The Catalan
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The Catalan
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Included in this section are books about the land and people of Catalonia as well as materials written in Catalan. Les formes de la vida catalana has sold in large numbers, is frequently reprinted, and often quoted. Ferrater Mora was very proud of being Catalan. He wrote and often conversed in Catalan, the language that was spoken in his childhood home, but he also wanted as many people as possible to read what he had written. For that reason, he wrote many of his books in Spanish. He did not see this as being disloyal to his heritage, but as simply a practical matter. How many people, he would ask rhetorically, would have consulted his Dictionary if it had been written in Catalan? Unlike many exiles, Ferrater Mora did not long to live in the land of his birth for he found things to admire in many countries and many cultures. He particularly liked those countries that had large libraries, efficient banks and post offices, and what he considered good food, the preponderance of which he believed was found in what he called the “Mediterranean countries.” Later on he preferred those countries that sold a wide variety of cameras, lenses, and all kinds of electronic equipment. The only problem was that he did not find all of these desirable conditions in any one location. Perhaps it is most accurate to describe Ferrater Mora, a Catalan who lived the greater part of his life in the United States, as a citizen of the world, who felt at home in many of the world's largest libraries, and who valued and deeply appreciated his Catalan heritage with its long and impressive literary tradition. |