Recovering tradition through Spotify

"You're such a feminist, how can you love the Brontë sisters or Jane Austen so much?" Editor Blanca Pujals has answered this question dozens of times: "Precisely because I'm a feminist, I like them. What seems normal to us now is largely thanks to the demands they made in the 19th century." One way to expand on this answer is to listen to the podcast Nineteenth-century punks The book that the publisher created with bookseller Carlota Freixenet will soon be five years old. Pujals was fed up with not finding content in Catalan that talked about these authors and thought that, instead of complaining, she would put a stop to it. She explained this in a discussion organized by writer and journalist Pep Antoni Roig at La Semana del Llibre en Català. She titled it Podcasts and days: Catalan literature on Spotify.

It was very interesting and, moreover, very pertinent, because we have more and more literary podcasts available. I suspect it would be difficult for him to choose the participants, and one premise that would help was that the creators were around thirty years old. Bernat Reher, who has not yet done any, represented Meanwhile, which she does with Berta Galofré, Joan Rius, and Carlos Francesch. The four humanities students started during the pandemic. They recently celebrated their fifth anniversary and have aired more than 400 programs, "where conversation is very important." Reher explained that they practice classic literary interviews with people they know and find interesting. They pay special attention to Catalan literature, talk about living and deceased authors, and resist publishing pressure: "Now they know us, and sometimes they don't send it to us."

Conversation is also important in the podcast. Tandem Club, by Marina Porras and Juliana Canet, who explained that the two are very good friends, and that what they basically do is reproduce their conversations about literature, full of references from other fields. It is dedicated to classics of 20th-century Catalan literature, and although Canet explains that it is very introductory in nature, she also affirms that "we shouldn't be afraid to tell people things." "If we don't, we'll all end up being short on hooligans," she added. She won't run that risk either if she listens. The back cover, the most recent podcast of all, commissioned by the publishing house Barcino to journalist Clàudia Rius. It aims to explore the great names in Catalan literature, always with an expert and in a relaxed but in-depth manner. They debuted with Ausiàs March, and have since been followed by Josep Pla and Francesc Vicent Garcia. "Part of the satisfaction of doing this podcast is that I learn a lot. The tone and approach should have been those of the publisher; they do everything with care, and I really appreciate that they didn't consider lowering the bar," says Rius. The journalist argues that people like to learn and that it shouldn't be taken away from them because they're stupid.

Blanca Pujals explains that some teachers have told her they play the podcast for their students; She really likes knowing they're useful, but Reher sees it differently: "I struggle to see a pedagogical dimension. I wouldn't listen to a podcast in high school. In any case, podcasts can't cover everything. In the end, we'll look like Brecht's Mother Courage!" It can't be everything, but the four of them do a lot of work providing literary content in Catalan and recovering and highlighting our literary tradition. I, who also like to learn, find it very entertaining.