Presentation of the English version of “Els sots feréstecs”, by Raimon Casellas

Beginning at 8 pm on Wednesday the 9th of April, the Auditori Joan XXIII of the Institut Cultural del CIC (Cooperativa Integral Catalana) will host the presentation of Dark Vales, the English translation of the first Catalan modernist novel Els sots feréstecs. The event will be attended by painter, author, Catalan culture promoter and London resident, Eva Bosch, who is responsible for the publication, as well as author Matthew Tree, the director of the Fundació Lluís Carulla, Carles Duarte, and ICCIC director, Frederic Raurell.

Els sots feréstecs, published in 1901, is the only novel by Raimon Casellas, better known for his innovative contributions as an art critic, contributions which were to give shape and form to the modernist movement of the turn of the century. The novel tells the story of father Llàtzer, a city bishop who is exiled to a rural parish for doctrinal heresy, and the upset that his arrival causes among the inhabitants of Sant Pau de Montmany. The premise of the story is a metaphor for the failure of the intellectual modernist movement to transform society.

Dark Vales was translated by Alan Yates and published in February by UK publishers Dedalus (founded in 1983 and with a catalogue that includes authors such as Balzac, Pirandello, D’Annunzio, Meyrink and Valle-Inclán) with the support of the Institut Ramon Llull.