Baltasar Porcel, undoubtedly one of the greatest Catalan writers of the century

Baltasar Porcel

Baltasar Porcel, passed away at the age of 72. He suffered from cancer and had already been through surgery, from which he apparently was recovering all right. This unexpected death represents the end to the remarkable career of one of the Catalan writers that has received the most international acclaim. Baltasar Porcel, borned in 1938 in Andratx (Mallorca) was a vital, free and also controversial writer, that leaves us with an enormous literary legacy that confirms him as one of the greatest Catalan writer of the second half of the XX century.

Among his vast work, titles such as ‘Cavalls cap a la fosca‘ (1975),  ‘Les primaveres i les tardors’ (1986) with a more poetic tone or ‘L’emperador o l’ull del vent‘ (2001) with a virile and modern tone, could be considered as those which stand out from the rest. His work has also been translated into many languages and awarded with national and international prizes in Italy (The Bocaccio Prize), France (The Meditérranée prize) and the United States (Critics’ Choice), and for more than twenty  years he has contributed a daily article to the newspaper La Vanguardia, which had become one of the most widely-read columns in the country.

But besides his fabulous creative output Porcel had a strong personality, sometimes even rough, that might have shadowed his strong work. And, above all, he has spread his deep love for his sea, the Mediterranean, and for his language, Catalan, repeatedly quoting Heidegger’s  “language is the house of being“.

May he rest in peace.