Josep Carner i Puigoriol (; born

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

9 February 1884 - died

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

4 June 1970), was a Spanish

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

, playwright and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

. He was also known as ''the Prince of Catalan Poets''. He was nominated for the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 ...

seven times.

Biography

In 1897, Carner entered the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona ( ca, Universitat de Barcelona, UB; ; es, link=no, Universidad de Barcelona) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, in Spain. With 63,000 students, it is one of the biggest universities i ...

, where he studied law and philosophy, and developed an interest in

Catalan nationalism Catalan nationalism is the ideology asserting that the Catalans are a distinct nation. Intellectually, modern Catalan nationalism can be said to have commenced as a political philosophy in the unsuccessful attempts to establish a federal state i ...

. He likewise worked on a number of literary journals, including ''Montserrat'' and ''L'Atlàntida'', among others. Carner went on to direct ''Catalunya2'' (from 1903 to 1905), ''Empori'' (from 1907 to 1908) and ''Catalunya'' (from 1913 to 1914). In 1911, he became a member of the Philological Section of the

Institut d'Estudis Catalans The Institute for Catalan Studies ( ca, Institut d'Estudis Catalans, ), also known by the acronym and initialism, acronym IEC, is an academic institution which seeks to undertake research and study into "all elements of Catalan culture". It is bas ...

(the "Institute of Catalan Studies," akin to a "Royal Academy" for the

Catalan language Catalan (; autonym: , ), known in the Valencian Community and Carche as '' Valencian'' ( autonym: ), is a Western Romance language. It is the official language of Andorra, and an official language of three autonomous communities in eas ...

). There he collaborated with another well-known Catalan linguist,

Pompeu Fabra Pompeu Fabra i Poch (; Gràcia, Barcelona, 20 February 1868 – Prada de Conflent, 25 December 1948) was a Spanish engineer and grammarian. He was the main author of the normative reform of contemporary Catalan language. Life Pompeu Fabra w ...

, in standardizing and enriching Catalan. At the beginning of the 20th century, he joined ''

La Veu de Catalunya ''La Veu de Catalunya'' (Catalonia voice) was a Catalan newspaper founded by Enric Prat de la Riba that was published in Barcelona from 1 January 1899 to 8 January 1937, with two editions daily. It was the press organ for the ideological and po ...

'' (''The Voice of Catalonia''), where he wrote until 1928. In 1915 he married a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

an, Carmen de Ossa, who died in Lebanon in 1935. They had two children together, Anna Maria and Josep. Carner was quite innovative in his use of language, in both poetry and prose. He created a new style of

political journalism Political journalism is a broad branch of journalism that includes coverage of all aspects of politics and political science, although the term usually refers specifically to coverage of civil governments and political power. Political journa ...

. Along with

Prat de la Riba Enric Prat de la Riba i Sarrà (; 29 November 1870 – 1 August 1917) was a Catalan politician, lawyer and writer. He was a member of the , where one of the earliest definitions of Catalan nationalism was formulated. He became the first Pre ...

, then president of the

Commonwealth of Catalonia The Commonwealth of Catalonia ( ca, Mancomunitat de Catalunya, ) was a deliberative assembly made up of the councillors of the four provinces of Catalonia. Promoted in its final stages of gestation by the Regionalist League of Catalonia, it wa ...

, he fought for the professionalization of the Catalan literature, which he considered to be in an "adolescent" stage. After Prat de la Riba's death in 1920, Carner took the civil service examination for the Consular Corps. In March 1921, he began a diplomatic career, and left

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

to go to

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...

. Carner settled there with his family as Vice-Consul of Spain. Thereafter he held positions in

San José San José or San Jose (Spanish for Saint Joseph) most often refers to: *San Jose, California, United States *San José, Costa Rica, the nation's capital San José or San Jose may also refer to: Places Argentina * San José, Buenos Aires ** San ...

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, ver ...

Hendaye Hendaye ( Basque: ''Hendaia'')HENDAIA
Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

. During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

, Carner was one of the few diplomats who remained loyal to the Republic and, therefore, could never return to Spain. He married a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

teacher and literary critic Émilie Noulet; together they set out for a new life in

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

. Carner lived there from 1939 to 1945, teaching at the Colegio de México. He later moved to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. A collection of thirty of Carner's poems translated into English by the Irish poet

Pearse Hutchinson Pearse Hutchinson (16 February 1927 – 14 January 2012) was an Irish poet, broadcaster and translator. Childhood and education Hutchinson was born in Glasgow. His father, Harry Hutchinson, a Scottish printer whose own father had left Dublin to ...

was published in Oxford by

Joan Gili Joan Gili i Serra (), also known as John Gili (1907 – 6 May 1998), was a Catalan antiquarian book-seller, publisher and translator. Joan Gili was born in Barcelona in 1907. His father, Lluis Gili, ran a religious publishing house which also publ ...

in 1962. Josep Carner's personal library and archive are held by the

Biblioteca de Catalunya The Library of Catalonia ( ca, Biblioteca de Catalunya, ) is the Catalan national library, located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The primary mission of the Library of Catalonia is to collect, preserve, and spread Catalan bibliographic producti ...

Poetry

* Llibre dels poetes (1904) * Primer llibre de sonets (1905) * Els fruits saborosos (1906) * Segon llibre de sonets (1907) * Verger de les galanies (1911) * Auques i ventalls (1914) * El cor quiet (1925) * Nabí (1941) * Poesia (1957) (compilation). In ''Poesia'' there is a section that could be considered a separate book, ''Absència'', with recurrent themes of exile and homeland.

Plays

* El giravolt de maig (1928) * El Ben Cofat i l'Altre (1951) * Cop de vent (1966)

Prose

* L'idil·li dels nyanyos (1903) * La malvestat d'Oriana (1910)

Articles, stories, word games

* Les planetes del verdum (1918) * Les bonhomies (1925) * Tres estels i un ròssec (1927) * The novel Retorn (2017) by Catalan author Carles Casajuana is a fictionalised account of his return to Barcelona the year of his death.

References

*This article draws heavily on the corresponding article in the Catalan-language Wikipedia, which was accessed in the version of January 25, 2006.

External links

Biographies

Josep Carner in LletrA, Catalan Literature Online (Open University of Catalonia)

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060209011417/http://www.escriptors.com/autors/carnerj/ Association of Catalan Writers(in Catalan)
Professor Joan Ducros' website
(in Catalan)
Auca de Josep Carner
(in Catalan)
Josep Carner's Personal Library at Biblioteca de Catalunya
* Personal archive held by Biblioteca de Cataluny

Works

* *
La creació d'Eva i altres contes
at http://manybooks.net/, for Personal digital assistant, PDA. {{DEFAULTSORT:Carner, Josep 1884 births 1970 deaths Catalan-language poets Catalan-language writers Linguists from Catalonia Poets from Catalonia Translators to Catalan Translators from Catalonia Burials at Montjuïc Cemetery 20th-century Spanish poets 20th-century translators Spanish male poets Members of the Institute for Catalan Studies 20th-century Spanish male writers Spanish emigrants to Mexico