Jaume Cabré
Jaume Cabré i Fabré (Barcelona, 1947) is a philologist and Catalan writer.
Graduated in Catalan Philology by the University of Barcelona, high-school professor in leave of absence and teacher to the University of Lleida, member of the Philological Section of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans.
During many years he has combined literary writing with teaching. He has also worked in the television and cinematographic scripting. With Joaquim Maria Puyal he was the creator and scriptwriter of the first Catalan television series: La Granja (1989-1992), after which followed other titles like Estació d'Enllaç (1994-1998), Crims (2000) and the tvmovies La dama blanca (1987), Nines russes (2003) and Sara (2003). He has also written, together with Jaume Fuster, Vicenç Villatoro and Antoni Verdaguer, the script of the Antoni Verdaguer films La teranyina (1990), based on his novel, and Havanera (1993).
His literary work
The beginnings
He started with short stories books: Faules de mal desar (1974) and Toquen a morts (1977).
His first novel, Galceran l'heroi de la guerra negra (1978) brings up the recurrent subjects of his work: the power and the human condition. The character of the bandit Jaume Galceran, full of contradictions, is drawn like a hero in spite of him during the War of the Matiners (Second Carlist War).
In the second novel, Carn d'olla (1978), a very different character stands out, na Barringa Barranga, an exprostitute who has established a net of relations in the Barcelona neighborhood of Sant Antoni.
In El mirall i l'ombra (1980) there appears for the first time the music and, in a certain way, the reflection on the value of the artistic creation, which will be constant subjects of his work.
In 1980 he publishes a work of child literature, the novel La història que en Roc Pons no coneixia and a year later, the short story El blauet.
The consolidation
During 1984 and 1985 appear the three titles that will from the Cicle de Feixes in which he had worked for a lot of years. In 1984 appears La teranyina, a story framed in the Tragic Week that narrates the whereabouts of those moments but not in Barcelona but in the city of Feixes, a literary correlation of Terrassa. The fight for the political, economic and family power, reflects in the movements of the several characters of the Rigau family and of the other characters that live in this novel.
The same 1984 sees the publication of Fra Junoy o l'agonia dels sons a novel of slow gestation, like all the novels published by Cabré from now on, where, besides the underground movements of the ecclesiastical world of Feixes and the monastery of la Ràpita of which the protagonist friar is the confessor, the music has an outstanding protagonism. Some of the characters of La teranyina and the world of Feixes they are also present in this novel, that in a certain way is its continuation. It highlights the figure of Fra Junoy, a kind of victim of those that have the power of manipulation.
In 1985 is published the “nouvelle” Luvowski o la desraó that is last step for the characters and families that have lived in the other two novels. This story was published inside a book of narrations: Llibre de preludis, where the music is still more present.
In 1984 he published his second child novel: L'home de Sau.
The maturity
In 1991 appears Senyoria, a novel about the judicial corruption that emanates from the absolute power, located in the Barcelona of ends of the 18th century. If with Fra Junoy he painted a victim, now with don Rafel Massó, the civil regent of the Court of Barcelona, he paints the figure of the hangman, with all his fears and his selfishness.
L'ombra de l'eunuc (1996) is a novel that reports the last years of Franquism, the Transition and the following years from the author's perspective, personified in Miquel Gensana, the protagonist. At the same time it is a novel of reflexion about the artistic creation and, especially, the musical creation. The story structure is based in the structure of Alban Berg's [Concert for violin and orchestra]].
While he begins work on the following novel he also makes an incursion in other genders. In 1999 he publishes El sentit de la ficció an essay about the literary creation, about writing, about the writer's cooking.
In 2000 there is a return to the story book with Viatge d'hivern. Fourteen stories related among them by hidden impulses. The reader keeps on discovering these relations as she advances in the stories; and the knot keeps even though each story is placed in very different places and periods. It is a look to a Europa that we have not been able to construct any better.
The following year, 2001, he publishes and plays for the first time in the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, the theater work Pluja seca, where he writes about the subject of the falsification of the historical memory and about the fact that history is written by the winners. The drama starts in the castle of Peníscola, which has been converted into a Pope court (true for them, schismatic for Rome) on the day that Benedict XIII dies and the decimated cardenalici school decides to nominate a successor who is viewed in Rome as an antipope.
Les veus del Pamano (2004), is his last novel so far. It starts at the forties, in a little village in the Pallars Sobirà and it goes through until our days, with a frieze of characters like the teachers Oriol Fontelles and Tina Bros, or the woman Elisenda Vilabrú. The historical memory, the impossibility of forgiveness and the fear of forgetting are some of the subjects that turn up in this novel.
In 2005 he publishes his second essay: La matèria de l'esperit about the literary reading.
Bibliography
Books of narrations
- Faules de mal desar (Ed. Selecta. Barcelona, 1974).
- Toquen a morts (Ed. La Magrana. Barcelona, 1977).
- Tarda lliure (1981) (Premi “Recull”, 1980).
- Llibre de preludis (Ed. 62. Barcelona, 1985). Ed. Proa. B, 2002.
- Viatge d’hivern (Ed. Proa. Barcelona, 2000).
Novels
- Galceran, l’heroi de la guerra negra (Ed. Proa, Barcelona).
- Carn d’olla. (Ed. Moll. Mallorca, 1978). Ed. Proa, B 1999).
- El mirall i l’ombra (Ed. Laia. Barcelona, 1980).
- La teranyina (Edicions Proa, Barcelona, 1984).
- Fra Junoy o l’agonia dels sons (Ed. 62, B. 1984) Ed. Proa, B. 1998.
- Senyoria (1991) (Editorial Proa, Barcelona).
- El llibre de Feixes (La trilogia de Feixes) (Ed. Proa. Barcelona, 1996).
- L’ombra de l’eunuc (Ed. Proa. Barcelona, 1996).
- Les veus del Pamano (Ed. Proa. Barcelona, 2004).
Essay
- El sentit de la ficció (Ed. Proa. Barcelona, 1999).
- La matèria de l’esperit (Ed. Proa. Barcelona 2005).
Theater
- Pluja seca (Ed. Proa-TNC. Barcelona, gener de 2001).
Novels and child stories
- La història que en Roc Pons no coneixia (Ed. La Galera. B. 1980).
- L’any del blauet (Ed. Barcanova, Barcelona 1981).
- L’home de Sau (Ed. La Galera, Barcelona, 1985).
Scripts
- La dama blanca (tv movie) (1987).
- La teranyina (radio) (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).
Translated Works
- Translations of Senyoria
- Spanish. Señoría (trad. Daniel Royo). Ed. Grijalbo-Mondadori. Barcelona, 1993. 2nd edition: Random House- Mondadori. Barcelona, 2005).
- Hungarian. Ömeltósága (trad: Tomcsányi Zsuzsanna.) Ed. Európa. Budapest, 2001.
- Romanian. Excelenta (trad: Jana Balacciu Matei) Ed. Merònia. Bucharest, 2002.
- Galician. Señoría (trad. Dolores Martínez Torres) Ed Galaxia. Vigo, 2002.
- French. Sa Seigneurie (Trad: Bernard Lesfargues) (Christian Bourgois Éditeur. Paris, 2004).
- Italian. Sua Signoria (Trad: Francesco Ardolino for Alberto Gaffi, editore in Rome, 2006).
- It is in process of translation into Albanian.
- Translations of L'ombra de l'eunuc
- Hungarian. Az eunuch Árnyéka (trad: Tomcsányi Zsuzsanna.) Ed. Európa. Budapest, 2004.
- Romanian. Umbra eunucului (trad. Jana Balacciu Matei). Editorial Meronia Bucarest, 2004.
- French. L'ombre de l'eunuque (trad: Bernard Lesfargues) Christian Bourgois Éditeur, 2006.
- Slovene. Evnuhova senca (trad. Simona Skrabec) Ed. Beletrina. Ljubljana, 2006.
- Translations of Les veus del Pamano
- Hungarian. To Pamano zúgása (trad: Tomcsányi Zsuzsanna) Ed. Európa. Budapest, 2006.
- It is in process of translation into German, Spanish, Dutch, French and Romanian.
- Translations of Fra Junoy o l'agonia dels sons
- Spanish. Fray Junoy o la agonía de los sonidos. (trad. Enrique Sordo). Espasa-Calpe. Madrid 1988.
- Translations of La teranyina
- Spanish. La telaraña. (trad. Enrique Sordo). Argos-Vergara, Barcelona, 1984.
- French. La toile d'araignée (trad. Patrick Gifreu.) Editions Du Chiendent 1985.
- Translations of Llibre de preludis
- Spanish. Libro de preludios. (trad. Enrique Sordo). Espasa-Calpe. Madrid, 1989.
- Translations of L'home de Sau (child novel)
- Spanish. El hombre de Sau (trad. Mercedes Caballud). La Galera, Barcelona, 1986.
- Translations of La història que en Roc Pons no coneixia (child novel)
- Spanish. El extraño viaje que nadie se creyó. (trad. Mercedes Caballud). La Galera. Barcelona 1981.
Literary Prizes
- Fastenrath, 1980. Carn d'olla
- Recull, 1980. Tarda lliure
- Serra d'Or Critics, 1981. La història que en Roc Pons no coneixia
- Sant Jordi, 1983. La teranyina
- Prudenci Bertrana, 1983. Fra Junoy o l'agonia dels sons
- Serra d'Or Critics, 1985. Fra Junoy o l'agonia dels sons
- Spanish Critics, 1985. Fra Junoy o l'agonia dels sons
- Crexells, 1991.
- Readers of “El Temps”. Senyoria
- Prudenci Bertrana, 1992. Senyoria
- Serra d'Or Critics, 1992. Senyoria
- Spanish Critics, 1992. Senyoria
- Prix Méditerranée 2004 to the best foreign novel. Sa Seigneurie
- National Prize of Literature, 1992. La granja
- City of Barcelona, 1997. L'ombra de l'eunuc
- Serra d'Or Critics, 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
- Catalan writers prize to the literary trajectory, 2003
- Catalan Critics, 2005. Les veus del Pamano