In the scholarly introduction he has written for this reissue of The life and death of Jordi Fraginals, the professor Josep Murgades It makes a kind of genealogy or inventory of many of the descriptions, interpretations and analyses that, more or less insightful, more or less reductionist, have been made over the decades of the very studious novel by Josep Pous i Pagès (Figueres, 1873–Barcelona, ​​1952): ruralist, history of a self-made-man, "the last modernist novel", a concretization of that precept of Albert Camus according to which the novel is a "universe where action finds its form"... Murgades' introduction, instructive in its nature as a hermeneutic sampler, is pertinent as a presentation of a classic of the Catalan novel of the 20th century because, written up to now, our duty as readers is to try to read the book from what we are today and here, without anachronisms or a priori assumptions.

"When the 90th anniversary of the start of the Civil War is commemorated this summer, I am sure that not much will be said about the revolution that took place in Catalonia between July 1936 and May 1937," explains historian and former deputy Aurora Madaula (Mollet del Vallès, 1978). Kaminski, one of the intellectuals who were in Barcelona at the time and ended up dedicating an entire book to it, The ones from Barcelona (1937). Adesiara recovers it in Catalan, with an extensive prologue by Madaula and with the revised translation that Francesc Parcerisas He did it for Ediciones del Cotal in 1977.

There are books that, without being childish or banal, seem designed to give the reader a good time. Sketchbook (of Sir Geoffrey Crayon)The collection of stories by the American diplomat and writer Washington Irving (1783-1859) is a prime example of this phenomenon. Published by Adesiara, the volume comprises a series of tales, including the famous "Legend of Sleepy Hollow," the legend of the horseman with no horse. This story, along with "Rip Van Winkle," exemplifies the cultural influence of the early Dutch—and Danish and German—colonists in the New York area. The stories gathered here are representative of early American Romanticism, which would later inspire widely known and translated authors, such as... Edgar Allan PoeBut it is also related to transcendentalism, the school of thought that links divinity with the course of nature and believes in an inherent goodness in humankind. While we cannot place Irving within a specific school of thought, nor include him in the group of Emerson or Thoreau, he was certainly part of the cultural environment in which this movement arose.

I have allowed myself to use the title of the news by Honoré de Balzac to head my article on the Romanian Jew Max Blecher (1909-1938) because, as I read him –admired–, I was overcome by the impression of finding myself before a masterpiece by an author –I need to admit– of whom, until recently, I had not. How do you explain Mr. Sam Abrams In the prologue, this one from 1936 is the first title of a trilogy that they completed Scarred hearts (1937) and Enlightened Falls. Sanatorium Diary, a work that the author finished before his death, but which was not published until 1971. Literature lovers should not miss this gem!

Although the older poets are often "an inexhaustible source of profound reflections and valuable thoughts," the younger poets take a different tack. "They don't usually believe much in sacredness or human institutions," they are attracted to "passionate feelings, such as deep and irreconcilable loves or hatreds," and "have little or no idea whether they will one day become classics or whether their writings will serve as a model for future generations." These are the initial considerations that are made. Jaume Juan Castelló, translator and professor at the Department of Latin Philology at the University of Barcelona, about Catullus, one of the wildest Latin authors, who has just presented a new Catalan version ofThe poems in Adesiara.

Teresa or the love life of a woman, published in 1932 in Llibreria Catalònia – the same year it appears Am I an honest woman? of Mercè Rodoreda, where one of the three narrators is also named Teresa–, was the only novel written by Carme Montoriol i Puig (1892–1966), a versatile author who was widely recognized in her time but who, until very recently, has been almost forgotten by the most canonical historiography. in the novel, and now Adesiara contributes another with a luminous and extensive introduction by Neus Real and cover by Francesc Vayreda. She was a complete artist ahead of her time, a successful pianist and playwright, the first translator of the Sonnets by Shakespeare in 1928, committed to the cause of the Republic and an activist in the feminist struggle of the 1930s.