For varying reasons, the literary project with Editorial Selecta (publishers) did not succeed. After a few years without an editor, Pla signed an exclusive contract with Editorial Destino (publishers), directed by Josep Vergés from Palafrugell, to be able to edit a new version of his Obra Completa (Complete Works). The first volume of the complete works is an unpublished book called El quadern gris (The Grey Notebook), a real synthesis of Pla’s work. Later on, there would be other unpublished books, autobiographical narrations, new travel books, collections of articles, etc. The recognition of his complete works on the part of the critics reflected the unconditional support from thousands and thousands of readers of all generations, of all sorts of ideologies and from all over Catalonia. Since 1925, at the latest, they had been following the evolution of his works with real fervour.

Critical and public popularity was immediately accompanied by the publication of his entire Obra Completa (Complete Works), what the writer considered to be his definitive work. However, his political position and provocative attitude separated Pla, during the last Francoist years, from the most progressive sectors of Catalan culture, who regarded his reticence about the democratic transition and the re-establishment of Catalan autonomy as incomprehensible. In spite of all that, the recognition of Josep Pla’s works as being one of the most valuable contributions to Catalan culture became unquestionable: thirty thousand pages of Catalan prose are the most fruitful example of contemporary Catalan literature.

Mas Pla. Llofriu, 70s. © Francesc Català-Roca. Fundació Josep Pla.