46. Literary portraits of the city
The diverse and contradictory Barcelona of the 20th century is reflected in literature. And literature has at the same time been thoroughly appropriated, not only due to the social expansion of reading but also because of the transformational power of literary works in themselves. It is additionally a key factor in the creation of imaginaries in all artistic fields.
Barcelona has been the birthplace or home of creators who have conjured up the city in their literary fictions and helped to make it and understand it. The city, the hub of Catalan literature and the global capital of publishing, has been and is in itself a literary object.