Readers, curious individuals, and mythomaniacs have a tool for entertainment: it is the literary map of Barcelona, which synthesizes a large amount of information about the city's heritage linked to the world of books. The result of more than a year's work, the map has just appeared, bringing together and geographically locating the names and works of writers who lived in Barcelona, were linked to the city, or wrote about it; places and establishments they frequented, facilities linked to the world of literature, libraries, and bookstores... Most references belong to the 19th and 20th centuries (but not exclusively, Miguel de Cervantes and Baró de Maldà are also included) and authors in Catalan, Spanish, and other languages can be found on it.
Promoted by the Barcelona City Council (specifically, by the UNESCO Barcelona City of Literature office, led by Marina Espasa), journalists and writers Víctor Fernández and Joan Safont have dedicated themselves to acting as "detectives" to find the most intricate literary footprint. At the presentation held at the La Central del Raval bookstore (the free map can be found in libraries and a few English versions will be available in tourist offices), they commented on some gems they have collected, such as: Anaïs Nin lived in Barcelona in 1916 because she had family in the city (at Roger de Llúria street, 56); for the search for Miquel Bauçà's address, they had to resort to newspapers (Marquès de Sentmenat); Antonio Machado worked at Torre Castanyer, in Sant Gervasi; or Flaubert's short story The Murderer Bookseller which takes place in Plaça Reial. The research has gone through many phases, such as when Fernández asked his mother-in-law for help in finding the place Gabriel Ferrater frequented in Sant Gervasi. And if the reader-walker of this map starts looking for the writers' food and drink spots, they will discover that personalities such as Stendhal, George Sand, and Pirandello made an appearance at the Hotel Cuatro Naciones on La Rambla.
Some figures to see the dimension of the map: 68 writers are mapped, 24 literary works related to Barcelona, 63 literary elements (statues, tombs, literary spaces, writers' foundations, bars, hotels...), 43 libraries (between public and specialized), 67 bookstores (counting children's and young adult, old book, and those found in old book markets) and ten reading corners.
It has been necessary, however, to establish some criteria (such as representativeness or the type of location that was given importance) and to make a choice, among other things because not everyone can physically fit on a map. For example, apart from Vargas Llosa -because he has the Nobel Prize- the only writers who appear with a portrait are those who are already dead (like Francisco González Ledesma -his widow was at the presentation-, Ana María and Terenci Moix, Sempronio, Palau i Fabre, Rosa Maria Arquimbau, Cèlia Suñol, Arthur Cravan -drawn with a boxing glove that precisely appeals to the mystery that surrounded her-, Jordi Sarsanedas, George Orwell, Roberto Bolaño, Rubén Darío, Irene Polo, Montserrat Roig or Pere Quart). For living writers, their home addresses are not indicated for obvious reasons. The map establishes curious neighborhood relationships, such as that of Pla (located at the University of Barcelona, due to the beginning of El cuaderno gris) with Nada, Carmen Laforet's novel, two streets away.
The aim is for this heritage inventory to be a step towards recognizing it, as happens in cities like Paris, full of plaques commemorating its men and women of letters. "The idea is for people to grab the map and go buy the books," Espasa stressed. The distribution of literary material on the map is inevitably uneven: "the center of Barcelona appears very populated with writers; it's normal because it's the origin of the city but then there are other peripheral sectors that have surprised us a lot, such as the Vallcarca neighborhood or the Coll neighborhood," Safont commented. Sarrià, between Foix and the Boom writers, is another epicenter. And in contrast, the Eixample or newly created neighborhoods are mostly empty. "We have tried to be as precise as we could" -Fernández added.
A few pieces of data have already moved to the phase of trying to be refuted on Twitter, as is normal with a map of these characteristics. Another aspect must also be taken into account, as Safont pointed out: some street numbers may have changed compared to how they were referenced during the life of the writer in question.
Apart from existing on paper, the map can also be found on the Barcelona City Council website (http://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/ciutatdelaliteratura/es/mapa-literario) where seven literary routes through the city can be downloaded, along with a couple of projects that are just now emerging: the installation of poetic intercoms (devices at strategic points where poems can be heard, the first of these will be located in the Horiginal cafeteria -now Rubia- and at the Barcelona stand at the Buenos Aires book fair); and literary traces (marking with tiles on the ground spaces that have inspired literary works). Steps that seek, after all, to disseminate the literature through which one travels.