Jesús Moncada
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Jesús Moncada i Estruga (Mequinenza (Aragón, Spain), 1941 - Barcelona (Spain), June 13, 2005) was an Aragonese writer in Catalan.
Considered on of the most important Catalan authors of his time, he received various prizes for his work, among them the Premio Ciutat de Barcelona and the Premio Nacional de la Crítica in 1989 for Camí de sirga (Walk the towline) and the Creu de Sant Jordi, awarded by the Generalitat de Catalunya in 2001. In 2004&emdash;a few months before his death&emdash;he received the Premio de las Letras Aragonesas.
Moncada is one of the most translated authors of Catalan literature. Camí de sirga has been translated in fifteen languages, among them Japanese and Vietnamese. He also translated into Catalan many Spanish, French, and English works of authors such as Guillaume Apollinaire, Alexandre Dumas, Jules Verne, and Boris Vian.
On July 9th, 2005, he returned to Mequinenza, where he was awarded the title of "favorite son." He died June 13th, 2005 from cancer. His ashes were scattered in the noble house of old Mequinenza, now inundated by the Ribarroja reservoir, where he was born and where his works took place, under the watchful eye of his mother, his siblings -Rosa Mari and Albert-, his brother-in-law and nephew, and the neighbors of Mequineenza.
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[edit] Works
[edit] Novels
- Camí de sirga (Walk the towline) (1988)
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- The novel tells the story of a town situated at the confluence off two great rivers, the Ebro and the Segre, through the memories of its inhabitants. This avalanche of memories piles up until the 19th century, and is provoked by the construction of a reservoir and the imminent flooding of the town. The book also has some reflectionss about what is a history, a memory, a story and about the lies that carry them all. The general tone is nostalgic, without being bitter, but it can also laugh from the heart with some of the perssonalities and situations. It evokes:
- - the hypocrisy and cruelty of human relations in a town in which everyone knows everybody
- - the influence of history -the First World War in Europe and the Spanish Civil War- on the history of the town,
- - the economic system at work in the town and the Ebro vally.
- La galeria de les estàtues (The statue gallery) (1992)
- Estremida memòria (Shuddering memory ) (1997)
[edit] Short Stories
- Històries de la mà esquerra i altres narracions (Stories of the Left Hand) (1981)
- El cafè de la granota (The frog's coffee) (1985)
- Calaveres atònites (Astonished skulls), collection of short, humorous stories. The action takes place in post-war Mequinenza) (1999)
- Riada (2000)
- Contes (compilation of his first three books of short stories) (2001)
- Cabòries estivals i altres proses volanderes (2003)
[edit] External links
In Catalan:
