Salvador Espriu
Encyclopedia
Salvador Espriu i Castelló (səɫβəˈðo əsˈpɾiw) (July 10, 1913 – February 22, 1985) was a Catalan
poet writing in the Catalan language
.
, Catalonia
. He was the son of an attorney. His childhood was divided between his home town, Barcelona
, and Arenys de Mar
, a village on the Maresme
coast. At the age of sixteen, he published his first book, Israel, written in the Spanish language
. In 1930 he entered the University of Barcelona
, where he studied law and ancient history. While traveling (1933) to Egypt
, Greece
and Palestine
, he became acquainted with the countries that originated the great classical myths, and which would be so influential in his work.
During the Spanish civil war
he was mobilised and served in military accounting.
Translated into several languages, Espriu's work has obtained international recognition, most notably the Montaigne prize (1971). He was also given the Award of Honour of Catalan Letters (1972), the Ignasi Iglesias prize (1980), the City of Barcelona Prize (1982) and the Gold Medal of the Generalitat de Catalunya
(1982). He was awarded honorary doctor's degrees by the universities of Toulouse
and Barcelona
.
He died in Barcelona in 1985, and was buried in the Arenys de Mar cemetery, which gives name to his poem Cementiri de Sinera.
movement.
The publication of Aspectes (1934), Ariadna al laberint grotesc(1935) and Miratge a Citera (1935), established him as the most original narrator of his generation. In these books, Espriu's prose alternately shifts from grotesque distortion to an aestheticising lyricism, probably under the influence of Spanish-language modernists Valle-Inclán and Gabriel Miró
). He elaborated a synthetic realism under the linguistic tutelage of certain Catalan writers, such as Víctor Català and Joaquím Ruyra.
In Les cançons d'Ariadna (1949) he collected a series of poems from various periods that contrasted satire and distortion with elegy and lyricism and in which the mythological subjects can be found that were to appear in subsequent works.
The four books of poems that followed —Les hores and Mrs. Death (1952), El caminant i el mur (1954) and Final del laberint (1955)—compose, together with Cementiri de Sinera, a specific formal unity, on the one hand, given the symmetrical number of poems included in each volume and, on the other, the strict development of a very complex spiritual process that culminates in a mystical experience in the last book of the cycle.
after the Jewish usage
) in poems with a high spiritual, moral and political resonance.
Llibre de Sinera (1963), one of his most hermetic books, ties in with subjects from the two previous works and again circumscribes the civil ambit of his poetry to the "homeland" mythicized in Sinera, a word phonetically formed by spelling backwards Arenys
. In Setmana Santa (1971), through the images of the ritual procession, the author presents the myth of the Catholic Passion from a metaphysical perspective.
The bibliography of Espriu contains two more poems, included in the first volume of his Complete works (1968) (Per al llibre de salms d'aquests vells cecs and Fragments. Versots. Intencions. Matisos), and a selection of critical works, Evocació de Rosselló-Pòrcel i altres notes (1957).
Beginning in 1968, with the publication of his Complete works I. Poetry, he dedicated himself to a minute revision of his entire work. In narrative, the novels El doctor Rip (1931) and Laia (1932) were practically re-written when they were again published (1979 and 1968, respectively). The same occurred with his collection of narrations Aspectes (1934) and Ariadna al laberint grotesc (1935), published again in 1981 and 1975, respectively.
The last examples of his production were, with respect to theatre, Una altra Fedra si us plau ... (1978), the prose volume Les roques i el mar, el blau (1981) and, in poetry, the poem D'una vella i encerclada terra (1979) and the collection Per a la bona gent (1984).
Several theatral stagings of this work were made by Ricard Salvat, who also composed, based on texts by Espriu from various origins, Ronda de mort a Sinera (1966), a work with a broad theatrical audience.
The Valencian songwriter and singer Raimon
has set to music Espriu's poems including Les cançons de la roda del temps (Songs on the Passing of Time), Inici de càntic en el temple (Beginning of the Canticle in the Temple) and Indesinenter.
after the Spanish civil war defeat, of which he sings its failings and hope.
Perhaps the most important virtue and originality of Espriu has been his capacity to reconcile, in the same unitary work, the spiritual problems of man, with metaphysical resonances, with his fate as a member of a group subjected to social and political tensions, while posing the great questions of justice and liberty.
called Espriu 'an extraordinary poet by any international standard', and later said 'The Nobel
committee is guilty of many errors, and one of those was not to have given the prize to Salvador Espriu. I believe he deserved it'.
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 writing in the Catalan language
Catalan language
Catalan 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...
.
Biography
Espriu was born in Santa Coloma de FarnersSanta Coloma de Farners
Santa Coloma de Farners is a spa town and capital of the comarca of the Selva, inCatalonia, Spain, and of the judicial district of Santa Coloma.It is situated on the edge of the Selva depression and of the Guilleries...
, Catalonia
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...
. He was the son of an attorney. His childhood was divided between his home town, 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...
, and Arenys de Mar
Arenys de Mar
Arenys de Mar , and de mar for by the sea as opposed to Arenys de Munt town inland) is one of the main municipalities of the comarca of Maresme, Barcelona Province, Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the coast between Sant Vicenç de Montalt and Canet de Mar...
, a village on the Maresme
Maresme
Maresme is a comarca located along the Catalan Mediterranean coast in Spain, between the comarques of Barcelonès and Selva , and also bordering with Vallès Oriental ....
coast. At the age of sixteen, he published his first book, Israel, written in the Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. In 1930 he entered the University of Barcelona
University 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...
, where he studied law and ancient history. While traveling (1933) to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, he became acquainted with the countries that originated the great classical myths, and which would be so influential in his work.
During 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...
he was mobilised and served in military accounting.
Translated into several languages, Espriu's work has obtained international recognition, most notably the Montaigne prize (1971). He was also given the Award of Honour of Catalan Letters (1972), the Ignasi Iglesias prize (1980), the City of Barcelona Prize (1982) and the Gold Medal of the Generalitat de Catalunya
Generalitat de Catalunya
The Generalitat of Catalonia is the institution under which the autonomous community of Catalonia is politically organised. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Government of Catalonia....
(1982). He was awarded honorary doctor's degrees by the universities of Toulouse
University of Toulouse
The Université de Toulouse is a consortium of French universities, grandes écoles and other institutions of higher education and research, named after one of the earliest universities established in Europe in 1229, and including the successor universities to that earlier university...
and Barcelona
University 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...
.
He died in Barcelona in 1985, and was buried in the Arenys de Mar cemetery, which gives name to his poem Cementiri de Sinera.
First works
In 1931 he published El doctor Rip, and the following year, Laia, novels that move away from the then-fashionable theoretical formulas of the aesthetics of the Catalan NoucentismeNoucentisme
Noucentisme was a Catalan cultural movement of the early 20th century that originated largely as a reaction against Modernisme, both in art and ideology, and was, simultaneously, a perception of art almost opposite to that of avantgardists...
movement.
The publication of Aspectes (1934), Ariadna al laberint grotesc(1935) and Miratge a Citera (1935), established him as the most original narrator of his generation. In these books, Espriu's prose alternately shifts from grotesque distortion to an aestheticising lyricism, probably under the influence of Spanish-language modernists Valle-Inclán and Gabriel Miró
Gabriel Miró
Gabriel Miró Ferrer .Most critics believe that Gabriel Miró's literary maturity begins with Las cerezas del cementerio , whose plot revolves around the tragic love of the super-sensitive young man Félix Valdivia for an older woman and presents—with an atmosphere of voluptuousness and lyrical...
). He elaborated a synthetic realism under the linguistic tutelage of certain Catalan writers, such as Víctor Català and Joaquím Ruyra.
The civil war
In 1937, during the Civil War, he published Letizia i altres proses. In 1939, in occupied Barcelona and before the military conflict ended, he wrote a play, Antigone (published in 1955 and opened in 1958), on the subject of fratricidal war and compassion for the losers.Poetry
Espriu, who had begun to write poetry before the war, did not publish his first volume of poems until 1946: Cementiri de Sinera, an elegy with a great formal sobriety. With this book and with the play Primera història d'Esther (published in 1948 and opened in 1957) —linguistically creative and original— began his post-war popularity, which grew as the rest of his work, essentially poetical, was published.In Les cançons d'Ariadna (1949) he collected a series of poems from various periods that contrasted satire and distortion with elegy and lyricism and in which the mythological subjects can be found that were to appear in subsequent works.
The four books of poems that followed —Les hores and Mrs. Death (1952), El caminant i el mur (1954) and Final del laberint (1955)—compose, together with Cementiri de Sinera, a specific formal unity, on the one hand, given the symmetrical number of poems included in each volume and, on the other, the strict development of a very complex spiritual process that culminates in a mystical experience in the last book of the cycle.
Popular success
The tremendous public success of La pell de brau (1960) signified the popular recognition of Espriu: the author posed the historical drama of Sepharad (poet's nickname for SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
after the Jewish usage
Sepharad
Sepharad, or Sefarad, or Sfard, is a biblical place name of uncertain location. It is mentioned only once in the Bible, in the Book of Obadiah . There are, however, Persian inscriptions that refer to two places called "Saparda": one area in Media and another in Asia Minor...
) in poems with a high spiritual, moral and political resonance.
Llibre de Sinera (1963), one of his most hermetic books, ties in with subjects from the two previous works and again circumscribes the civil ambit of his poetry to the "homeland" mythicized in Sinera, a word phonetically formed by spelling backwards Arenys
Arenys de Mar
Arenys de Mar , and de mar for by the sea as opposed to Arenys de Munt town inland) is one of the main municipalities of the comarca of Maresme, Barcelona Province, Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the coast between Sant Vicenç de Montalt and Canet de Mar...
. In Setmana Santa (1971), through the images of the ritual procession, the author presents the myth of the Catholic Passion from a metaphysical perspective.
The bibliography of Espriu contains two more poems, included in the first volume of his Complete works (1968) (Per al llibre de salms d'aquests vells cecs and Fragments. Versots. Intencions. Matisos), and a selection of critical works, Evocació de Rosselló-Pòrcel i altres notes (1957).
Beginning in 1968, with the publication of his Complete works I. Poetry, he dedicated himself to a minute revision of his entire work. In narrative, the novels El doctor Rip (1931) and Laia (1932) were practically re-written when they were again published (1979 and 1968, respectively). The same occurred with his collection of narrations Aspectes (1934) and Ariadna al laberint grotesc (1935), published again in 1981 and 1975, respectively.
The last examples of his production were, with respect to theatre, Una altra Fedra si us plau ... (1978), the prose volume Les roques i el mar, el blau (1981) and, in poetry, the poem D'una vella i encerclada terra (1979) and the collection Per a la bona gent (1984).
Several theatral stagings of this work were made by Ricard Salvat, who also composed, based on texts by Espriu from various origins, Ronda de mort a Sinera (1966), a work with a broad theatrical audience.
The Valencian songwriter and singer Raimon
Raimon
Ramon Pelegero Sanchis, who takes the stage name of Raimon , is a Valencian Spanish singer, one of the most important exponents of the musical style of Nova Cançó and one of the most well-known veteran artists in the Catalan language.-Youth:...
has set to music Espriu's poems including Les cançons de la roda del temps (Songs on the Passing of Time), Inici de càntic en el temple (Beginning of the Canticle in the Temple) and Indesinenter.
A meditation on death
The author generically described his work as a "meditation on death", but this term is too restrictive to comprehend its complexity and cultural point of view. Actually, Espriu proposes to assume the literary tradition of humanity in a personal re-creation situated in a specific geographical and historical context, CataloniaCatalonia
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...
after the Spanish civil war defeat, of which he sings its failings and hope.
Perhaps the most important virtue and originality of Espriu has been his capacity to reconcile, in the same unitary work, the spiritual problems of man, with metaphysical resonances, with his fate as a member of a group subjected to social and political tensions, while posing the great questions of justice and liberty.
International Acclaim
During his acceptance of the International Catalonia prize, renowned literary critic Harold BloomHarold Bloom
Harold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his unique and controversial theories of poetic influence, and his prodigious literary output, particularly for a literary...
called Espriu 'an extraordinary poet by any international standard', and later said 'The Nobel
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
committee is guilty of many errors, and one of those was not to have given the prize to Salvador Espriu. I believe he deserved it'.
External links
- Catalan Poetry Selection at Lletra, espai virtual de literatura catalana Some poems with English translation.
- Salvador Espriu in LletrA, Catalan Literature Online (Open University of Catalonia)
- Association of Catalan Language Writers including a poems anthology
- Centre de documentació i estudi Salvador Espriu