Blai Bonet

The work of Bonet (poetry and novel) is very much associated with light and colour. Light, as a metaphor of God, and colour, as the passions of light (Goethe): hence, poetry as the colour that gives character to life. Bonet once said that "my intention when I write is to illuminate those who read me". Bonet's work is also a meditation on God and human life, and offers a certain prophetic vision within the current of Christian existentialism. In regard to this relationship between God and man, Bonet also reflects on sin and its epitome, Judas, a recurrent figure in his poetic and novelistic universe. The poet, according to Bonet, explains the world through synthesis and, as a repository of Art, is called on to dispel darkness from mystery.

Santanyí, 1926-1997. Poet and novelist. In 1939 he entered the Palma Seminary, where he read Hesiod, Pindar and Homer. Tuberculosis was soon to mark his life and his work. He left the seminary in 1948 and thereafter alternated his stays between Santanyí and the sanatorium in Caubet. He was discovered as a poet in 1950 when Bernat Vidal i Tomàs read Quatre poemes de Setmana Santa (Four Holy Week Poems) in the Guillem Colom literary group. The poems present scenes from Nature interpreted through Christian rituals, where the poet is invited to enjoy life while expressing his pain at not being able to join God. In Entre el coral i l'espiga (Between Coral and Wheat) (1952) he heightens his treatment of the humanised landscape. The work consists of two antithetical parts, the coral and the wheat, images of "blood" and "mysticism", of "sea" and "land", of health and illness, of the lover and the beloved. The word flowers here in an outpouring of amorous symbols and metaphors in which the poet laments the absence of the beloved.

In Cant espiritual (Spiritual Song) (1953; Óssa Menor Prize, 1952) he brings together religiousness and sensuality, while alternating intense oration and light prayer. These poems reflect the mark left on him by the classics, from Song of Songs, Ausiàs March, Saint John of the Cross and Joan Maragall, to members of the Generation of '27: Lorca, Alberti and Guillén. He lived in Barcelona between 1953 and 1968. With Comèdia (Comedy) (1960 Critics' Prize) he moves closer to social realism. This is a collection of nineteen poems, tracing his biography until he entered the Seminary. He also deals with the relations between Catalonia and Spain, with echoes of Espriu, Sagarra, Blas de Otero and Goytisolo. Comèdia closes the cycle of poetry brought together in the book El Color (Colour) (1986), following Goethe's epigraph to the effect that, "Colours are the passions of light". For Bonet, poetry is the colour that gives character to life.

L'Evangeli segons un de tants (The Gospel According to One of Many) (1967, 1962 Carles Riba Prize) is the start of a new cycle that would continue with Els fets (The Acts) (1974), the title of which evokes the Acts of the Apostles . It is a long, narrative and descriptive song in which he reflects prophetically on the human being.

Has vist, algun cop, Jordi Bonet, Ca n'Amat a l'ombra? (Have You Ever Seen, Jordi Bonet, Amat House in the Shade?) (1976) is a long poem with resonances of Ramon Llull, mixing metaphysical reflection and popular discourse in an attempt to fit together in one work different levels of language: the monologue, cinematic technique and collage. In Cant de l'arc (Song of the Arch) (1979) he reaffirms the idea of the dissolution of things and, influenced by modern theology, he asserts that the only possible atheism is that of Deus Absconditus. The title of this work comes from David's Lament (2S1:15-27). Continue reading...