Josep Palau i Fabre
Encyclopedia
Josep Palau i Fabre was a Catalan
poet and writer. He was a representative of Catalan literature
during the post-World War period and a world expert on the work of Pablo Picasso
.
, and, during the 1950s, he was an active collaborator in various literary magazines such as Poesia and Ariel as well as being an editor at the La serena publishing house. A scholarship from the French government drew Fabre to Paris in 1945, where he lived until 1951. Afterward, he revoked his Spanish citizenship so that he could be classified as a political refugee.
In addition to poetry, he wrote plays, short stories and essays, among them it is worth mentioning those on Pablo Picasso
. His fictional world draws on eroticism, showing strong dimensions other than those of the standard idea of reality and harshly criticising the idea of a self-satisfied, mediocre society. Fabre was, moreover, an active translator, translating into Catalan works by Antonin Artaud
, Arthur Rimbaud
, Honoré de Balzac
, and the book Letters of a Portuguese Nun
. His own books have been translated into several languages.
Fabre died at the Hospital de la Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona aged 90 years and was buried in the municipal cemetery in Caldes d'Estrac.
Catalan people
The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...
poet and writer. He was a representative of Catalan literature
Catalan literature
Catalan literature is the name conventionally used to refer to literature written in the Catalan language. The Catalan literary tradition is extensive, starting in the Middle Ages....
during the post-World War period and a world expert on the work of Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
.
Biography
The son of a painter and decorator, towards the end of the 1930s Fabre began his literary career by writing poetry. He studied Arts at the University of BarcelonaUniversity of Barcelona
The University of Barcelona is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. It is a member of the Coimbra Group, LERU, European University Association, Mediterranean Universities Union, International Research Universities Network and Vives Network...
, and, during the 1950s, he was an active collaborator in various literary magazines such as Poesia and Ariel as well as being an editor at the La serena publishing house. A scholarship from the French government drew Fabre to Paris in 1945, where he lived until 1951. Afterward, he revoked his Spanish citizenship so that he could be classified as a political refugee.
In addition to poetry, he wrote plays, short stories and essays, among them it is worth mentioning those on Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
. His fictional world draws on eroticism, showing strong dimensions other than those of the standard idea of reality and harshly criticising the idea of a self-satisfied, mediocre society. Fabre was, moreover, an active translator, translating into Catalan works by Antonin Artaud
Antonin Artaud
Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, more well-known as Antonin Artaud was a French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director...
, Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
, Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon....
, and the book Letters of a Portuguese Nun
Letters of a Portuguese Nun
The Letters of a Portuguese Nun , first published anonymously by Claude Barbin in Paris in 1669, is a work believed by most scholars to be epistolary fiction in the form of five letters written by Gabriel-Joseph de La Vergne, comte de Guilleragues , a minor peer, diplomat, secretary to the Prince...
. His own books have been translated into several languages.
Fabre died at the Hospital de la Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona aged 90 years and was buried in the municipal cemetery in Caldes d'Estrac.
Poetry
- 1942 : Balades amargues
- 1943 : L'aprenent del poeta
- 1945 : Imitació de Rosselló-Pòrcel
- 1946 : Càncer
- 1952 : Poemes de l'alquimista (rééditions en 1977, 1979, 1991 et 2002, dans ce dernier car dans une édition bilingue CatalanCatalan languageCatalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
-espagnol) - 2001 : Les veus del ventríloc: poesia de teatre
Novels
- 1983 : Contes despullats
- 1984 : La tesi doctoral del diable
- 1988 : Amb noms de dona
- 1991 : Un Saló que camina
- 1993 : L'Alfa Romeo i Julieta i altres contes
- 1993 : Contes de capçalera
- 1996 : Les metamorfosis d'Ovídia i altres contes
Plays
- 1957 : Esquelet de Don Joan
- 1972 : Homenatge a Picasso
- 1977 : Teatre
- 1978 : La tràgica història de Miquel Kolhas
- 1986 : Avui Romeo i Julieta. El porter i el penalty
- 1991 : L'Alfa Romeo i Julieta, i altres contes, precedit per Aparició de Faust
- 2000 : La confessió o l'esca del pecat
- 2003 : Teatre de Don Joan
Essays and literary criticism
- 1943 : Pensaments
- 1961 : La tragèdia o el llenguatge de la llibertat
- 1962 : El mirall embruixat
- 1962 : Vides de Picasso
- 1962 : Vides de Picasso: assaig de biografia
- 1963 : Picasso
- 1964 : Doble assaig sobre Picasso
- 1966 : Picasso a Catalunya
- 1970 : Picasso per Picasso
- 1971 : L'extraordinària vida de Picasso
- 1971 : Picasso i els seus amics catalans
- 1976 : Antonin Artaud i la revolta del teatre modern
- 1976 : Quaderns de l'alquimista
- 1977 : Pare Picasso
- 1979 : El « Gernika » de Picasso
- 1981 : El secret de les Menines de Picasso
- 1981 : Picasso
- 1981 : Picasso vivent, 1881-1907
- 1981 : Picasso, Barcelona, Catalunya (avec Montserrat Blanch, Alexandre Cirici et Isabel Coll)
- 1981 : Picasso a l'abast
- 1983 : Nous quaderns de l'alquimista
- 1990 : Picasso cubisme, 19017-1917
- 1991 : Quaderns inèdits de l'alquimista
- 1996 : Lorca-Picasso
- 1996 : Quaderns de vella i nova alquímia
- 1997 : Quaderns de l'alquimista
- 1997 : Estimat Picasso
- 1999 : Picasso dels ballets al drama, 1917-1926
- 2004 : Problemàtica de la tragèdia a Catalunya: obertura del curs acadèmic, 2003-2004