Josep Pous i Pagès (Figueres, 1873 – Barcelona, 1952). Novelist, playwright and journalist.

From 1904 he worked as a journalist for El Poble Català, and due to his political articles, he was imprisoned for a month in 1909. Playwright active from 1902 to 1930, he wrote near thirty plays, with titles such as El mestre nou (1903), L'endemà de bodes (1904), Senyora àvia vol marit (1912), Pàtria (1914), Rei i senyor (1918), Flacs naixem, flacs vivim (1919), Primera volada (1921), Maria Lluïsa i els seus pretendents (1928) and Vivim a les palpentes (1931), among others.

He also wrote other literary genres such as short narrative, poetic prose, novel and compilations of lectures, the most notable of which are Per la vida (1903), Quan es fa nosa (1904), Empordaneses (1905), Al marge de la revolució i de la guerra (1937), and De la pau i del combat (1948). His most famous work is the novel La vida i la mort d'en Jordi Fraginals (1912), which has been considered one of the best examples of modernist prose, and one of the greatest novels of 20th century Catalan literature.

Of liberal and nationalist convictions, he maintained an active role in Catalan cultural and political circles. From 1937 to 1938 he managed the "Institució de les Lletres Catalanes", and he was appointed president of the "Ateneu Barcelonès". During the Spanish postwar period he organized and ran the political association "Consell Nacional de la Democràcia Catalana".



Page by Josep Miàs for AELC.
Photograph from the "Arxiu Històric de la Ciutat de Barcelona".
Translated by Josep Miàs.