Anecdotes, humor, and gossip from Catalonia in the 1930s

The cover of the book Indiscreet Viewpoint. Anecdotes, humor, and gossip from the brief history of Catalonia in the 1930s., edited by Carlos Singla and published by Eumo, is from Feliu Elias, theDad. And it's an eloquent and satirical caricature that shows the kind of sympathetic humor contained in some of these texts, which are, in fact, images of a mythical era, that of Catalonia in the 1930s. An era that goes from the end of Primo de Rivera's dictatorship to the outbreak of the Civil War, passing through the upheaval of the Civil Republic, passing through the upheaval of the Republic. Without a doubt, these short texts contain the spirit of the times, with its dreams of freedom, democracy, and progress, but captured tendentiously by an ironic and festive gaze that delighted the indiscreet. Some of the protagonists, certainly, are well portrayed.

The texts collected by Carles Singla were published in the section Indiscreet viewpoint from the cultural weekly Lookout. Lookout It deserves a separate mention, because from the moment it arrived on Catalan newsstands on January 31, 1929, it became essential reading for its tone, quality, subject matter, and the authorship of highly talented writers. It's a shame it had a short life, until June 1937, because those eight glossy, newspaper-sized pages combined articles and information on general politics, devoting entire pages to literature, theater, film, the visual arts, and, when appropriate, music. Lookout It was a republican and liberal magazine that reflected the political views of its editor, Amadeu Hurtado, a lawyer close to Acció Catalana, but the captains of this sensational ship were Manel Brunet and Just Cabot. Pro-European in nature, Lookout He wanted a modernization of Catalan society, with a clear desire to influence the performing arts and all cultural sectors. But this is clearly explained in the prologue. Through the keyhole.

A weekly magazine to help transform society

A fragment of the introductory text of the weekly's first issue could be one of the "echoes" - that's what these small texts that filled the section were called. Indiscreet viewpoint—because it begins with these words: "We did not come out to fill a void or to teach anyone a lesson." That is exactly what they did, because Lookout was born, as I said, with the purpose of helping to transform society, promoting modernization and education to advance toward democracy. Is there anything similar today?

The volume collects a selection of those social "echoes." The issue is organized into three thematic sections: politics, society, and culture, thus following the same order in which the contents of the famous weekly were structured. And each section is organized by topic or protagonist, to offer—as the curator points out—a clearer vision of the key aspects and the people who marked each area. And if we have to make a minimum list of these protagonists, we can start with Lluís Companys and Francesc Macià, good people; the invaluable businessman and radical politician Joan Pich i Pon, whose lexical confusions resulted in the adjective piquiponianas; Clementina Arderiu, Carles Riba, Pompeu Fabra, Josep Pla, Juan Oliver, JV Foix, Francisco Pujols, HG Wells, José María de Sagarra, Enric Borràs, Lorca, Adrià Gual, Mercedes Nicolás, Ronald Colman, Bustero Keaton, Salvador Dalí, Joaquim Mir, Santiago Rusiñol, Pau Casals, Maria Espinalt, Frederic Mompou, etc. And as for the themes and events, we find strikes, demonstrations, various incidents, the Events of October 1934 and the coup d'état of July 1936. All of this takes a varied and colorful scope of action, designed to entertain, make people smile and denounce things from that variegated and turbulent time.