Joan Maragall (Barcelona, 1860-1911), the outstanding fin-de-siecle Catalan-language poet and publicist, holds an eminent place in Spain's pantheon of diverse literatures. His groundbreaking poetry, disarmingly uncomplex, encapsulates both the turbulence of his time and place (the anarchist bomb attack in the Barcelona Liceu Opera House, the spiritual cost of the Spanish-American War) and the serenity of his gaze into world and soul. Maragall's wholehearted engagement in the debates of his troubled times cuts an emerging figure, not unlike Emile Zola, of prototype for the twentieth-century intellectuel engage, and his steadfast friendship with Miguel de Unamuno brings to light their divergent views on how Spain might be put on democratic track.
Ronald Puppo, research fellow at the Universitat de Vic-Universitat Central de Catalunya, has taught translation and English studies since 1994 and published articles and reviews appearing in Babel, Catalan Review, Translation Review and other journals, and book chapters for Reichenberger and Routledge. Translator of several Catalan poets, notably Jacint Verdaguer (1845-1902) and Joan Maragall (1860-1911), his full-length, annotated translation of Verdaguer's foundational epic, Mount Canigo: A tale of Catalonia, was awarded the
2016 Serra d'Or Critics Prize for Research in Catalan Studies.
