Key Catalan Authors: Insights into Valencian Culture

Key Catalan Authors and Valencian Culture

Joan Francesc Mira (Valencia, 1939) is the author of several novels and numerous studies in anthropology. Notable works include The Valencian Land (1978), Culture, Language, Nation (1987), and Critique of Pure Nation (1984), which reflects on the concept of nation, the Valencian national character, and its consequences.

Gustavus Munoz (Valencia, 1951) is an economist, essayist, and translator. He is the chief of the magazine and coordinator of the trial Espill magazine characters. He has published essays such as Speeches: Between Culture and Politics (1998), At the Beginning of a Century: A Diary of Reflections (2002), and Heritage of an Era (2006).

Isabel-Clara Simó (Alcoy, 1943) is an author of several novels and relevant essays. In addition to opinion articles published in the daily press, she has published works such as Letter to My Grandson on Nationalism (2000) and In Self-Defense (2003), a book which received the 2004 Critics Prize Writers Valencia.

Quim Monzó (Barcelona, 1952) has successfully cultivated the novel, short fiction, and literary journalism. A regular contributor to the daily and weekly press, his articles are characterized by a fight against stereotypes, commonplaces, and banality. He discusses everyday reality with a critical eye and often corrosive and scathing humor and satire. His prose is characterized by clarity, laconism, direct style, and irony. His work exemplifies the diffuse boundary between literature and journalism because, although articles are published in newspapers and often related to the immediate present, they can be read later without any trouble. Some collections include: Not Any Tree Seedlings (1994), Everything is a Lie (2002), and The Theme of the Topics (2003).

Jesús Tuson (Valencia, 1939) is a Professor in the Faculty of Philology and Professor of Linguistics at the University of Barcelona. Among other books, he published: Luxury Language (1986), Bad Language (1988), Writing (1996), Natural History of the Word (1998), How Can We? (1999), A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words (2001), Natural Heritage (2004), and This Is (and Is) What (2008). Jesús Tuson defends the luxury of language and our ability to give coherence to our world and life meaning with words.

Josep Maria Espinàs (Barcelona, 1927). His creative writing includes the novel, the chronicle of travel, works of civic interest, books, news, reports, and newspaper articles. He has published, among others, Our Everyday Objects (1985), which provides a personal, humorous, and witty perspective on everyday objects.

Jose Iborra (Benissa, 1929) is a literary critic and writer with a degree in Law and Philosophy at the University of Valencia and a PhD in Romance Philology. He combines the facets of essayist, lecturer, and prologuista. Narrative: Parabolas and Sufficient (1955). Essay: Portable Carpenter (1982), Entrenchment Literature (1995), Inflections (2005).

Josep Vicent Marqués (Valencia 1943-2008) developed his production in the field of sociology and journalism. He also made a foray into the novel: Love Impossible. As an essayist, notable works include Perplexed Country (1974) and It Is Not Natural (1980). Country Puzzled constituted a brief collage with various texts that ironically posed questions from different points of Valencian everyday life.