Manuel de Pedrolo

Castle where Manuel de Pedrolo was born

Manuel de Pedrolo i Molina (Aranyó, Plans d'El Sió, Lleida, April 1, 1918-Barcelona, June 26, 1990) was a Spanish writer who wrote in Catalan language. His work has been translated into more than twenty languages.

Biography

Born in 1918 in Aranyó (Segarra), he spent his childhood and adolescence in the Catalan town of Tárrega and in 1935 he moved to Barcelona.

During the Spanish civil war, he joined the CNT-FAI and became a teacher in the town of Fígols. He belonged to the artillery branch of the Popular Republican Army and was on the Falset and Figueras fronts.

In 1949 he published his first book, the work Ésser en el món (Being in the world), a collection of poems. His first novel dates from 1953, Es vessa una sang fàcil . In 1954 he won the Joanot Martorell prize, which consolidated his position as one of the most solid values, as well as the most prolific, of current Catalan novels; and later the Mercè Rodoreda Award for short stories and narratives for Crèdits humans.

Pedrolo tried all sorts of innovations in his novels. Whatever the subject, it reflects a strong realism, which addresses the adventure of man subject to his human condition, with all the contradictions that this implies. He also practiced in other genres, especially the story and the theater. His best-known work is the science-fiction novel Mecanoscrit del segon origen , which was brought to television by the regional channel TV3 through a series that was very successful. Pedrolo was also an important black novel writer.

His work was censored for decades, citing the following criteria: Catalanism, political opinions, religion, sexual morality and indecent language. In March 1972 he was tried in Barcelona behind closed doors, in relation to some scenes described as immoral in his novel Amor fora ciutat, which is why it had already been withdrawn from circulation in 1970. He was finally acquitted and the work authorized.

In 1979 he received the Catalan Literature Honor Award.

He died in Barcelona on June 26, 1990, a victim of cancer.

Works