Notes on the literary thought of Agustí Bartra: Contributions to Lletres and La Nova Revista

Abstract

This article is about Agustí Bartra’s (1908-1982) contributions to two Catalan journals-in-exile in Mexico: Lletres. Revista literària catalana and La Nova Revista. Throughout the pages of these publications, Bartra develops his aesthetic and poetic thinking in his theoretical and literary texts published in Mexico in parallel to the creation of his oeuvre. The study also depicts the most significant and influential authors as reflected in Bartra’s work and establishes aesthetic and generational links between Bartra and the authors who published their work in magazines. It also points out the absence of other authors to help define the survival relationships of Catalan writers inside and outside Catalonia. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to collect, systematise and analyse the articles and works of Agustí Bartra in the two aforementioned publications in order to extract the literary thinking, interests and motivations (themes, authors, etc.) that inspired him to write from exile in Mexico between 1944 and 1958 (when he wrote L’arbre de foc, Poema de

l’home, Poemes d’Anna and L’evangeli del vent, among others). Consequently, this leads us to a better understanding of the essential efforts on behalf of Catalan culture and its literature of a generation far from their homeland.

Key Words: Bartra, exile, poetry, contemporary Catalan literature, post-symbolism