Barcelona is one of the most visited cities in Europe, a multilingual capital of an autonomous region that longs to be independent of Spain. The city is famous for its painters, modernist architecture, style of football, and its history, but as Peter Bush reveals it has always been a major centre of literary talent and creativity. Barcelona Tales presents a selection of newly translated short stories by 14 writers, many of them Catalan. The stories explore the themes of migration and class conflict in a city renowned in world literature from the day rural innocents Don Quixote and Sancho Panza visited its streets at the beginning of the seventeenth-century, and witnessed the wonders of the printing press and the cruelties of slavery. Together, they open up the city in ironic, tragic, and lyrical ways, inviting readers to explore fictional lives and literary styles that reflect the dynamic, conflict-ridden character and history of this great European city.
Edited by:
Helen Constantine
Translated by:
Peter Bush
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 196mm,
Width: 129mm,
Spine: 15mm
Weight: 304g
ISBN: 9780198798378
ISBN 10: 0198798377
Series: City Tales
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 15 May 2019
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
General Introduction, Helen Constantine Introduction, Peter Bush 1. What happened to Don Quixote when he went to Barcelona?, Miguel de Cervantes 2. Transplanted, Narcís Oller 3. A Brief, Heart-warming Story of a Madame Bovary Born and Bred in Gràcia, Following our Best Principles and Traditions, Montserrat Roig 4. Ramon from Montjuic, Josep Pla 5. Blitz on Barcelona, C.A. Jordana 6. A Detective Story, Juan Marsé 7. Three Steps, Miquel Molina 8. Dead Time, Teresa Solana 9. The Shoe-shine and La Locomotora, Alfredo Bryce Echenique 10. Neighbours, Jordi Nopca 11. Which Country Do You Want?, Empar Moliner 12. The Sound of Keys, Najat El Hachmi 13. The Boy who was Sure to Die, Quim Monzó 14. Julio, the Parrot and the Taxi Driver, Jorge Carrión Notes on the Authors Further Reading and Viewing Publisher's Acknowledgements Map
Peter Bush first went to Barcelona in 1968 to research writing inspired by the 1868 Revolution and in 1970 he returned to help set up a group opposed to the Franco dictatorship. He lived in Barcelona for 10 years after retiring from his post as Director of the British Centre for Literary Translation in 2003. An award-winning literary translator, he has translated over seventy books from Catalan, French, Portuguese and Spanish: modern classics like Merce Rodoreda's In Diamond Square or Valle-Inclan's Tyrant Banderas and work by living authors like Jorge Carrion's Bookshops and Najat el Hachmi's The Last Patriarch.
Reviews for Barcelona Tales
A fascinating and varied collection, which captures the diversity and atmosphere of the city. * Karen Langley, Shiny New Books * One can always think of some omissions when reading an anthology ... There can be little complaint, though, about these fourteen tales, set in different areas of Barcelona ... They reveal how this industrial port city has been and is a magnet for migrants. They show the class divisions between areas. They trace, too, the development of modern Catalan literature in both Catalan and Spanish. * Michael Eaude, Catalonia Today * Peter Bush, the translator, does an excellent job translating both from Spanish and Catalan into English. He very well replicates the style and flow of the original author ... Helen Constantine and Peter Bush have produced a quite excellent, if slightly quirky, book. A great read for anyone heading to the Catalan capital. * TripFiction *
