Joan Maragall (Barcelona, 1860-1911), the outstanding fin-de-siècle Catalan-language poet and publicist, holds an eminent place in Spain’s pantheon of diverse literatures. His ground-breaking poetry, disarmingly uncomplex, encapsulates both the turbulence of his time and place (the anarchist bomb attack in the Barcelona Liceu Opera House, the spiritual cost of the Spanish-American War) and the serenity of his gaze into world and soul. Maragall’s wholehearted engagement in the debates of his troubled times cuts an emerging figure, not unlike Émile Zola, of prototype for the twentieth-century intellectuel engagé, and his steadfast friendship with Miguel de Unamuno brings to light their divergent views on how Spain might be put on democratic track.

• One Day of Life is Life