marvels are evidence of a tradition which Carlos Ruiz Zafón The Shadow of the Wind and Ildefonso Falcones Cathedral of the Sea , about the construction of the Gothic Temple of Santa Maria del Mar) have used to achieve success. A separate chapter should be devoted to Manuel Vázquez Montal- bán, the author who renovated the European detective novel with his special character, the detective Pepe Carvalho.

page of ars magna by ramon llull. the HOMILIES of organyà.

Catalonia inspires The Catalan history and countryside have inspired authors of different backgrounds, such as Benito Pérez Galdós, author of Gerona, and Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño, author of The Third Reich, who lived and worked in Catalonia for many years. We must not forget Homage to Catalonia , with which the Briton George Orwell told the story of the Civil War in the first person. Still better known, Gabriel Garcia Márquez includes a Catalan sage among the myriad of characters in his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude. And in the 21st century, it has inspired several best-selling authors, such as Noah Gordon, who fell in love with the Catalan wine lands in The Winemaker ; Dan Brown, who explores locations like the monastery of

del mar inspired the novel la catedral del mar .

Montserrat, la Pedrera and the Sagrada Familia

in Origin  ; or the Welsh Ken Follett.

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