Initially known as a poet (his first collection of poems dates back to 1977), Àlex Susanna (Barcelona, ??1957) has been developing, since 1989 – the year of publication of Cuaderno veneciano – a very solid work as a diary writer. The latest example of this is the book that he presented, the seventh of his production. Writer of diaries or, even better, writer of notes: reflecting on the last book by the late Josep Igual, he writes that “this mena of personal literature of caire digressiu is the one that is most comprehensive and interesting.” Because the diary, according to the author, is the gender – or transgender, due to its hybrid condition – that best suits life.
The book, written even 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, the two authors more cited in their previous volume, 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”. What is not obice para que severidad su ultimo poemario, el póstumo Animal de bosque: “No sense of the language nor even less of the rhythm”. It is a significant example of the set: Susanna writes from a scrupulous respect – she is an author who never listens – and, consequently, when she thinks it is convenient, she is critical. Something similar happens with a note dedicated to the last days of his father (“Why did you get tired of the family?”), and on other occasions, referring, above all, to aspects of artistic or literary achievement.
Like the previous ones, this book also reflects with great attention on cultural production: painting and literature, above other disciplines. Regarding the first, the author declares himself a supporter, once again, of figurative art (although his vision of the pictorial phenomenon is very broad): for this reason he regrets that certain institutions in the country – the Macba – despise the work of some artists of the Catalan school that practiced this type of painting. Something similar could be said about his lyrical predilections. For Susanna, poetry should not make us lose sight of the world, but rather allow us to see it better, with all its lights and shadows. The notebook does not fail to include splendid descriptions of nature, which alternate with urban ones: the Pyrenees of Queralbs, the Penedès of Gelida and the Matarranya of Calaceite. They are, perhaps, the pages with the greatest literary depth: I would highlight two fragments about full moons.
The profiles of contemporary characters (magnificent, that of Oriol Bohigas, but also those that he gives us 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 on Catalan cultural and political issues have just composed a very enjoyable reading work that is decidedly committed to the art of conversation and the subtlety of the gaze.
Àlex Susanna The dance of the days Proa 288 pages 20.50 euros
