Known, initially, as a poet (his first book of verses dates from 1977), Àlex Susanna (Barcelona, ??1957) has developed, since 1989 – the year of publication of Quadern venecià -, a very solid body of work as dietitian, the latest example of which is the book I am presenting, the seventh of his production. Dietitian or, even better, writer of notes: reflecting on Josep Igual’s last book, he writes that “this kind of digressive personal literature is what fills and interests me the most”. The one in the diary – the author states – is “the gender that best suits life” (in another passage he speaks of it as a transgender, due to its hybrid condition).
The book, written still in the midst of a pandemic, begins on February 16, 2021, with the death of Joan Margarit, and is dedicated to two “favorite teachers and friends”: Feliu Formosa and J. F. Yvars – who were, by the way, already the two more names mentioned in the previous diary, The world in suspense (2022)–. About Margarit, of whom Susanna was an editor and friend, he points out that “he is the author of some of the best poems that have been written in the last thirty years in any language”. This, however, does not prevent him from judging his last book, the posthumous Forest Animal: “No sense of language and even less of rhythm”.
It is a significant example of the whole: Susanna writes from a scrupulous respect – she is a writer who never listens – and, consequently, when appropriate, she is critical. It also happens with a note dedicated to his father’s last days (“Why did he get tired of the family?”), and on other occasions, referring, above all, to aspects of artistic or literary achievement.
Like the previous books, this one also reflects very carefully on cultural production: painting and literature, above all other disciplines. As for the first, the author declares himself a supporter, once again, of figurative art (well, his vision of the pictorial fact is very broad): this makes him complain that certain institutions in the country – the Macba – neglect the work of some artists of the Catalan school who practiced this kind of painting. A similar thing could be said about his lyrical predilections.
For Susanna, poetry should not make us lose sight of the world, but allow us to “see it better, with all its lights and shadows” (fragments, then, of her own poetry). The notebook still includes splendid descriptions of nature, which alternate with urban ones: that of the Pyrenean country of Queralbs, that of the Gelidenc Penedès and that of Matarranya de Calaceit. They are the plains of the deepest literary stamp: I would underline two fragments on full-moon singles.
The portraits of contemporary characters (magnificent, that of Oriol Bohigas, but also those he does, as everyone says, of Oscar Tusquets or Carles Casajuana, among others), the passages of private life and family reflection (very valuable, those dedicated to his wife, Núria) and the acid criticism of Catalan cultural and political issues have just made up a very enjoyable read that advocates, decidedly, for the art of conversation and the subtlety of the gaze./
Àlex Susanna The dance of the days Proa 288 pages 20.50 euros
