Josep Abril i Virgili was a self-taught Catalan

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

 poet and playwright. He specialized in the production of works with easily-understood and popular moral lessons, which were publicised through Roman Catholic organizations.

Publications

Abril i Virgili collaborated in the production of several publications such as La Barretina, La Creu de Montseny (The Cross of Montseny), Lo Pensament Català (Catalan Thought), Cu-Cut! and Bon Seny (Good Sense), among others.

Bon Seny was a book on ancestral Catalan wisdom (the famous seny

Seny

Seny is a form of ancestral Catalan wisdom or sensibleness. It involves well-pondered perception of situations, level-headedness, awareness, integrity and right action. The opposite of seny is known as rauxa "foolish recklessness"....

), encouraged by Josep Torras i Bages

Josep Torras i Bages

Josep Torras i Bages , born at Les Cabanyes, Alt Penedès, on 12 September 1846 - died at Vic, Osona, on 7 February 1916) was a Catalan thinker, writer and bishop...

, the respected Catalan writer and bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of Vic

Vic

Vic is the capital of the comarca of Osona, in the Barcelona Province, Catalonia, Spain. Vic's location, only 69 km far from Barcelona and 60 km from Girona, has made it one of the most important towns in central Catalonia.-History:...

. Illustrated by Joan Junceda (1881-1948), it contains aphorism

Aphorism

An aphorism is an original thought, spoken or written in a laconic and memorable form.The term was first used in the Aphorisms of Hippocrates...

s, fable

Fable

A fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized , and that illustrates a moral lesson , which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.A fable differs from...

s and local humorous sayings (acudits) based on traditional Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 principles. First published in Catalan before the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

, a limited edition was reprinted in 1959. It became a rare collectors item during General Franco's dictatorship when publications in the Catalan language were severely restricted. Nine years after Franco's death it was reprinted by a Roman Catholic publishing house in Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

.

Plays

As a playwright, Josep Abril i Virgili is the author of several morality plays that were performed mainly in Catholic associations.

Notable among these are Furor pessebrista (1897), the prose monologue L’Home roig (The Red Man, 1913), the comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 of manners La mort de l’avi (The Death of the Grandfather, 1898), the almost humoristic dialogue D'extrem a extrem (1896), and the dramas Lo roure centenari (The Centennial Oak, 1897), El castell de Montsoliu (The castle of Montsoliu, 1898), Cadena del captiu (Chain of the Captive, 1900), Iselda (1901), and Cami del vici (The Road of Vice, 1912), as well as L’hostal de la Serena, which was included in the collection Lectura popular (Popular Readings).

External links

• Museu Arxiu de Santa Maria Centre d'Estudis Locals de Mataró
  Mataró
  Mataró is the capital and largest city of the comarca of the Maresme, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia Autonomous Community, Spain. It is located on the Costa del Maresme, to the south of Costa Brava, between Cabrera de Mar and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, to the north-east of Barcelona. , it...
  
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