Joan Triadú, reader and prescriber/writer

Abstract

What stands out in the career of Joan Triadú, a pedagogue and cultural activist, is his facet as a literary critic, one of the most prominent in the second half of the twentieth century. He disseminated his reviews and articles via newspapers (especially Avui and Serra d’Or), and some were later compiled in different books. This text focuses on the origins of his training in and fondness of reading, as captured in Dies de memòries 1938-1940. Diari d’un mestre adolescent (2001). While the young Triadú, who wrote a diary between the ages of 16 and 19, was buffeted by the war and the start of the dictatorship, he read whatever was available to him, reflected on it and discovered his inclination to write on the literary tradition and current literary works. Even prior to entering the university, he had already dreamt about becoming a ‘professional’ reader and prescriber/writer as a way of helping to construct a complete national culture.