Manuel de Pedrolo (1918–1990) is one of the most important authors in Catalan, the language used by about ten million speakers in a variety of territories in Southwestern Europe.1 Pedrolo was born to an impoverished aristocratic family near Tàrrega, in Lleida,2 about 110 kilometers east of Barcelona. He moved to the Catalan capital city first in 1935 as an undergraduate student, and later in 1946 after the victory of fascist General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War (1936–39). Pedrolo, w…
Read moreManuel de Pedrolo (1918–1990) is one of the most important authors in Catalan, the language used by about ten million speakers in a variety of territories in Southwestern Europe.1 Pedrolo was born to an impoverished aristocratic family near Tàrrega, in Lleida,2 about 110 kilometers east of Barcelona. He moved to the Catalan capital city first in 1935 as an undergraduate student, and later in 1946 after the victory of fascist General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War (1936–39). Pedrolo, who had fought on the Republican side, was one of the "red" losers heavily oppressed by the new regime. His literary career, started in 1949, was conditioned by Franco's repressive linguistic policies, which resulted in the... Read More.
