One final souvenir from our trip to Spain, purchased in Barcelona at the Llibreria Anglesa. The Irish author Tóibín lived in Barcelona at the end of the Franco years, and Homage to Barcelona promised a portrait of the city emerging from dictatorship.
I was expecting the novelist Tóibín to provide insights into the unique spirit of Barcelona and the distinctive style of the artists who lived there (Gaudí, Picasso, Miró, Dalí). What distinguishes Barcelona from other cities? I hoped Tóibín would identify subtle attitudes that would elucidate aspects of our personal experience there.
Instead the book is largely a stick-to-the-facts summary of 20th-century Catalon history, devoid of a personalized perspective. The Modernisme style incorporates Gothic elements; art is inextricably tied to Catalan nationalism; Spaniards don't like to talk about the Civil War –– yeah, yeah, tell me something I don't know from Rick Steves.
I learned that Picasso painted his "blue period" works just off La Rambla, but this information doesn't enhance my appreciation of his work or the location. Tóibín mentions that Picasso and Federico Garcia Lorca were both from Andalusia rather than Catalonia, but he declines to explain the significance of the regional differences (even though Lorca gave a talk on the very subject!).
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