Joaquim Ruyra

Hauntingly beautiful, stark and deceptively complex, Joaquim Ruyra’s short stories have long been celebrated as some of the most important and iconic pieces of literature in the 20th century Catalan canon. Of these short stories, Jacobé and Fineta stand out as masterpieces of their genre in terms of their powerful descriptions of the towns and countryside of the Mediterranean coastline and the subjects they cover. Accompanied by Ruyra expert and critic Julià Guillamon’s introduction, Alan Yates’ sublime translation in this limited edition brings them to a new audience.

"Ave Maria Pur ssima.......................... La Parada.................................... El vals Final................................ D'una olor................................... La mirada del pobret......................... El primer lustre d'amor...................... La fi del m n a Girona....................... El malcontent (rondalla).

In this classic and timeless collection of stories, we are introduced to a crossroads merging religious concerns, spirituality, romanticism, and the relation of nature with the human fiber. Written in a prolific style that can be thought of as "bitter harmony," the stories show a Homeric style of literary transitions. This edition in Catal contains 15 of the best short stories by renown author Joaquim Ruyra.Visit ladyvalkyrie.com for more Classics (in all languages) as well as for Other titles and Collections/Series of books

Ruyra was in the vanguard of the Catalan modernist generation as they constructed a new literary model after 1860 when the Catalan language became the vehicle of cultural nationalism. He has been called the 'prince of Catalan prose'. This is a sea story whose epic quality has invited comparisons with Homer and Tolstoy and, in its treatment of the sea as reference in a psychological voyage, with Melville, Conrad and Hemingway. El rem de trenta quatre is a high point in Ruyra's work which is outstanding for his transformation of poetic rhythms into the music of his prose. Here, the narrator's internalisation of near shipwreck, her experiences, emotions and mental awakening, are mapped onto maritime elements that are detailed with a painter's eye. Through masterly dialogue, Ruyra characterizes each personality in the rich catala salat dialect of Blanes, centre of a linguistic map of the Catalan coast from Alacant to Roses, lovingly describing and naming its villages and physical features. An Appendix, by M. Lluisa Julia, provides a comparison between this story and Joseph Conrad's Typhoon .