With Claustre Rafart, who has studied the history of this museum, the latest session of the club focused on one of the most surprising figures of Barcelona from the second half of the 20th century, the notary Raimon Noguera. Because the reading that brought us together this time was precisely, El notari Raimon Noguera i el llegat de Picasso, Miró i Pau Casals (The notary Raimon Noguera and the legacy of Picasso, Miró and Pau Casals), by Agustí Pons, the biography of this deluxe secondary player, discrete and efficient, that enabled the fact that the foundations of three universal Catalans would be inaugurated in Barcelona, that being pro-Franco, was adverse.
As Claustre Rafart commented “On one occasion, the photographer Colita asserted to Noguera that he had known many important people. Noguera, as perspicacious as ever, responded: Oh, I’ve seen all kinds of important people. Those who are, those who believe they are, and those that the newspapers say they are. I have always distinguished between pride and vanity. From my point of view, Noguera formed part of this last group of people who were much more important than they themselves believed. I think he was one of the leading people from the Barcelona society from the second half of the 20th century.”
The conversation was extremely varied: infancy in the Liceu Políglota – multi-lingual secondary school, public administration exams, the defence of notarial archives as a source of historical knowledge, the Montserrat affair, the foundation of this museum, its relation with Picasso, Miró and Casals, etc. All in all crossed by a certainty: the major constant of his life was the attendance of all kinds of social gatherings. Social gatherings such as ours.
We continue next month with Rabos de lagartija, (Lizard tails) by Juan Marsé, accompanied by the professor and poet Lluís Izquierdo.
Jordi Carrión
www.jorgecarrion.com
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New Season of the Reading Club
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