Saladrigas, Robert 1940-

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SALADRIGAS, Robert 1940-

PERSONAL:

Born February 12, 1940, in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Education: Universitat de Barcelona.

CAREER:

Journalist. La Vanguardia, Barcelona, Spain, literary editor.

MEMBER:

Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Premi Joaquim Ruyra, 1966, for Entre juliol i setembre; Premi Víctor Català, 1969, for Boires; Premi La Dida, 1977, for Aquell gust agre de l'estel; Premi Nacional de la Crítica, 1986, for Memorial de Claudi M. Broch; Premi Sant Jordi, 1991, Premi Creixells, 1992, both for El sol de la tarda; Premi Carlemany de Novella, 1996, for La mar no està mai sola.

WRITINGS:

El cau (novel; title means "The Warren"), Alfaguara (Barcelona, Spain), 1966.

Arañas (novel; title means "Spiders"), Alfaguara (Barcelona, Spain), 1967.

Entre juliol i setembre (novel; title means "Between July and September"), Estela (Barcelona, Spain), 1967.

Boires (short stories; title means "Mists"), Selecta (Barcelona, Spain), 1970.

52 hores a través de la pell (novel; title means "52 Hours through the Skin"), Nova Terra (Barcelona, Spain), 1970.

L'Àlex, el8iel10 (novel; title means "Àlex, the 8 and the 10"), Joventut (Barcelona, Spain), 1970.

El viatge prodigiós d'en Ferran Pinyol (novel; title means "Ferran Pinyol's Prodigious Journey"), Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat (Barcelona, Spain), 1971.

L'Escola del Mar i la renovació pedagògica a Catalunya (essays), Edicions 62 (Barcelona, Spain), 1972.

Las confesiones no católicas en España (essays), 1972.

Literatura i societat a la Catalunya d'avui (essays), Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat (Barcelona, Spain), 1974.

Històries a mig camí (short stories; title means "Half-Way Stories"), Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat (Barcelona, Spain), 1977.

Aquell gust agre de l'estel (novel; title means "That Sour Taste of the Kite"), Selecta (Barcelona, Spain), 1977.

Néixer de nou, cada dia (short stories; title means "To Be Born Again, Day after Day"), Laia (Barcelona, Spain), 1979.

Pel camí ral del nord (novel; title means "On the North Highway"), Laia (Barcelona, Spain), 1980.

Sota la volta del temps (short stories; title means "Under Time's Vault"), Pòrtic (Barcelona, Spain), 1981.

Sóc Emma (novel; title means "I'm Emma"), Planeta (Barcelona, Spain), 1983.

Images del meu mirall (short stories; title means "Images on My Mirror"), Laia (Barcelona, Spain), 1983.

Visions de cada hora (short stories; title means "Visions Every Hour"), Barcanova (Barcelona, Spain), 1984.

Memorial de Claudi M. Broch (novel), Plaza i Janés (Barcelona, Spain), 1986.

Claris (novel), Destino (Barcelona, Spain), 1990.

Tauromàquia: sol i lluna (short stories; title means "Bullfighting: Sun and Moon"), Destino (Barcelona, Spain), 1991.

El sol de la tarda (novel; title means "Afternoon Sun"), Columna (Barcelona, Spain), 1992.

Un temps del diable (novel; title means "A Time of the Devil"), Columna (Barcelona, Spain), 1994.

Amic Lu (novel; title means "Friend Lu"), Cruïlla (Barcelona, Spain), 1995.

La mar no està mai sola (novel; title means "The Sea Is Never Alone"), Columna (Barcelona, Spain), 1996.

Còmplices de ciutat (novel; title means "City Accomplices"), Columna (Barcelona, Spain), 1999.

La llibreta groga, Edicions Destino (Barcelona, Spain), 2004.

Biografia: una novella amb 36 relats, Edicions Destino (Barcelona, Spain), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS:

Robert Saladrigas has written both short stories and novels for mature audiences and for young readers, alternating this writing with his journalism work. As a journalist, he has been literary editor for the premier Barcelona daily La Vanguardia. The familiarity this post has given him with contemporary writings, both local and international, shows in his fiction; his narratives often rely on literary references—critics term this technique metaliterary—and indeed in one of his novels some authors, such as Hermann Hesse and James Joyce, come to life as characters.

Saladrigas wrote his first novel, Arañas, in Spanish, but soon abandoned this language for his native Catalan. His first publications in this language, El cau and Boires, have been described by Quimera contributor Fernando Valls as "belated fruits of the social-realist school."

In Aquell gust agre de l'estel, the two main characters come from families who took opposing sides during the Spanish Civil War. The novel opens in 1951, during the first general strike against General Franco's regime, and ends with the massacres at the 1971 Munich Olympic games. Such references to landmark events were to become a trademark of Saladrigas's fiction. One of the characters of this novel, Emma, resurfaces as the protagonist of a subsequent book, Sóc Emma. This work carries the action to the revolutionary events of May, 1968, in Paris.

Saladrigas's most famous book, and one of his most ambitious, is Memorial de Claudi M. Broch. Its seven chapters alternate with six short stories, parallel narratives that compete and enrich the overall narrative. The title protagonist tells of his life, which includes a succession of relationships with women and a series of exiles from a number of favorite gardens, private and public, as distant as Kyoto, Japan. Saladrigas's literary models appear as characters: J.M. Synge, Hermann Hesse, W.B. Yeats, James Joyce, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Marcel Proust.

In a later novel, Claris, this metaliterary trend continues, although this time with many fewer characters and with a heightened psychological intent. Claris tells the story of a gynecologist and his failed love for Claris. Here, as in many of Saladrigas's works, failure is an essential component of the plot. Human relationships often end with the protagonist suffering in solitude. Quimera contributor Ramón Acín remarked: "Robert Saladrigas's narrative work is configured as a continual return to one problem: the search for one's self, in however varied circumstances." Acín also pointed out that this search for self often ends in failure as Saladrigas's view of humanity tends toward the pessimistic.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Quimera, Volume 96, 1990, Fernando Valls, "La trayectoria narrativa de Robert Saladrigas." pp. 50-57; Volume 129, 1990, Ramón Acín, "La última apuesta de Robert Saladrigas; Un tiempo del diablo," pp. 62-66.