Josep Carner i Puigoriol (;

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

9 February 1884 –

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

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, playwright and

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

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seven times.

Biography

In 1897, Carner entered the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

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

Catalan nationalism Catalan nationalism promotes the idea that the Catalan people form a distinct nation and national identity. A related term is Catalanism (, ), which is more related to Regionalism (politics), regionalism and tends to have a wider meaning, most pe ...

. 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 ( ), 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 based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spai ...

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

Catalan language Catalan () is a Western Romance languages, Western Romance language and is the official language of Andorra, and the official language of three autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Balearic I ...

). 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 Catalan engineer and grammarian. He was the main author of the normative reform of contemporary Catalan language, and is the namesa ...

, 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 p ...

'' (''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 western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

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 journ ...

. Along with Prat de la Riba, then president of the

Commonwealth of Catalonia The Commonwealth of Catalonia (, ) 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 was strongly endorsed by municip ...

, 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 is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

to go to

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

, San José,

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Hendaye Hendaye (; Basque: ''Hendaia'',HENDAIA
Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

and

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. During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, Carner was one of the few diplomats who remained loyal to the

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

and, therefore, could never return to Spain. He married a Belgian teacher and literary critic Émilie Noulet; together they set out for a new life in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

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

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. A collection of thirty of Carner's poems translated into English by the Irish poet Pearse Hutchinson was published in Oxford by Joan Gili in 1962. Josep Carner's personal library and archive are held by the

Biblioteca de Catalunya The Library of Catalonia (, ) 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 production and that related to the ...

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 Spanish translators Spanish male poets Members of the Institute for Catalan Studies 20th-century Spanish male writers Spanish emigrants to Mexico