Prudencio Bertrana, great chronicler of pre-war Barcelona

In Prudencio Bertrana (Tordera, 1867 - Barcelona, ​​1941) is fossilized in a bronze bust on a stone pedestal in Girona. A couple of his paintings languish in the city's Art Museum, languishing in obscurity. Every year, he is honored with a literary prize whose winners rarely acknowledge him. In Tordera, a park bears his name, and he also oversees the library in Riudarenes. All this is well and good, but ultimately, Bertrana is not widely read, and very little discussed, despite being an indispensable classic and one of the most important figures in Catalan literature. Perhaps we too easily forget that he is the author of works such as Jehoshaphat (1906), Barbaric prose (1911), Me! Memoirs of a Philosopher Physician (1925) and the autobiographical trilogy Between the earth and the clouds, formed by The heir (1931), The Vagabond (1933) and The unrepentant (1948), among others.

But Bertrana is more, much more. One must consider her splendidly well-written plays, such as Ernestina's Wings either Teresa's farewellHis torrent of extraordinary articles in the press, theater reviews, lectures, speeches, radio collaborations, and correspondence—all, let's say, yet to see the light of day, with the exception of a magnificent selection of articles, Barcelona, which has just been superbly published by the Cap de Brot publishing house under the care of Judit Pujol Prat, a specialist in Bertrana's journalistic work, who has made the selection and a very felicitous introduction.

Barcelona It is a fitting title for this collection of articles, given that the writer lived in Barcelona for almost thirty years. It was there, despite himself, that he pursued a significant part of his literary career and became a prolific urban chronicler, a first-rate chronicler. His valuable columns describe Barcelona from 1912 to 1936. It is worth remembering that Bertrana was a respected and widely read author, which is why his chronicles appeared in the leading newspapers. The Torratxa's Obituary, The Catalan People (Barbol ideology), Advertising (Barbaric ideology), The Voice of Catalonia (Imprumped), The Pile, Party, The Xerraire, etc.

A writer who notices everything

Bertrana's impressions are those of a man from Girona with the heart of a country bumpkin, forced to live in the big city. This makes his perspective entirely subjective and unique, allowing for a lucid, sometimes ironic or satirical, but frequently critical description—something the man, by nature, could not avoid. Bertrana intrinsically captures the physical, architectural, social, cultural, and political changes of Barcelona throughout these years. In his memorable walks, the writer notices everything, no matter how superfluous it may seem. He is equally attuned to a sparrow as to the city's decay and boredom, to the Christmas sadness of the suffering as to the ravages of typhus. He notices the dust, the prose writers who don't write, and the rats that roam freely. Sometimes he notices a dead calf, other times Tibidabo, or a flock of lambs passing along Passeig de Gràcia. And in the garlic soup too, in the Arc de Triomphe and in the bourgeoisie, in the longing for the grim beasts, in the fog, in the architectural anarchy, or in the fossils that civilized man needs... It must be said that these impressions bear Bertrana's formidable mark. That is to say, a rich and splendid, but not gentle, vocabulary, with very authentic popular turns of phrase that give rise to his great descriptive skill.

Although Bertrana struggled with writing, he wields an admirable language—physical, corporeal, full of color and texture. He is a pleasure to read. He doesn't waste humor or reflection; and he also possesses the subtle irony of the disillusioned and the longing of the forest dweller. I especially like him because his literature asks for neither permission nor solace; rather, it unsettles and is intense. In short, Barcelona Bertrana is miniaturized in small, personal, and expressive jewels, which are also a broad and natural sample of his social concerns and worries, his republican and democratic spirit, and a subsisting love for the Catalan language and identity, which are inherent to him.