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Josep Maria de Sagarra (1894-1961) Catalan Balzac, journalist, theater critic, translator, poet, and novelist was a force of nature who produced volumes of poetry, drama, essays, and three major novels, which have made him one of the most popular and loved voices of Catalan literature. After winning his first poetry prize in the Juegos Florales, he decided to devote his life to literature. His translated works include Dante s Divine Comedy and plays by Shakepespeare, Moli re, and Gogol. He was a member of the Institute of Catalan Studies, the Academy of Letters, the General Council of Authors of Spain, and the council of the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise. Mary Ann Newman is the former Director of the Catalan Center at New York University, which was an affiliate of the Institut Ramon Llull, and a member of the board of The Catalan Institute of America. She is a translator, editor, and occasional writer on Catalan culture. In addition to Sagarra, she has translated works by Quim Monz , Xavier Rubert de Vent s, Joan Maragall, and Narcis Comadira, among others.
[ Vida Privada ] is a portrait of the great world of Barcelona and its loyalties in the years that preceded the Republic and in the early days of the new regime. Rigorous contemporaneity, stylistic effectiveness, the structural tour de force...and its daring treatment of manners and mores, make this book a unique product in Sagarra's work as a whole. -- Marina Gusta, University of Barcelona Private Life, by Josep Maria de Sagarra is a delightful, intelligent and exciting novel, the best ever written about Barcelona. One of the high points of 20th century Catalan and European literature, it is an unflinching portrait of the social mores of the high and low classes, the desire to be someone, and the destruction of a way of life. The changes that came about in the 20s and 30s have led inexorably to the Barcelona of today. Now that the city is in vogue, it is providential that the millions of people who visit every year will be able to read Private Life. -- Quim MonzO, best-selling author of Gasoline and A Thousand Morons In Private Life, Josep Maria de Sagarra orchestrates the destiny of a rich, decadent family, sucked into an underworld of sexual and economic scandals. Though the events could be happening today, they take place in the late 1920s, when the night life of Barcelona was as intense and provocative as that of early 20th century Berlin or Paris. -- Jordi PuntI, NYPL Cullman fellow and author of Lost Luggage
