Joaquim Pijoan i Arbocer

Joaquim Pijoan i Arbocer
Born 1948
Santa Cristina d'Aro, Baix Empordà (Catalonia)
Occupation Writer and painter
Language Catalan
Notable works Sayonara Barcelona (2007); Amor a Venècia (2007)
Notable awards 1983. Documenta
2006: Sant Jordi

Joaquim Pijoan (Santa Cristina d'Aro, Baix Empordà, 1948) is a Catalan painter and writer.

His published works are Somni (1983), Sayonara Barcelona (2007) and Amor a Venècia (2007). He considers painting as his passion, but he has become famous by two literary awards: the Documenta (1982) by Somni and, especially, the Premi Sant Jordi de novel·la (2006) for his work Sayonara Barcelona.[1] The only material published between this two dates was in Revista de Girona.

Sayonara Barcelona

Sayonara Barcelona, his second novel has been published in 2007.[2][3][4] He received the Premi Sant Jordi de novel·la given by Òmnium Cultural in 2006.[5]

Plot

Abraham is a painter who left Barcelona twenty-five years ago, without telling anyone, leaving behind many people, especially a pregnant girl, and now he is returning from Japan, where he has beeen living, to say goodbye to the city and its past and not come back ever again. Abraham understands that everything on this trip has changed too, even himself, completely tied to Japanese culture and not to the West, the friends and especially the city, which has become a thematic park where it is very difficult to hear someone speaking Catalan.

The most interesting of all is how this novel is written, first with narrator in third person who observes his characters, so that even as we find him as a character in the novel, as a private detective who follows them and at one point explains us the reason for writing this text. We also find sentences in first person with the characters narrating their views. These effects give great polyphony in the novel and they are a resource of great interest.[6]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Joaquim Pijoan Arbocer". http://www.grup62.cat/''. Grup 62. 9 April 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  2. ↑ Barcelona, Proa, 2010 (2007), 240 pages, ISBN 9788482564142
  3. ↑ Piñol, Rosa María (16 December 2007). "Joaquim Pijoan recibe el premio de novela por su obra ´Sayonara Barcelona". La Vanguardia. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  4. ↑ Vilallonga, Borja (June 2007). "Les últimes lletres. Oda al jo postmodern". Revista de Girona. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  5. ↑ Joan Josep Isern, A la ciutat del perdó, Avui, March 1, 2007
  6. ↑ Puigdevall, Ponç (15 March 2007). "Un dia tornaré". El País. Retrieved 9 April 2015.

Bibliography

External links