Josep Palau i Fabre

Josep Palau i Fabre (born 21 April 1917 in Barcelona; died in the same city on 23 February 2008) was a Spanish Catalan poet and writer. He was a representative of Catalan literature during the post-World War period and a world expert on the work of Pablo Picasso.

Biography The son of a painter and decorator, towards the end of the 1930s Fabre began his literary career by writing poetry. He studied arts at the University of Barcelona, and, during the 1950s, he was an active collaborator in various literary magazines such as Poesia and Ariel as well as being an editor at the La serena publishing house. A scholarship from the French government drew Fabre to Paris in 1945, where he lived until 1951. Afterward, he revoked his Spanish citizenship so that he could be classified as a political refugee.

In addition to poetry, he wrote plays, short stories and essays, including on Picasso. His fictional world draws on eroticism, showing strong dimensions other than those of the standard idea of reality and harshly criticising the idea of a self-satisfied, mediocre society. Fabre was also an active translator, translating into Catalan works by Antonin Artaud, Arthur Rimbaud, Honoré de Balzac, and the book Letters of a Portuguese Nun. His own books have been translated into several languages.

Fabre died at the Hospital de la Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona aged 90 years and was buried in the municipal cemetery in Caldes d'Estrac.

Work

Poetry 1942 : Balades amargues 1943 : L'aprenent del poeta 1945 : Imitació de Rosselló-Pòrcel 1946 : Càncer 1952 : Poemes de l'alquimista (reissued in 1977, 1979, 1991 and 2002, the last a bilingual Catalan/Spanish edition) 2001 : Les veus del ventríloc: poesia de teatre

Novels 1983 : Contes despullats 1984 : La tesi doctoral del diable 1988 : Amb noms de dona 1991 : Un Saló que camina 1993 : L'Alfa Romeo i Julieta i altres contes 1993 : Contes de capçalera 1996 : Les metamorfosis d'Ovídia i altres contes

Plays 1957 : Esquelet de Don Joan 1972 : Homenatge a Picasso 1977 : Teatre 1978 : La tràgica història de Miquel Kolhas 1986 : Avui Romeo i Julieta. El porter i el penalty 1991 : L'Alfa Romeo i Julieta, i altres contes, precedit per Aparició de Faust 2000 : La confessió o l'esca del pecat 2003 : Teatre de Don Joan

Essays and literary criticism 1943 : Pensaments 1961 : La tragèdia o el llenguatge de la llibertat 1962 : El mirall embruixat 1962 : Vides de Picasso 1962 : Vides de Picasso: assaig de biografia 1963 : Picasso 1964 : Doble assaig sobre Picasso 1966 : Picasso a Catalunya 1970 : Picasso per Picasso 1971 : L'extraordinària vida de Picasso 1971 : Picasso i els seus amics catalans 1976 : Antonin Artaud i la revolta del teatre modern 1976 : Quaderns de l'alquimista 1977 : Pare Picasso 1979 : El « Gernika » de Picasso 1981 : El secret de les Menines de Picasso 1981 : Picasso 1981 : Picasso vivent, 1881-1907 1981 : Picasso, Barcelona, Catalunya (with Montserrat Blanch, Alexandre Cirici and Isabel Coll) 1981 : Picasso a l'abast 1983 : Nous quaderns de l'alquimista 1990 : Picasso cubisme, 1907-1917 1991 : Quaderns inèdits de l'alquimista 1996 : Lorca-Picasso 1996 : Quaderns de vella i nova alquímia 1997 : Quaderns de l'alquimista 1997 : Estimat Picasso 1999 : Picasso dels ballets al drama, 1917-1926 2004 : Problemàtica de la tragèdia a Catalunya: obertura del curs acadèmic, 2003-2004