Literary Perspectives: Joan Francesc Mira and Modern Playwriting

Joan Francesc Mira: Essays on Identity and Nation

Joan Francesc Mira is a prolific author of essays. His essays are generally based on everyday life stories, aimed at the common reader, and written in a non-specialized or academic, but rather literary, language. Mira aims to make the reader understand, through conversation, that our civilization is ending and a new one is beginning.

In his works on political debate, Mira addresses crucial issues such as:

• Nationalism
• The relationship between culture and power
• The creation and evolution of identities and symbols that conform society
• The importance of language in creating collective consciousness
• The ability to manipulate these elements for specific interests

The author demonstrates his commitment to his country and the great virtues of culture. Mira shows that the peculiar problem Valencians and Catalans face regarding their national identity is not so different from the suffering of many people around the world. He affirms that all humans need a group identity or culture, and that no nation can survive in this modern world without becoming too political.

Works such as Nations as Cultures, Languages and Nations, and Of Heroes and Tribes complement Mira's stimulating reflection on identity as the basis for the nation and a key element in modern politics.

Modern Playwriting: Characteristics and Key Authors

Modern theater is characterized by a return to texts and a recovery of the author's figure after the production-focused era that dominated the 1970s and 1980s. The support of institutions that emerged with democracy, along with the mastery of veteran authors like Josep Maria Benet i Jornet, have facilitated the emergence of new creators. The most representative of these began writing in the 1980s, abandoning the realism that had characterized the stage in the 1950s and 1960s.

Current playwriting is an heir to authors such as Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, David Mamet, and Thomas Bernhard. Its stance towards reality is often critical or stylized, based on a distant and depersonalized view.

Most new authors deal with both individual and collective themes:

• Individual Themes:
  • The crisis of the couple
  • Isolation
  • Loneliness
  • Illness
  • Aging
• Collective Themes:
  • Violence
  • Racism
  • Marginality

The most significant names for their external projection are Sergi Belbel and Lluïsa Cunillé, both authors born in the early 1960s. Veteran authors, such as Josep Maria Benet i Jornet and Rodolf Sirera, have diversified their writing to adapt to the audiovisual world. Television, in particular, has become a platform to promote theater and introduce authors like Valencian Carlos Alberola, whose works consistently feature humor.