LITERATURE

CARLES RIBA: TOWARDS A BIOGRAPHY

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CARLESRIBA (BARCELONA 1893- 1959). DISTINGUISHED AUTHOR AND HUMANIST. WENT INTO EXILE IN 1939, AND ON HIS RETURN TO CATALONIABECAME A TEACHER TO THE NEW GENERATIONS AND THE UNDISPUTED SPOKESMAN FOR CATALANINTELLECTUALS. A MEMBER OF THE "NOUCENTISTA" CULTURAL CIRCLES, HIS WORK REPRESENTS ONE OF THE HIGH POINTS OF CONTEMPORARY CATALANPOETRY.

arles Riba, poet, translator, Odyssey and the publication of his first had already translated Walter Scott, critic and teacher, was born in book of poems Estances. "We are al1 Poe, the Song of Songs, etc. and pub- 1893, a hundred years ago. A indebted to Carles Riba", writes Josep lished some thirty or so articles and li- man of extraordinary precocity, short of Pla, "because there is no-one like Riba terary essays on both Catalan and foreign stature aiid with a somewhat under- and because his work as a translator is authors -Browning, Schiller, Goethe, nourished look about him, entrenched already of national importante". He was Homer, Dickens, Andersen, Francis behind a pair of thick spectacles, in 19 1 1 twenty-six years old and three years ear- James, Poe, etc.-, which he put together he surprised everyone -at the tender age lier had married Clementina Arderiu, a in his first book of essays Estances i of eighteen!- with his translation of Vir- poet and the daughter of silversmiths, altres articles (1 92 1). gil's Bucolics. But the real breakthrough his faithful companion in life and death, In 1920, along with his wife and the came in 19 19 with his translation of the in sickness and in health. Meanwhile, he painter Josep Obiols, he travelled to Italy -Florence, Siena, Perusa and Assi- began to appear. Franco's Ministry of si-; more than five months drinking at Education even organised some "Con- the springs of classicism and humanism, gresos de Poesía" in Segovia (1952) and steeping himself in art and beauty. Once Santiago de Compostela (1954), to back in Barcelona, he was soon pre- which Riba and other Catalan poets paring another journey: a one-year visit were invited. Riba took the opportunity (1922-1 923) to Germany spent studying to describe in detail the situation of the at the University of Munich, and an op- Catalan language and culture, and was portunity to travel and get to know the discovered and recognized as the great country. He was to return unques- poet and intellectual he was. In 1954 he tionably wiser and, as a poet "lost in was once again able to travel abroad a featureless wasteland", he discovered -France and Belgium-, and that same "a towering lyric poet, a contemporary year he published Esbós de tres oratoris, of Goethe and at times, seemingly, of a volume of poems that marks a new ourselves: Holderlin". direction in Riba's poetry. In 1955 he On his return from Germany he con- travelled to the Camargue and the south tinued with his literary writings, which of France and in 1956 visited severa1 in 1927 he collected in Els Marges, and universities in Germany and Great went on to become one of the most ac- Britain. In 1957 he received the French complished translators of Greek for the Legion of Honour, published ... Més els recently created Bernat Metge Founda- poemes, his last collection of essays, and tion, for which, during the course of his had for some years been translating Ka- life, he translated Sophocles, Xenophon, vafis, "a sensational revelation", with Plutarch, Aeschylus, etc., and of which leave their country on the journey into "coincidences nourished by the same he was to be a director during the 1936- exile. Riba's was not to be the hardest, sap and proud of the same demands and 1939 war and from 1958 until his death. but exile it was nevertheless. Avignon, the same disdains". But he was not to see In 1927 Riba and his wife saw one of Bierville, L'Isle-Adam, Bordeaux and his translation published. He died in their dearest dreams come true. They Montpeller. And once again war and the 1959, his heart unable to stand the strain spent two months on "the unforgettable occupation of France by the German of a surgical operation. With public rec- visit to Greece to see the landscapes of troops. Riba was offered the chance to ognition of his work and his impor- al1 those well-loved authors 1 have trans- leave for America, but he knew that his tance at its height, Riba left us. "There is lated". Like the two poets they are, the work was in Catalonia, and as soon as he no doubt that Riba's death has the pro- drink the waters of Castalia and entrust could he returned. He had written a portions of a true national catastrophe", their future to the Gods. A future full of book while in exile, probably his most wrote Fuster. Small groups of young unforeseen developments. In 1931 the important, Elegies de Bierville, "my spir- people were the most direct heirs to his Republic is proclaimed and Catalonia itual hymn". Written "beneath the no- work, work which, like his life, can be receives its statute of autonomy. At last, ble, spreading kindness of the trees of summed up with a line from Holderlin: after years of dictatorship, the country France", between Bierville and Montpe- "you have love enough, for love alone be has a democratic structure and Riba ller, Riba sent it to those of his readers angry ever". plays an active part. But above al1 else he still in Catalonia by a thousand tortuous is a writer. He carried on writing (in paths: "You will arrive without me in Further reading 1930 he published the second volume of the waiting motherland, elegies; from Poems, with English translations by J.L. Estantes), carried on translating, carried suffering to suffering you are herded by Gili (Oxford, The Dolphin Book, 1970). on teaching. However, these years are impatience". Elegie di Bierville, tradotte di Giuseppe little more than a mirage. In 1936 Fran- In 1943 he crossed the border secretly Sansone (Turin, Einaudi, 1977). co rises against the Republic. A war and settled in Barcelona. He wrote and Carles Riba in Antologia depoesia catala starts that will overturn the present and translated and opened the doors of his contemporhnea, translated by Stella put the future at stake. Riba directs the home, offering a welcome and his Leonardos (Sao Paulo, Monfort, 1969). Bernat Metge Foundation, takes part in guidance to the young. But always under Elegías de Bierville (Madrid, Visor li- the creation of the Institució de les Lle- cover of discretion. Franco's dictators- bros / Ministerio de Cultura. Colección tres Catalanes (Institute of Catalan Lite- hip allowed him no public activity and Visor de Poesía, 126). rature), contributes to the Revista de Ca- kept watch over his private activities. Salvaje corazón, translated by Rafael de talunya, presents his doctoral thesis, These were the years of interna1 exile, Santos Torroella (Madrid, Visor libros / etc., and on his visits to France and during which books had to be published Ministerio de Cultura. Colección Visor . Great Britain becomes the ambassador almost clandestinely and sold under the de Poesía, 226). of Catalan culture. In 1937 he published counter. In spite of everything, Riba's Obra poética, Antología, translated by yet another book of poetry, Tres suites, work continued: Les versions de Holder- Rafael de Santos Torroella, Alfonso and one of essays, Per comprendre. lin (1944), a new translation of the Odys- Costafreda and Paulina Crusat (Madrid, But the arms of dictatorship defeat rea- sey (1949) and two volumes of poetry, Insula, 1956). son and democracy, and thousands of Del joc i el foc (1 946) and Salvatge cor Carles Riba in Ocho siglos de poesía ca- Catalan and Spanish men and women of (1952). After 1952 the pressure of the talana (Madrid, Alianza Editorial, every class and condition are forced to dictatorship eased slightly and chinks 1969).