Jaume Cabré

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Jaume Cabré (2006)

Jaume Cabré i Fabré (born April 30, 1947 in Barcelona ) is a Spanish philologist and writer who writes in the Catalan language .

Life

Cabré graduated from the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) with a degree in Catalan Philology . He became a teacher on Liberation and professor at the University of Lleida (UdL) and is a member of the Philological Department of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC).

For many years he combined the writing profession with the teaching profession. As a screenwriter, he worked for both television and the film industry. Together with Joaquim Maria Puyal , he was the inventor and screenwriter of the first television series on the Catalan television station (TV3): La Granja (1989–1992), later followed by other titles such as Estació d'Enllaç (1994–1998), Crims (2000) and the television films La dama blanca (1987), Nines russes (2003) and Sara (2003). Together with Jaume Fuster , Vicenç Villatoro and Antoni Verdaguer , he wrote the screenplay for Antoni Verdaguer's film La teranyina (1990), which is based on the novel by Jaume Cabré. With the same team he also wrote the screenplay Havanera (1993).

Literary works

The beginnings

Jaume Cabré's first books were the volumes of short stories Faules de mal desar (Fables that cannot be classified) (1974) and Toquen a morts (The death knell is ringing) (1977).

Already in his first novel, Galceran, l'heroi de la guerra negra (Galceran, the hero of the Black War) (1978), the themes that will occupy him again and again in his later works are revealed : power and condition humaine . The mugger Jaume Galceran, a figure full of contradictions, becomes a reluctant hero in the war, the “guerra dels matiners” ( Second Carlist War ).

In the second novel, Carn d'olla (Meat Stew) (1978), an entirely different character takes center stage, the former prostitute Barringa Barranga, who forges a dense network of relationships in the Sant Antoni district of Barcelona.

In El mirall i l'ombra (The Mirror and the Shadow) (1980) music plays an important role for the first time, and the importance of artistic creation is reflected on, themes that are repeatedly taken up in his later works.

In 1980 he published a children's book, the novel La història que en Roc Pons no coneixia (The story Roc Pons did not know), and a year later a short story entitled El blauet (The Bluethroat).

The consolidation

The three titles that make up the Feixes cycle and on which Cabré had worked for years appear in 1984 and 1985 . In 1984 La Teranyina (The Spider's Web), set in the tragic week of Barcelona, ​​was released. This book describes the events of that time, but not in Barcelona but in the city of Feixes, the literary alter ego of Terrassa . The struggle for political, economic and family power can be seen in the fates of the various characters in the Rigau family and the other characters in the novel.

In the same year Fra Junoy o l'agonia del sons (Frater Junoy or the Agony of Tones) appears, a novel that Cabré - like all his later novels - took many years to complete. In addition to the events that take place in secret in the world of the Church of Feixes and the Convent of La Ràpita (where the main character is Frater Junoy confessor), music is also of crucial importance here. Some of the characters from La Teranyina and the world of Feixes also appear in this novel, which in some ways is the continuation of the first two books. However, the focus here is on the figure of Frater Junoy, who becomes the victim of those who have the power to direct the course of things as they see fit.

In 1985 the short novel Luvowski o la desraó (Luvowski or Unreason) was published, the conclusion of the stories about the characters and families of the previous novels. This short novel, actually a long story, is described in the volume of stories Llibre de preludis , in which music still plays a major role.

In 1984 his second children's book was published: L'home de Sau (The Man from Sau).

Maturity

In 1991 Senyoria (Your Highness) appeared, a novel set in Barcelona at the end of the 18th century about the corruption of the judiciary that results from unrestricted power. If Brother Junoy was a victim of this power, Cabré is now portraying the figure of a judge with all his fears and selfishness with Don Rafel Massó, the court president of Barcelona.

L'ombra de l'eunuc (The Shadow of the Eunuch, 1996) is a novel that describes the last years of the Franco era, the transition to democracy - the so-called transition in Spain - and the following years from the perspective of the Cabrés generation portrays who is embodied by the protagonist Miquel Gensana. At the same time it is a thoughtful novel about artistic creation, but above all about musical creation. The structure of the narrative follows the structure of the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra by Alban Berg .

Parallel to working on his next novel, Cabré also devotes himself to other genres. In 1999 he published El sentit de la ficció (The Sense of Fiction), an essay on writing literature and the writer's “culinary art”.

In 2000 another volume of short stories was published , Viatge d'hivern (Winterreise), the 14 stories of which are subtly linked. Although the stories are set in different places and at different times, there is a relationship between them that the reader only gradually discovers as he reads it.

In 2001, Cabré's first play Pluja seca (Dry Rain) was premiered at the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya (National Theater of Catalonia) . This piece - as in the subsequent novel Les veus del Pamano - is about falsifying history and about the fact that history is always written by the victors: When the antipope Benedict XIII. In 1423 he died in the castle of Peñíscola , the cardinals gathered there decided to elect a successor. The fact that he, like his predecessor, is still referred to in the history books as the “ antipope ” is only thanks to the fact that Rome finally succeeded in asserting its claim to power.

Les veus del Pamano (The Voices of the River) (2004) begins in the 1940s in the fictional Pyrenean village of Torena in the Catalan region of Pallars Sobirà and continues to the present day. The main characters are the teacher Oriol Fontelles, the teacher Tina Bros and Elisenda Vilabrú, a landlady with almost unlimited power in Torena. Historical memory, the impossibility to forgive a murder, and the fear of being forgotten are some of the themes that play a role in this novel.

In 2005, Cabré published his second essay, La matèria de l'esperit (The Matter of Mind) on reading.

The German title of his 2011 novel Jo confesso does not refer to the central motif, but fell victim to the publisher's commercial considerations.

bibliography

Volumes of stories

  • Faules de mal desar (Selecta. Barcelona, ​​1974).
  • Toquen a morts (La Magrana. Barcelona, ​​1977).
  • Tarda lliure (1981) (Recull Prize, 1980).
  • Llibre de preludis (Edicions 62nd Barcelona, ​​1985). New edition Proa. Barcelona, ​​2002.
  • Viatge d'hivern (Proa. Barcelona, ​​2000).

Novels

  • Galceran, l'heroi de la guerra negra . Proa Publishing House, Barcelona.
  • Carn d'olla . (Moll. Mallorca, 1978). New edition Proa Verlag, Barcelona 1999.
  • El mirall i l'ombra . Laia Publishing House, Barcelona 1980.
  • La teranyina . Proa Verlag, Barcelona 1984.
  • Fra Junoy o l'agonia dels sons . (Edicions 62. Barcelona, ​​1984) New edition Proa Verlag, Barcelona 1998.
  • Senyoria . Proa Verlag, Barcelona 1991.
    • Senyoria . Translated from the Catalan by Kirsten Brandt. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt 2009, ISBN 978-3518421024 .
  • El llibre de Feixes . Proa Publishing House, Barcelona 1996.
  • L'ombra de l'eunuc . Proa Publishing House, Barcelona 1996.
    • A better time . Translated from the Catalan by Kirsten Brandt and Petra Zickmann. Insel Verlag, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3458177395 .
  • Les veus del Pamano . Proa Publishing House, Barcelona 2004.
    • The voices of the river . Translated from the Catalan by Kirsten Brandt. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt 2007, ISBN 978-3518460498 .
  • Jo confesso . Proa Verlag, Barcelona 2011.
    • The silence of the collector . Translated from the Catalan by Kirsten Brandt and Petra Zickmann. Insel Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3458175223 .

essay

  • El sentit de la ficció (Proa. Barcelona, ​​1999).
  • La matèria de l'esperit (Proa. Barcelona, ​​2005).
  • Les incerteses (Proa. Barcelona, ​​2015)

theatre

  • Pluja seca (Proa-TNC. Barcelona, ​​January 2001).

Books for children and young readers

  • La història que en Roc Pons no coneixia (La Galera. Barcelona, ​​1980).
  • L'any del blauet (Barcanova. Barcelona, ​​1981).
  • L'home de Sau (La Galera. Barcelona, ​​1985).

Scripts

  • La dama blanca (TV movie) (1987).
  • La teranyina (broadcast) (1988).
  • Fins que la mort ens separi (radio) (1989).
  • La granja (TV series) (1989-1992).
  • La Teranyina (film) (1990).
  • Havanera (film) (1993).
  • Estació d'enllaç (TV series) (1994–1998).
  • Crims (TV series) (2000).
  • Nines Russes (TV Movie) (2003).
  • Sara (TV movie) (2003).

Awards

Jaume & Muriel Casals , Palau de la Música Catalana .
  • Fastenrath, 1980. Carn d'olla
  • Recull, 1980. Tarda lliure
  • Crítica Serra d'Or, 1981. La història que en Roc Pons no coneixia
  • Sant Jordi, 1983. La teranyina
  • Prudenci Bertrana, 1983. Fra Junoy o l'agonia dels sons
  • Crítica Serra d'Or, 1985. Fra Junoy o l'agonia dels sons
  • Spanish Critics' Prize, 1985. Fra Junoy o l'agonia dels sons
  • Crexells, 1991
  • Readers of “El Temps”, 1992. Senyoria
  • Prudenci Bertrana, 1992. Senyoria
  • Crítica Serra d'Or, 1992. Senyoria
  • Spanish Critics' Prize, 1992. Senyoria
  • Prix ​​Méditerranée 2004 as the best foreign novel Sa Seigneurie
  • Federal Prize for Literature, 1992. La Granja
  • Ciutat de Barcelona, ​​1997. L'ombra de l'eunuc
  • Crítica Serra d'Or, 1997. L'ombra de l'eunuc
  • Lletra d'Or, 1997. L'ombra de l'eunuc
  • Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana, 1999. Viatge d'hivern
  • Crítica Serra d'Or, 2001. Viatge d'hivern
  • Prize of the Catalan Writers' Union for his literary career, 2003
  • Spanish Critics' Prize, 2005. Les veus del Pamano
  • Creu de Sant Jordi Prize , 2014

Web links

Databases

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The seductions of a violin , interview in the NZZ , February 25, 2012
  2. ↑ Flash website of the Suhrkamp Verlag on Senyoria ( Memento of the original from October 3, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.senyoria.de
  3. ^ Flash website of the Inselverlag for the German edition of Les veus del Pamano
  4. ↑ Review in “Die Welt” on The Voices of the River
personal data
SURNAME Cabré, Jaume
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cabré i Fabré, Jaume (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish philologist and writer
DATE OF BIRTH April 30, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Barcelona