UCSB Latin American and Iberian Studies Program

Congratulations to Professor Eloi Grasset for the publication of his new book!

Congratulations to Professor Eloi Grasset (Spanish and Portuguese) for the publication of his new book La Trama Mortal: Pere Gimferrer y la política de la literatura (1962-1985) (Editorial Renacimiento, 2020).

In this groundbreaking study, Eloi Grasset analyzes at length and for the first time the influential participation of the renowned Catalan poet, editor, and translator Pere Gimferrer (b. 1945) in the reconfiguration of the cultural sphere in Spain and Catalonia after the Franco dictatorship (1939-1975), with particular emphasis on his involvement in the reconstruction of the modern cultural tradition that had been interrupted in the country after the Civil War (1936-1939). Although cultural historians have consistently overlooked Gimferrer’s role as a cultural agent, Grasset contends that his influence in the process of renovation that peninsular cultures initiated in the sixties was crucial and deserves to be highlighted. By repositioning Gimferrer’s historical relevance, La trama mortal should be understood as an important intervention in the current debates regarding national and cultural identities in Spain.

(Description taken from an article by the Spanish & Protuguese Department at UCSB)