Salvador Espriu – författare

Salvador Espriu was born in 1913. A member of the so-called generation of ‘36—those who were in their twenties at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War—Espriu became a voluntary exile in his own land. Writing in a forbidden language, hyperconscious of his historical moment, he took upon himself the task of saving Catalan for his people. In this bilingual edition, with a preface by the translator and an introduction by Francesca Vallverdú, Espriu’s friend and Spanish publisher, Magda Bogin has given us a glimpse into a remarkable body of poetry from a poet whose literary stature in Spain is akin to that o William Carlos Williams and T. S. Eliot in the English speaking world.

One of the defining texts of twentieth-century Catalan fiction, written by one of its most innovative and cherished writers, Salvador Espriu's "Ariadne in the Grotesque Labyrinth" is a collection of thirty-four short stories in which the twists and turns of action, character, and place are as winding and sumptuous as the legendary maze of its title. Originally published in 1935 in the midst of great countrywide political and social upheaval, these stories are a mirror, a grotesque mirror, held up to Catalan and Spanish society. Infused with a deep sense of mythic power, blending social realism with lush modernist experiment, " Ariadne in the Grotesque Labyrinth" is a triumph of style. Perhaps best known for his poetry, Espriu's rich lyricism and highly evocative use of the Catalan language are here brought to life in the poet Rowan Ricardo Phillips's remarkable English-language translation of a classic of world literature.