Joan Maragall

The recorded working language is Catalan, Spanish and German. Narcís Oller is recorded as an influence. Positions recorded include member of the Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona and president of Ateneu Barcelonès. Work by Joan Maragall is recorded in the collections of Lluís Domènech i Montaner House-Museum. Distinctions recorded are Mestre en Gai Saber and Fastenrath Award.

• Name — Joan Maragall i Gorina • Born — 10 October 1860 • Birthplace — Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain • Died — 20 December 1911 • Place of death — Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain • Occupation — Poet, translator, journalist • Movement — Modernisme • Illustration — Statue in Barcelona's Parc de la Ciutadella, erected in 1913.

Maragall's upper-class family was dedicated to the flourishing textile industry in Barcelona, and after finishing school, Joan Maragall took on his father's job. Having never liked his family's trade, he decided to go to university instead, where he studied law to his father's great disappointment. However, he dropped out of school and married Clara Noble with whom he had 13 children. In 1904 he won all three prizes awarded by the Jocs Florals in Barcelona, and was proclaimed Mestre en Gai Saber. His private home in Sant Gervasi was bought by the Biblioteca de Catalunya and can be visited. He died in 1911 and was buried at the Sant Gervasi Cemetery Barcelona. His grandson, Pasqual Maragall, would become mayor of Barcelona and then President of Catalonia.

Maragall's poetry was based on themes drawn from human life and nature. Highly influenced by German-language authors such as Nietzsche, Novalis and Goethe, all of whom he translated into Catalan, his poetry went through periods of decadentism and vitalism. He is best known for his 'theory of the living word', or teoria de la paraula viva, which advocated Nietzschean vitalism and spontaneous or even imperfect writing over colder and over-thought poetry. In addition to his poetry writing, Maragall published journalism in avant-garde magazines of the time—including L'Avenç, Catalònia and Luz—where he became the leading proponent of Catalan modernisme. Maragall supported Iberian Federalism. A generous sampling of Maragall's most important poetry and prose is included in the extensively annotated One Day of Life is Life: Joan Maragall.

• Poesies (1895) • Visions i Cants (1900) • Les Disperses (1904) • Enllà (1906), Fastenrath Award 1910. • Seqüències (1911) • includes the poem La fageda d'en Jordà

Digitization is available through the portal El món de Joan Maragall: Col·lecció visual de la vida i l'obra de l'autor or directly at Memòria Digital de Catalunya

His recorded languages were Catalan, Spanish and German. Recognition and collections. Maragall received Mestre en Gai Saber and Fastenrath Award.

His work is associated with Catalan modernism. Recorded positions include member of the Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona and president of Ateneu Barcelonès. He belonged to Philological Section of the Institute for Catalan Studies.