Books and Reading Year 2005 News

JANUARY

05.01.05

The Three Kings, readers and socially committed, open the Books and Reading Year for the very young

The first words of their majesties were in memory of all the children who, a few days earlier, had suffered from the devastating waves of the tsunami. And, just as King Melchior asked of them, the boys and girls of Barcelona sent a wave of kisses to the children in south eastern Asia and their families. The Three Kings of Orient arrived in Barcelona on the afternoon of 5th January. This was the beginning of a magical night: among the presents, this year they bore hundreds of adventures printed in story books. 350,000 people were waiting for them in the streets of the city.

Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar arrived in the Port of Barcelona at 5.30 pm on board the boat Santa Eulàlia. As is traditional they were welcomed by the Mayor of Barcelona, Joan Clos, who gave them the keys of the city so that they could enter all the houses and leave the presents. Also in keeping with an old tradition, he offered them bread and salt, in memory of a time when the town was enclosed by walls and the Governing Council, known as the —Consell de Cent,“ distributed bread to eat and salt to preserve food. Clos thanked the Kings for their visit and this year asked them to carry books as well as toys so that —the very young would get used to reading and learn to explore imaginary worlds“. Melchior then announced that this year they had brought a very special present for a city that was just beginning to celebrate the Books and Reading Year: —documents of incalculable value“ related with the origin of writing in each of the King‘s cultures. He, originally from the Middle Orient, carried with him Sumerian baked clay tablets which, as he explained, —have been almost miraculously saved from the wars in my country“. Gaspar, originally from Assam, in the Far Orient, offered some pieces of fabric with ancient inscriptions written in Chinese, at present the most widely spoken language in the world. And Balthazar carried one of the most valued treasures of the ancient kingdom of Nubia, a collection of papyruses with hieroglyphics. Melchior also explained that each year they go on board their vessel to travel around the world and see how things are. —We realise that on our planet there is sickness and violence. The book that will cure the world is still to be written. Will you be the writers?“ As this was his proposal, many children were willing to participate. Melchior then asked the children whether they had been good this year. Undoubtedly, the answer was a long and loud —yeees“. Literature was the protagonist of the Royal Cavalcade which, once their Majesties reached the port, started from Ciutadella Park. The parade was headed by the page Gregori who carried in his carriage the Big Book of the Kings. This illustrated the story of Page Gregori and the Big Book of the Kings , which this year has been distributed to the schools of Barcelona and explains how the page friend of the kings watches over the children and writes down in a notebook how they behave, the presents they want and their naughty pranks. Don Quixote and Sancho, who this year are having a great celebration, could not miss the parade. They were on a carriage designed by Lluís Juste

1 de Nin. Children‘s stories, such as Puss in Boots and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs were the main characters on other floats. And they were accompanied by Mortadelo, Spiderman and Walt Disney characters. Perhaps the camels were the main attraction for the youngest, or the shiny horses ridden by 29 policemen. In total, the cavalcade had the participation of around 200 artists, 90 technicians, almost 500 volunteers as royal pages and 70 postmen of the Three Kings. After leaving Ciutadella Park, it followed Avinguda Marquès de l‘Argentera, Via Laietana, Plaça Urquinaona, Fontanella, Plaça Catalunya, Pelai, Ronda Universitat, Ronda Sant Antoni and the streets Sepúlveda, Vilamarí and Lleida until reaching the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc. Around 350,000 people filled the streets to watch the parade.

19.01.05

Professor Enric Cassany opens the course —The High Novel on Barcelona. From Narcís Oller to the Present,“ at the City History Archive, in a packed auditorium

Cassany: —Before Narcís Oller, we don‘t have the novel but rather the chronicle of Barcelona“

—If we don‘t have the novel, we do have the chronicle. And this should not leave us indifferent.“ This was the conclusion of Enric Cassany, Professor at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, who opened the course ”The High Novel on Barcelona. From Narcís Oller to the Present‘ with the lecture ”Barcelona in the work of Catalan narrators before Narcís Oller‘. The course, directed by professors Margarida Casacuberta and Marina Gustà, forms part of the Seminar on Barcelona‘s History organised by the City History Archive and is divided into 15 sessions which aim to carry out a historical and critical review of the literary image of the city of Barcelona constructed and remade from the 19th century until today. The course will examine the Catalan authors who have dealt with Barcelona —not just as a mere setting for the facts but as an active agent,“ explained Marina Gustà, the creators of an image —with a certain autonomy which may have had an influence in the city itself“. The anonymous diary Sucesos de Barcelona. 1822-1835 is the first text to which Professor Cassany referred. It is not a work of imagination but rather a written and narrative testimony allowing us to better understand the Barcelona of that time Ja socially and politically troubled periodJ of which Cassany pointed out its —illustrative strength“. The professor noted that —Barcelona can be found in the place names, in the totalising way of speaking in sentences such as ”Barcelona resembled a judgement day‘, which refers to the embodiment of the city“. Joaquín del Castillo is also a chronicler who, in contrast with the previous one, shows a —desire for impartiality“ in his narration of the —fight underway throughout Spain between libertarians and liberticides.“ Of this author, he notes an —epic attention to detail that takes him to cite the streets and the prisoners by their names but also the generalisation and personification characteristic of political language“. But the dramatisation of political affairs, in other words, their novelisation, can be found in La esplanada by Abdó Terrades (1835). In contrast with the previous narrations, here it is not the real names of the streets and the persons that are so important but rather the —case“.

2 We are, therefore, faced with a Barcelona made of —real details“ in relation to the life of people. And it is in this sense that —the novel, in this consumerist aspect, surpasses the previous mere illustrative narrative“. For Cassany, El poeta y el banquero by Pere Mata (1842) belongs to the same category as the previous: —the same settings of revolution and rebellion, epically narrated“. However, —where the others seemed raw and the image they offered seemed ”real‘, that is, genuine, truthful, reliable, here there is ”literature‘. In this case, we are faced with ”the social novel‘, embodied in two archetypes: the rich man and the poor, who could be met in Madrid or in any other city.“ Also in Los misterios de Barcelona , by Nicasio Milà, praise for the positive aspect of the ancient regime, —demagogy has ruined verisimilitude“. The first conclusion is, therefore, paradoxical, as it is —based on a narrative that provided a vivid image of the city and its social and political circumstance, in other words, a good discursive starting point, a ”fleeting‘ narrative emerges, which turns its back on reality“. In any case, this evasion, which would characterise not only the prose but also the whole literature of the Catalan literary movement of the Renaixença , is not exclusively Catalan. In Spain, Clarín also denounces it. Thus, L‘orfaneta de Menargues , a historical and patriotic novel written by Antoni de Bufarull in 1862, is also evasive.

In fact, delighting in the city of the 15th century has nothing to do with creating the urban imaginary vision of the present, as at the time Dickens was doing with London or Balzac with Paris. The second conclusion is that, from the 1840s, we no longer find in literature a reflection of social tensions and disputes. The image of the real Barcelona pales and is substituted by the historical Barcelona. The real city is then somewhere else: in the news chronicles, where the journalists, who show a true curiosity towards Barcelona —finally achieve a communion between language and reality“. What in the past was the background, Barcelona, has now become the topic as epitomised by authors such as Robert Robert, —an example of a moral writer,“ for Enric Cassany.

20.01.05

CaixaForum presents the most recent trends in literary criticism and theory

The reflection on literary creation made by literary critics and theoreticians is no longer an activity limited to the strictly academic field. In the last fifty years, the debate has gone beyond the University and has gradually acquired greater social repercussion, to the extent that some authors, such as the late Jacques Derrida or Umberto Eco, long ago became real media stars, a social projection that until then had only been achieved by some successful novelists. This is why a Books and Reading Year which did not reserve a space for this field of literary reflection would be incomplete. This is the conclusion shared by Sergio Vila-Sanjuán, curator of the Books and Reading Year, and Manuel Asensi, Professor of Comparative Literature at the Universitat de València and coordinator of the cycle of lectures ”On the 20th Century Great Masters of Literary Criticism: Rethinking Weltliteratur , who, together with Carme Guinea, Deputy Managing Director of Fundació —la Caixa,“ the organising institution, presented it on 20th January at CaixaForum. Until the 1970s the paradigm from which the reflection on literature was approached was structuralism. However, since then an increasing variety of approaches has emerged: deconstructivism, feminist perspective, cultural studies or, more recently, queer theories. This is why one of the main objectives of the cycle, as Manuel Asensi

3 pointed out, —is to provide the necessary information so that people can have a clear idea of where things are going in the field of literary criticism and theory and what at present the many trends are“. To this end, ten of the key literary critics and theoreticians, from diverse trends of thought and geographic origins, will explain their theories in ten sessions that will be held weekly at the auditorium of CaixaForum between 25th January and 5th April: Jordi Llovet, Andrezej Warminski, Darío Villanueva, Roberto Calasso, José Domínguez Caparrós, Alberto Manguel, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Tom Cohen, Joseph Hillis Millar and Ricardo Piglia. Moreover, the title of the cycle refers to the Goethian notion of —Weltliteratur“ or —universal literature,“ a concept that in Goethe alluded to an ethical function of literature as a meeting point between different cultures. Thus, as Asensi explained, —this meeting also seeks to make the participants reflect on the applicability of this concept within the context of a post-global and fragmented world. How can literature respond today to this sense of twinning that Goethe had, in a moment when dialogue between cultures, religions, classes and nations is in crisis?

Llovet: All literatures can be universal; it depends on their spirit and energy On 25th January, Jordi Llovet, Professor of Comparative Literature at the Universitat de Barcelona, author of books such as Lecciones de literatura universal or El sentido y la forma and translator and editor of Kafka, Flaubert, Musil or Verlaine was in charge of opening the cycle and contextualising the issue. Llovet started from Weltliteratur to approach minor literatures, in the sense of —small or minority,“ as —all literatures can be universal; it depends on their spirit and energy,“ he pointed out. However, the —smaller“ a literature is, the greater the importance of translation is to receive universal tradition and be able to participate in this with the authors themselves. Moreover, the professor denounced the lack of translations: —Carles Riba is as good as Rilke or Hölderlin, but nobody knows him, or Carner or Martí i Pol.“

The CCCB invaded by the characters of ”Bruguera Humour Factory‘

On 20th January, the Barcelona Centre for Contemporary Culture (CCCB) opened its doors to the publishing house Bruguera, the creator of characters such as Mortadelo y Filemón, the brothers Zipi y Zape, Pepe Gotera and Otilio or the inhabitants of 13, Rue del Percebe. ”Bruguera Humour Factory‘, an exhibition conceived by the journalists Jaume Vidal and Carles Santamaria, explores the production of comics of the publishing house Bruguera to show characters that have marked Spanish humour since the 1940s and that survive in the contemporary collective imaginary world. The exhibition can be visited until 10th April.

The exhibition begins by explaining the trajectory of the publishing house established in Barcelona, one of the first Spanish cultural industries Jin the early 1970s the publishing office of Bruguera printed one million magazines every weekJ which rooted itself in society thanks to characters that portrayed Spain with a bitter humour based on local customs and manners. It continues with an interesting typology of characters through 78 originals Ja very small part of the 80,000 conserved in the storehouses of Grupo ZJ, followed by an audiovisual devoted to the final vignettes of the stories, to end with television screens reproducing fragments of some current popular series such as ”7 vidas‘ showing the prevalence of the humour produced in Bruguera.

4 For Josep Ramoneda, Director of the CCCB, the Bruguera humour means a third way within Spanish humour. —A main trend is the sarcastic humour of Valle-Inclán and Berlanga, another is the crude coarse humour of Martínez Soria and Alfredo Landa, and the third is the humour of Bruguera, of latent frustration and rebellion.“ A way of seeing things that had its precedents in the publishing house El Gato Negro, owned by Juan Bruguera, and which started from the 1940s as a factory with cartoonists such as Ibáñez, Vázquez, Cifré, Segura or Escobar. ”Bruguera Humour Factory‘ does not seek to be an exhibition for nostalgic people. —We wanted it to be attractive for everybody,“ states Vidal. The aim is for those readers who moved to the other front (that of Asterix, Obelix or Tintin) and those who are very young, to know about these characters. Characters that they will recognise from seeing them on TV in an updated version (”Manos a la obra‘, ”Aquí no hay quien viva‘) or the big screen (”La comunidad‘ or ”Mortadelo y Filemón‘). They are all presented here grouped in five typologies.

The first is haunted by characters that never achieve what they want. These are the frustrated lives of Rigoberto Picaporte, Pepe the supporter, Doña Urraca, Carpanta... The second deals with impossible heroes that do anything to save the world and achieve exactly the opposite (Sir Tim O‘Theo and Patson, a replica of Sherlock Holmes and Watson, Superlópez, Mortadelo y Filemón or Anacleto). The third is that of happy and unconscious characters (Rompetechos, Agamenón, Carioco, sweet nanny Paz, Angel Siseñor and Aspirino y Colodión), beings that live outside social rules. The fourth category deals with sadistic fraternity (the sisters Gilda and the families Churumbel and Cebolleta, Zipi y Zape, etc.), featuring conflicts between parents and children, adults and children. And, finally, the section devoted to those incompetent at work (Pepe Gotera y Otilio, Sacarino the bellboy, Bonifacio the crook, professor Tragacanto), cunning slapdash characters that, with the rest of their companions, will travel to Majorca to continue seducing with their presence and bitter humour.

Crime fiction from the Mediterranean to the Baltic

If since the 1930s crime fiction was an unmistakably North American genre, since the 1970s a renewal of the genre has taken place in Europe, which today allows us to speak of European crime fiction, with an identity of its own and which can be read as contemporary social fiction. This is the starting point of the ”1st Meeting on European Crime Fiction‘ which, on 20th, 21st and 22nd January brought together in Barcelona nineteen of the main European authors. Crime fiction is experiencing a —deserved revaluation thanks to its new role as contemporary social fiction,“ explained David Barba, coordinator of the meeting. That it is one of the most popular genres today Jif it has ever lost its attraction for readersJ was revealed by the success of the event. The Sala Mirador of the Barcelona Centre for Contemporary Culture (CCCB) where it was held had to close its doors, due to the large number of people. Jakob Arjouni (Frankfurt, 1964), Patrick Bard (Paris, 1958), Kjell Ola Dahl (Oslo, 1958), Alicia Giménez Bartlett (Almansa, 1951), Francisco González Ledesma (Barcelona, 1927), Jean-Christophe Grangé (Paris, 1961), Erin M. Hart (Minnesota, 1958), Thierry Jonquet (Paris, 1954), Donna Leon (New Jersey, 1942), Antonio Lozano (Tangiers, 1956), Alexandra Marinina (Moscow, 1957), Petros Markaris (Istanbul, 1937), Andreu Martín (Barcelona, 1949), Filipa Melo (Silva Porto, 1972), Xavier Moret (Barcelona, 1952), Barbara Nadel (London), Carles Quílez (Barcelona, 1966), Lorenzo

5 Silva (Madrid, 1966) and José Carlos Somoza (La Havana, 1959) participated in the meeting which also paid tribute to Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, chiefly responsible for the renewal of the genre in Spain with his detective Pepe Carvalho.

Crime fiction and European identity

To judge from the appearance of the roundtable formed by Mediterranean writers and that of northern writers, there are differences between southern and northern European fiction: among the southern authors stood out well-fed men whose complexions revealed the pleasures of food and drink, of gesticulating speech and easy and stentorian laughter such as Petros Markaris or Paco González Ledesma. In the North, the atmosphere was from the outset serious, and humour limited to irony. Stereotypes aside, the truth is that, beyond individual, geographic and cultural specificities, it seems that it is possible to talk of Mediterranean crime fiction, and one of its characteristic features is in fact related to the pleasures of food and drink. But before examining the different literary identities that coexist within European crime fiction, the Barcelona writer Andreu Martín placed the debate within its historical context, while explaining the growth of the genre.

Poe, the ball game and Maigret The creator of Detective Flanagan compares the detective genre with a —tennis match“ between America and Europe. Since Edgar Allan Poe laid the foundations with his famous story The Murders in the Rue Morgue , the baton was passed between the two sides of the Atlantic, establishing two opposed models of understanding the genre. On the one hand, as a credible social analysis, defined by the American hard-boiled of Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett. On the other hand, as an ingenious game, embodied in its classical form by Arthur Conan Doyle. —At present, the ball has returned to Europe somewhat devalued by the American thriller, which has become a best-seller satisfying the demand of the publishing world,“ concludes Martín. —The current European novel, in contrast, appears capable of synthesising the thriller and social analysis without making any concessions,“ adds the Barcelona author. And the father of this creature is no other than Georges Simenon and his inspector Maigret, the first author who suggested to Martín that European crime fiction was possible. —A solid crime fiction different from the American and Anglo-Saxon thriller,“ and which is characterised by the more ambiguous nature of its protagonists: —European crime fiction is seeking the good in the bad characters and the bad in the good characters,“ and the first author who portrays this human ambiguity is Simenon. Apart from this, what most attracted the attention of Andreu Martín were its settings —which lead readers to relate the house of Maigret to a determined smell.“ An aspect, of course, of its realistic nature. Also for Antonio Lozano, the author of Harraga and Donde mueren los ríos , who in his adolescence used to read Agatha Christie and Georges Simenon, Maigret soon displaced Poirot: —The novels of Simenon were full of human beings, and crime was the means of exploring the true nature of human beings.“

Life in the street, life in common: food Within this framework, however, there are some characteristic features that would allow us to speak of Mediterranean crime fiction versus northern European crime fiction. Firstly, the ideological origin of the authors stands out. In countries such as Spain,

6 Greece or Portugal, which were subject to military dictatorships, —almost all the authors come from a leftist culture,“ explains the Greek Petros Markaris. In contrast, in the north, although crime fiction has a social character, —it is not exactly political,“ he points out. What about writers from France or Italy, countries which, in contrast with their neighbours, did live in a democracy and, therefore, in a political context closer to that of northern countries? For Markaris, the conclusion is that —if there is a factor in common in the whole of Mediterranean crime fiction, this is food“. Culinary culture would allow us to link authors as different as the French Jean-Claude Izzo, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán Jwho seems the archetype of the Mediterranean crime fiction writer according to the characterisation of his colleague MarkarisJ, Andrea Camilleri or himself. And, by extension, what the creator of police inspector Costas Jaritos calls —mother‘s culture“. —In each Mediterranean home there is a mother who administers the family budget and feeds its members,“ he explains.

In northern societies, women became emancipated earlier and, as a consequence, —the Irish Ian Rankin feeds his characters with beer and sandwiches and the Swedish Mankell with tinned salmon“. Finally, the key role of the Mediterranean city and the importance of life in the street is, for Markaris, the third common feature. A point of view shared by Paco González Ledesma: —Life in the street and life in common means food, shared food,“ he states. However, both he and his detective Méndez cannot cook or eat very well, confesses the former food critic of the newspaper La Vanguardia while joking. —I am the son of rationing,“ he argues. —Crime fiction is always related with cities; cities which are, moreover, complex and conflictive, with a marked political and cultural past, such as Barcelona.“ A city —in constant change“ and, therefore, —in permanent crisis“. In fact, —my readers can no longer recognise the streets Méndez walks through because they have disappeared,“ laments the author of Crónica sentimental en rojo with reference to the Barrio Chino.

Very domestic characters Faced with the classical North American private detective, the embodiment of an individualistic society, after the defeat of Nazism, the protagonists of crime fiction in northern European countries are civil servants. These policemen —are civil servants who are in contact with the non-standardised society, because Nordic countries are not the idyllic paradise which was a reference in the Spain of the transition,“ explains Francesc Camarasa, owner of the bookshop Negra y Criminal in Barcelona. In contrast to Mediterranean fiction, northern European fiction, which in its turn brings together at least three different traditions Jthat of the British Isles, Scandinavia and eastern European countriesJ is characterised by having —less action and more introspection and a certain pessimism resulting from authors who, through their characters, reflect on the nature and causes of crime“. Thus, the British Barbara Nadel states that it interests her much more —because people do something other than what they do“. In his turn, K. O. Dahl, the Norwegian writer who is already a cult author in Norway, Sweden and Germany and who will soon be translated into Spanish and Catalan (by Planeta and Columna publishing houses, respectively) confesses that, although he is not completely sure of —what ”new Scandinavian fiction‘ means“ to which the title of his contribution refers, he believes that Nordic novels, despite the influence of North American fiction, —give a realistic vision of Scandinavian culture“.

7 And what defines this realism is —the domestic nature of its characters, civil servants“. They are policemen who have problems with their family life. They are not, therefore, the classical lone riders of North American fiction and, when the protagonists have problems, —they must divide his energy between work and domestic life“. Undoubtedly, a realistic defining feature, and even feminine. In contrast, if these protagonists live alone, such as his detective Gunnarstranda, —then they have a problem with drink, as is in fact the case of the ex-partners of many of my feminine readers“.

Marinina and post-Soviet Moscow —If you wish to have a vision of current post-Soviet Moscow, the best thing is to read Alexandra Marinina,“ affirms Francesc Camarasa. The creator of the policewoman Anastasia Kamenskaya has already sold 18 million copies worldwide. Like her hero, Marinina is a lawyer and doctor in criminology. She also worked for the Russian forensic investigators and even cooperated with Petrova 3e8, headquarters of the Home Affairs Office. Through experience, the author of The Spa Crimes or For the Sake of Dying does not believe that there is —anything pleasant or attractive in crime and its investigation but it can serve as a background to explain what you want to explain. A primitive mechanism of fooling readers as old as literature.“ What does Marinina deal with? Corruption and organised crime in today‘s Russia, —which are not exclusive to capitalism. The difference is that in the past it was not allowed to speak of these issues“. Corruption —is a painful yet natural process,“ she points out naturally and seriously. —The investigations state that corruption reaches its peak in developing countries.“ Faced with change, —it is easier to bribe a bureaucrat than follow the rules of the game. Although people read crime fiction a lot, it does not have a good reputation in Russia, it is considered as ”minor literature‘, laments Marinina. —It was in Spain where I was told that it is not shameful to be a detective writer.“

Crime fiction, new social fiction? —If there is any contribution that literature can make to human beings, this is to approach reality from a critical point of view thus contributing to its transformation,“ states Antonio Lozano, who in his two novels has approached the reality of the immigrants who cross the Strait on board small boats. Other authors, such as Jakob Arjouni or Lorenzo Silva, do not seem so clear about the function or the transforming capacity of fiction, although they agree that, through it, a determined contemporary reality is shown. And if something characterises contemporary society it is the drama of immigration. —In fact, the immigration referred to is just the tip of the iceberg of the drama that all the others, those who remain, suffer,“ states Lozano. But the word —drama“ can conceal the true nature of the question, which has nothing to do with any natural phenomenon. —It is the consequence of a determined situation of an extremely unfair international economic and political system that condemns many countries to misery; of how, after decolonisation, all the means are used so that the relationship of dependence continues; of corrupt leaders, of foreign debt, of centuries of slavery that deprived the African continent of its best men and women…“ But, moreover, Lozano explains that in Spain —we have given up being simple spectators of a phenomenon and have become an involved party,“ another powerful reason with which the writer, who was born and spent twenty years in Tangiers and is currently living in Gran Canaria, explains —why he writes crime fiction on immigration“. —A good novel reflects life, and politics is a part of our lives.“ This would be for Jakob Arjouni the means through which crime fiction would acquire a social or political

8 nature. But what he sought when he invented his detective Kemal Kayankaya was to create —a Turkish James Bond, a strong guy speaking German better than the Germans themselves“. What he also wanted when twenty years ago he gave life to his character was —to observe what Germans perceived in a Turkish face“. Arjouni believes that fascism and any other social evil —always starts in the most intimate and smallest dimension“. Thus, he argues, —I don‘t believe fiction can transform the world because to do so we must first know ourselves. But in this sense, crime fiction, like poetry, helps us know who we are,“ he concludes.

Lorenzo Silva, who in 2000 won the Nadal Award for his novel El alquimista impaciente , admits upfront that it was amazing that someone in Spain turned two civil servants into heroes. Its genre, he explains, which he has decided to call — Guardia Civil fiction,“ deals with —continuing the tradition of classical detective fiction“ while anchoring it —in contemporary Spanish society“. This is his social commitment. Thus, when he decided to write the novel, he thought about —a murder that could say something about contemporary Spain,“ and he sought the same from the persons who would investigate it. From here emerged his Guardia Civil partners Bevilacqua and Chamorro. But why Guardias Civiles in a country where these have a marked negative profile in the collective imaginary vision? Silva believed —that the moment had come to treat the Guardia Civil with normality, showing what they are like now: civil servants“. To this end, he made Bevilacqua the son of a foreigner (Uruguayan), with an urban and university background. —Because this happens today,“ he states. The same way that Chamorro, a woman, had to be young and with a low educational level, —because this was the most likely when I wrote the novel,“ adds this graduate in law and former lawyer. These characters, continues Silva, —are servants of order but have also a background that allows them to critically approach the working of the justice system“.

—The truth,“ concludes the writer of La flaqueza del bolchevique , —is that we must acknowledge that two old commonplaces have been overcome in this country“. The first is that the freedom of the individuals is threatened, above all, by the state. —This may have been true in the 19th and 20th centuries, but not at present. In a context where parallel structures of power proliferate, the public servant is the character who faces them, often in conditions of inequality due to the rigidity of the civil servant network, in order to guarantee the freedom of citizens before these powers. It is an almost Don Quixotesque character“. In the second place, Silva also believes that —the progressive prejudice against the state bodies and forces of security“ must be cast out. Thus, —although some time ago it was understandable due to the Francoist experience, it is nourished by a non-critical sympathy with the outsider“. This is why, he concludes, —I believe that it is necessary to shake off the complexes and make the effort of approaching reality with fresh eyes“. A real statement that, in the mouth of a young writer belonging to a group, Mediterranean crime fiction writers, characterised by a leftist sensitivity is almost countercultural.

Homage to Manuel Vázquez Montalbán On Friday 21st January, the writers of the 1st European Meeting on Crime Fiction participated in a homage to the creator of detective Carvalho in the Saló de Cent of Barcelona City Hall. The event had the contribution of Barcelona‘s Arts Councillor, Ferran Mascarell; the curator of the Books and Reading Year, Sergio Vila-Sanjuán; the writers Paco González Ledesma, Petros Markaris and Donna Leon; Anna Sallés, widow of Vázquez Montalbán; José Manuel Lara,

9 President of Grupo Planeta; Caterina Mieras, Catalan Minister of Culture; and Joan Clos, Mayor of Barcelona. On Saturday 22nd, Donna Leon, Alexandra Marinina, Alicia Giménez Bartlett, Petros Markaris and Jean-Christophe Grangé, among others, talked with their readers in several libraries of the city.

At the table But needless to say the true homage to Manolo Vázquez Montalbán took place with all his colleagues at the table between photographs of writers and toreros. They were, of course, at Casa Leopoldo, the prestigious restaurant in the district of El Raval. On Thursday evening the writers who came in from the cold had the opportunity to experience ( facta non verba ) the union between food and Mediterranean crime fiction to which Petros Markaris had referred some hours earlier with, for example, a dish of sea and mountain food, the quintessence of the union of contraries. On Friday, more than one commented on this at the Palauet Albéniz, where Mr Clos, Mayor of the city, invited them to lunch to illustrate their point. A culinary pilgrimage Ja laic ritual that Manolo enjoyed so much J which culminated on Saturday at the bookshop Negra y Criminal. There, between mussels and good wine, the most inspired analyses of the meeting could be heard and good news: the intention of repeating the event with a second European meeting on crime fiction. In another context, in the evening the Barcelona Centre for Contemporary Culture hosted the performance of the monologue by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán Before the Millennium Separates Us with Lluís Homar in the role of Carvalho and directed by Xavier Albertí. With Carvalho ranting against his creator for having used him as a tool to get to know the world, the event reached its end. Or perhaps the character has survived the author and, as long as he lives, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán will not have completely gone.

26.01.05

The concert ”Visions of Don Quixote‘ inaugurates the Books and Reading Year

The Prince and Princess of Asturias preside over the concert, inspired by Cervantes‘ work

The activities of the Books and Reading Year had started some days before, but a symbolic inauguration event was necessary. Music is probably the most appropriate artistic expression for these kinds of ceremonies and, on 26th January, at the Auditori of Barcelona, the concert ”Visions of Don Quixote‘, presided over by the Prince and Princess of Asturias Don Felipe and Doña Letizia, officially inaugurated the Books and Reading Year 2005. They were welcomed by the Mayor of Barcelona, Joan Clos; the Catalan Minister of Culture, Caterina Mieras; and the Arts Councillor, Ferran Mascarell, among other officials. The performance, an original idea by Quim Lecina, consisted of a concert progressively dramatised by the Jove Orquestra Nacional de Catalunya, three singers and a shadow theatre company, inspired by the major work of Cervantes. Music conducting was by Manel Valdivieso. The singers were the soprano Olatz Saitua (in the role of Trujamán), as tenor Manel Valdivieso himself (who incarnated Master Pedro), the baritone Joan Martín-Royo (Don Quixote) and the actor Ricard Sadurní (Sancho Panza). The show opened with Don Quixote and Sancho as guests of honour at the concert, first sitting in the audience and later on stage.

10 The concert Jwhich on the 26th was addressed to the professionals of the book sector and guests and the day after was offered to the general publicJ opened with El cortejo de las libreas , a piece by Pere Josep Puértolas, specially commissioned for the occasion, inspired by the episodes of Don Quixote set in Barcelona. It was followed by Suite Burlesque de Quixote , by Georg Philipp Telemann; the Three Songs to Dulcinea , by Maurice Ravel; and concluded with the opera by Manuel de Falla, Master Peter‘s Puppet Show . This final part, fully dramatised and with Don Quixote and Sancho on stage interacting with the beautiful Chinese shadows screened on a large surface, was the most colourful part of the show. Upon exiting the concert, of seventy minutes in length, those attending were given a copy of the Activities Programme of the Books and Reading Year, which brings together around 250 activities and the book Don Quijote en Barcelona , published by Destino, with a prologue by Martí de Riquer and epilogue by Carme Riera. The Prince and Princess of Asturias, also presented with a copy, talked with representatives of the publishing sector, such as Fernando Carro, Managing Director of Círculo de Lectores; Albert Pelach, Managing Director of Enciclopèdia Catalana, or the literary agent Anna Soler-Pont, as well as other key personalities in the world of books, such as Martí Romaní, Director of the Casa del Libro bookshop in Barcelona.

Books and the character of Barcelona Two days earlier, on 24th January, in the presentation of the concert, the Head of Books from the Ministry of Culture, Rogelio Blanco, had stressed the need to take advantage of the Don Quixote Year and the Books and Reading Year —to promote respect for other values and cultures“. In his turn, the Arts Councillor at Barcelona City Council, Ferran Mascarell, explained that one of the aims of this celebration is —to identify books as a part of the character of the city“. Mascarell estimated at 10 million euros the approximate budget of this joint initiative between Barcelona City Council, the Government of Catalonia and the Spanish Government, which will last throughout 2005 with around 250 activities, a number that is growing every day. The Catalan Minister of Culture, Caterina Mieras, pointed out that the Catalan Department of Culture —would open this event to all Catalonia“ and expressed her satisfaction with the involvement of all the authorities in the event.

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”Under 40‘: an overall view of Catalan literature With the title ”Under 40‘, on 3rd and 4th February Fort Pienc Library has hosted a meeting that brought together thirteen contemporary Catalan writers and six critics to talk about new trends in Catalan fiction. All under forty. —We wanted them to be under forty because I believe that there is a whole generation of writers of this age who offer us an unusual perspective within contemporary Catalan fiction: it is the first generation of authors not marked by the anti-Francoist struggle and which has been educated in Catalan,“ explained Jordi Cerdà, coordinator of this meeting, organised by Barcelona Library Consortium and the Books and Reading Year. However, the original title, ”Sota quarantena‘, seems to play with a dual meaning (in Catalan it can mean to be under 40 or under observation) and as if it was necessary to put these authors under observation it would in fact be because, despite their youth, —they already have a body of work worthy of consideration“. Jordi Cerdà stated: —We do not want to produce an aesthetic manifesto. What we want is to take a photograph, in my view quite happy, of the current state of Catalan literature“. A photograph that seeks

11 to provide an overall view given that —we have tried to make a choice of authors as diverse as possible and valuing only the aesthetic commitment of the writers“. —We did not seek to artificially establish a trend,“ concluded Cerdà, —but to see the existing variety of authors under forty, an age at which it is conventionally considered that they are the youngest writers“. Sebastià Alzamora, Josep Ll. Badal, Jordi Cabré, Neus Canyelles, Pere Guixà, Cristina Masanés, Empar Moliner, Jordi Puntí, Marc Romera, Toni Sala, Albert Sánchez Piñol, Francesc Serés and Manel Zabala, the thirteen writers who participated in the event, bring together a wide thematic, formal and stylistic range. —In fact,“ Sergio Vila-Sanjuán, curator of the Books and Reading Year pointed out, —one of the most interesting aspects of this meeting is the possibility of comparing such diverse aesthetics as that of Sebastià Alzamora (last Pla Award for fiction) and his aesthetics characteristic of the Catalan literary movement know as the imparables related to high culture with the humour of Empar Moliner, based on a new approach of customs and manners, or a certain dirty realism of Toni Sala with the anthropological mystery of Albert Sánchez Piñol.“ There are also some points in common, given that many authors participate in other genres such as poetry and essay. With reference to their presence in the media, they range from the —missing,“ as Cerdà called them, to those with a strong presence in the media. However, the literary critics are also responsible for this selection and, as Cerdà and Vila-Sanjuán pointed out, —it was agreed with them“. Six of them JJordi Llavina, Eva Comes, Víctor Martínez Gil, Jordi Galves, Xavier Pla and Eugènia BroggiJ participated in a meeting where literary criticism, both in the media and at an academic level, has a key role. ”The Media and Fiction‘, ”The Literary Language Model‘, ”Postmodernist Fiction and Riot‘, ”Literary Criticism and Intellectual Impostures‘ or ”Fiction Genres and Gender Fictions‘ are some of the debates included in a meeting which also seeks —to have a very active participation of the readers, who are the constructors of meaning“.

Moreover, Marta Clari, Head of the Barcelona Library Consortium, informed on the next activities to be held from February in the network of public libraries within the Books and Reading Year. These include the inauguration, on Monday 31st January, of the exhibition ”Southern Seas‘ at Can Fabra Library, —a photo-interpretation“ of Vázquez Montalbán‘s novel by Tatiana Donoso; the new activity ”Come and Have a Coffee with…‘, beginning on 10th February and which invites the readers to share Thursday evenings (7 pm) with writers, publishers and other representatives of the book sector in Barcelona at Francesca Bonnemaison Library, or the next meeting of the Division of Public Libraries of IFLA. In his turn, Sergio Vila-Sanjuán outlined, apart from the meeting ”Under 40,“ three activities to be held in February: the exhibition ”Looking at the World‘, the ”Terenci Moix Symposium‘ and a lecture by José Antonio Marina on the promotion of reading at school.

...Also in January

From 18th January to 28th February, the Catalonia History Museum hosts the exhibition ”Book Architects: Jou, Pla and Plana‘ featuring more than sixty works from these three Catalan bibliophiles, —architects and constructors“ of books which stand out for their technical excellence and artistic sensitivity.

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Also from the 18th and until the month of March, every Tuesday afternoon the Barcelona Centre for Contemporary Culture hosts the cycle of lectures ”Great Western Books,“ directed by the professor and literary critic Jordi Llovet.

Under the title ”The Barcelonas of Manuel Vázquez Montalbán‘, the libraries of Barcelona have been the framework for a programme of lectures on several aspects of the life and work of the writer from Barcelona and his relationship with the city.

Montalbán has also been the protagonist of the literary tour ”The Barcelona of Carvalho‘, an initiative of Barcelona Libraries which, from 29th January, every Saturday will take their participants to the most emblematic settings of the novels of the famous detective, while following the clues to the resolution of a mystery.

On 25th January, the ”2nd Reading Workshop‘, organised by Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana and Ômnium Cultural, held its first session, with an approach to the work of Víctor Català by Margarida Casacuberta.

And on the 27th, Feliu Formosa, Montserrat Bacardí, Miquel Desclot and Iolanda Pelegrí participated in the event ”Because I Love You: a Tribute to Anna Murià and Agustí Bartra“ which, organised by the Institució de les Lletres Catalanes, took place at Catalònia bookshop.

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