Catalan writer, Juan Marsé, brings back to life Barcelona's post civil war years in his latest book

"Dreams' calligraphy", which takes place during the years of Franco's dictatorship , is considered the most autobiographical book of this prolific writer.

09.06.2011
The writer, Juan Marsé, Barcelona's novelist of the Thirties brings once more back to life the Catalan capital in his latest book “Dreams' Calligraphy”, which went on sale last February published by Lumen's Publishing House.

The geographical and ambience backdrop – always the same in the writer's almost fifty-year trajectory - is set in the civil post-war Barcelona of the Fourties and during Franco's dictatorship. In this particular novel, Barcelona's Gràcia district is one of the main locations of the plot.

Characters' lifes and neighbours come alive along Torrent de les Flors'street, going from Travessera de Dalt til Travessera de Gràcia, in addition to mentioning some of the legendary spaces of that specific period such as “Selecto's Cinema House”, “Verdi's Hall” or “Rosales' Tavern” .

The autobiographical aspect of the book is its main difference compared to the rest of his bibliography. A portrait of the author's youth is hidden behind the main fictional character, Ringo, a fifteen-year- old boy who hangs around in the ward's taverns.
The Barcelonese writer transfers to the book the real history of his adoption and his frustration for having wanted to play the piano as well as the time spent working in a jeweller's workshop, during his youth years before definitely turning to professional writing.

“Last afternoons with Therese”, with Carmel and Sant Gervasi's wards as a background; “If they tell you I felt” and “Lizards's tails”, two plots set in the Guinardo's district and “The Shanghai's Spell”, are some of the Juan Marsé's most successful novels.