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Page 2 of 5
- Primera volada (1897-1919) - First
Flight
- Cartes de lluny (1920-1938) - Letters from afar
- Aigua de mar (1939-1947) - Sea
Water
- Coses vistes (1948-1965) - Seen
Things
- Notes de capvesprol (1966-1981) -
The 'Evening Sea Breeze' Route
Cartes de lluny (1920-1938) - Letters from afar
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Sebastià Puig "L'Hermós" (the handsome) and Josep Pla. Aigua
Xelida, c. 1925. Fundació Josep Pla, col.lecció Josep Vergés. |
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Josep M. de Segarra, Francesc Pujols and Josep Pla. Martorell, 1930. ©
Gabriel Casas. Fundació Josep Pla. |
Pla was the first modern writer of travel books in Catalan.
In addition, he became an outstanding newspaper correspondent while working for
“La Publicidad” and later on for “La Veu de Catalunya” and
“El Sol” of Madrid. During some 20 years his personal development was
closely linked with travelling chronicles. Along with other writers such as
Josep Carner, Josep M. de Sagarra, Eugeni Xammar or Joan Crexells, Pla worked as
a mobile correspondent who travelled throughout Europe (Paris, Geneve, Italy,
Berlin, Moscow, London, Stockholm etc.). He never gave up observing reality,
reading constantly and listening and talking non-stop. From the very beginning,
he became a well-known, successful writer (of his two first books, three
editions and two thousand copies were made) who collaborated on a great number
of publications and who was recognised by the main writers and critics of that
time. His work was translated into several different foreign languages.
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1922. Fundació Josep Pla, col. Edicions Destino. |
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His long stays in the principal European capitals made
him become interested in politics as well. Pla was always aware of the
political and intellectual evolution of Catalonia. He was chosen as “Diputat
de la Mancomunitat de Catalunya” (a member of the Parliament of
Catalonia) in a nationalist list of Baix Empordà in the year 1921. Some
years later, under the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, he was prosecuted
for writing an article which was critical of the Spanish army. He lived in
exile during those years, not losing touch with the chief nationalists who
were plotting against the dictatorship, such as Francesc Macià. He
returned to Catalonia in 1927 and soon became a controversial figure: he
gave up contributing to “La Publicidad” and became one of the
most important signatories to “La Veu de Catalunya”, the
newspaper of “La Lliga” (a political party). At that time he
worked under Francesc Cambó’s orders of whom he would write a political
biography some years later. |
After the proclamation of the Republic, he worked as a
parliamentary correspondent for the newspaper “La Veu” in Madrid.
Being threatened with death like other jounalists linked to the political party
“La Lliga”, he left Republican Catalonia in September 1936. He lived
as a refugee in Marseille with Adi Enberg, who worked for the Francoist
information service abroad. He arrived in Barcelona in January 1939 with Franco’s
troops and, soon afterwards, he settled down in l’Empordà.
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Rosa Pla, Pere Pla, Josep Pla and Maria Casadevall in El Canadell.
Calella de Palafrugell, 1922. Fundació Josep Pla, col. Josep
Vergés. |
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Adi Enberg in Josep Pla in the Sant Sebastià Lighthouse. Llafranc,
26.10.1927. Fundació Josep Pla, col. Edicions Destino. |
| 1920 |
In April he leaves for Paris as
a correspondent for “La Publicidad”. In July he is dismissed
from his job because he has plagiarised an article. However, in
September he is reinstated because his articles have become so popular. |
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| 1921 |
He publishes the “Pall-Mall”
section from Barcelona. In February he goes to Majorca and publishes his
chronicles in the form of a diary. He works as a special correspondent
in Madrid. He is chosen as a delegate to the Mancomunitat de
Catalunya (Parliament of Catalonia) by La Lliga Nacionalista del
Baix Empordà (The Nationalist League of Baix Empordà). He goes to
Portugal. Josep Pla’s father goes through a period of financial crisis
and has to live in Barcelona, staying in boarding houses. |
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| 1922 |
He is sent to Italy as a
special correspondent. He writes articles for the newspapers “La
Publicidad”, “La Veu”, “El Sol de Madrid”,
and for the magazine “D’Ací d’Allà”. He covers
Mussolini’s “March on Rome”. |
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| 1923 |
He travels to the Ruhr, then
under French occupation, to Lausanne and the Rhineland, Bavaria,
Thuringia and Saxony. He also works as a correspondent in Berlin where
he shares a house with the journalist Eugeni Xammar. |
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| 1924 |
He faces military prosecution
because of an article criticising Spanish military policy in Morocco,
which is published in “El día” of Majorca. He regularly
travels across Europe. He forms a relationship with Adi Enberg, a
Norwegian citizen who was born in Barcelona. |
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| 1925 |
His first outstanding book
called Coses Vistes (Seen Things) is published. He travels from
Paris to Russia and then to England. |
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1927
1935 |
He announces his supposed
wedding with Adi Enberg to his family. Together they travel to Corsica.
He later returns to Catalonia. He contributes to “La Nau”,
“La Nova Revista”, “L’Opinió”, and “La Veu
de Catalunya”. He travels throughout Eastern Europe and works as a
political correspondent in Madrid. His works Llanterna màgica (Magic
Lantern), Relacions (Relationships), Cartes de lluny (Letters
from afar), Cartes Meridionals (Meridional Letters), Madrid,
un dietari (Madrid, a Diary), Madrid. L’adveniment de la
República (Madrid. The Advent of the Republic) are published. |
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1936
1937 |
He starts to collaborate on the
magazine “S’Agaró”. At the beginning of the Spanish civil
war, he leaves for France and Italy with Adi Enberg, who is then working
as a spy for the Francoist secret services. He is asked to write Historia
de la Segunda República Española (The History of the Second Spanish
Republic) by Cambó, which he doesn’t finish until 1939.
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1938 |
He enters the area of Spain
controlled by Franco’s forces through San Sebastian. He contributes to
the newspaper “El Diaro Vasco”.
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