Jordi Tiñena. English

Jordi Tiñena (Barcelona, 1955) has a Chair in Secondary Education with a doctorate in Catalan Philology and a degree in Hispanic Philology. He has written the novels Mort a Menorca (Death in Menorca), Un dia en la vida d'Ishak Butmic (A Day in the Life of Ishak Butmic), Els vespres de don Magí Castellarnau (The Evenings of don Magí Castellarnau), La dona del grill (The Cricket’s Wife), El Comediant de Perpinyà (The Comedian of Perpignan) Dies a la ciutat (Days in the City) and L'ombra del coronel (The Colonel’s Shadow). He has received a number of prizes including the 1994 Ciutat d'Alzira Prize and the 1999 Pin i Soler Prize for Narrative Works. In the educational domain, he has produced versions in modern Catalan of classic medieval works, among them being Joanot Martorell’s Tirant lo Blanc, the knightly epic Curial e Güelfa, Jaume Roig's Spill (Mirror), and Bernat Metge’s Lo Somni (The Dream). Aside from novels and versions of Catalan medieval classics, he is the author of various essays on the teaching of language, of a Literary reference book, Guia de consulta ràpida de literatura and of La novel.la històrica catalana (1862-1882) (The Catalan historical novel.)

The latest book

El mercant (The merchant), Ed. Columna. Barcelona 2005

A man, Sean, arrives at the port of Long Beach because he has to go aboard “The Shadow S” cargo ship. He feels nervous because he’s just argued with the taxi driver, who got lost in the docks, and now he is afraid the ship has sailed out of port without him; but he sees it there and goes on board with determination. Not being aware of it, he is about to go into an unpredictable hell. In “The merchant” Jordi Tiñena creates with talent a suffocating, disturbing atmosphere where, if the reader puts him/herself in the protagonist’s place, they will travel to their most intimate anguish. The result is a lively book that does not leave one indifferent and goes to the limits of the delicate border between good and evil when survival is at stake. It is a kafkian story that starts from a fate that criminalizes an innocent with absurdity.

Mort a Menorca (Death in Menorca), Eds. Columna / Proa. Barcelona 1995

This novel was a finalist in the literary prize I Premi Carlemany (1994). The members of the jury were: Elidà Amigó, Miquel Alzueta, Joan Carreras, Gabriel Janer Manila and Isabel-Clara Simó.

It is a story which takes the shape of a literary game and under the appearance of a serial novel, it questions the fragility of memory's certainties and deceits. A surprising and entertaining novel , where the despotism of power is shown, in a distorted manner , in the relationship between a writer and his aid.

Un dia en la vida d'Ishak Butmic (A day in Ishak Butmic's life), Ed. Bromera. Alzira 1995

This novel won the literary prize Ciudat d' Alzira (1994). The members of the jury were: Joan Cavallé, Pere Grande, M.àngels Moreno, Maria Antònia Oliver i Heike van Lawick.

A novel about Sarajevo's siege which rebuilds the possible life of a group of characters under a sniper's attentive look . A homage to the victims of aggression and an accusation of ethnic violence in wars and the longlasting passiveness of occidental countries.

Els vespres de don Magí Castellarnau (Mr. Magí Castellarnau's evenings), Ed. Magrana. Barcelona 1995

Mr. Magí, a nobleman from the Tarragona of the XVIII century, is an enlightened and restless spirit whom life has obliged to live in a manner different from the one he had wished for. As an old man he discovers that he is capable of hopes and full of resolution to bring them to life. A story that captures the reader's attention from the beginning sentence: "Remember, Mr. Magí, that you must do great things today."

La dona del grill (The cricket woman)

This novel was published by Edicions la Magrana. A novel set in the Barcelona of the XVth. century. A story of love and procuresses freely inspired in some real facts, of which the lawsuit was published by Jaume Riera in the book El cavaller i l'alcavota (The gentleman and the procuress) in 1973.

El comediant de Perpinyà (The comediant of Perepinyà) Ed. Magrana. Barcelona 1997

This novel was a finalist in the literary prize Premi Llorenç Villalonga de Novel.la 1997, de Palma de Mallorca. The members of the jury were: Jordi Coca, Alexandre Ballester, Perfecto Cuadrado, Oriol Castanys and Anick Lapointe.

The comediant of Perpinyà elapse in the XVII th. century. Starts the year 1659, when the Catalan regions of the Rosselló, the Conflent and part of the Cerdanya happened to French sovereignty with the signature of the Treaty of the Pirineus. Split into two parts that elapse in Perpinyà and in Paris, it is the story of a rhetoric teacher of Perpinyà who covets to triumph as theatrical author, fascinated for Moliere.

Dies a la ciutat (Days in the city) , Ed. El Mèdol. Tarragona 1999

This novel won the Prize of Narrative Pin i Soler of Tarragona (1998). The members of the jury were Joan Perucho, Ignasi Riera, Alex Broch, Agustí Pons and Jordi Cervera.

Days in the city is a story set in the XVI century in Tarragona where archbishop Agustín lives. The main characters are an old one inquisitor and a Provençal smuggler. In this novel nobody is exactly what they seem to be. A story that was born after the reading of "The Catalan heretics" by Jordi Ventura. In this book he explains the life of Pere Galés, an heretic born in Ulldecona. I was interested about the final destiny that such a magnificent library could have had after the Inquisition confiscated it. Pere Galés died prisoner in Zaragoza. His body was exhumed and incinerated in April 7 1595. These books are the ones that my smuggler introduces in the city of Tarragona, on his way to France, at beginning the novel.

L'ombra del coronel (The colonel's shadow), Ed. Arola. Tarragona 2003

Catalonia 1952. After some years as a war's prisoner, Floreal Bellmunt arrives in a little town to begin a new life. But he is not the only one that knows he lost the war. Colonel Sales, hwo is theoretically one of de winners, feels that he is also one of the losers. However, the coronel thinks in revenge and Floreal will become an innocent piece in his game.