These days, everyone is talking about The Crown and El hijo del chófer (The Chauffeur's Son). It is said that the fourth season of the Netflix series about the reign of Elizabeth II focuses on the arrival of Diana of Wales to the Windsor family, and that is a huge understatement. In the same way, it doesn't do justice to Jordi Amat's magnificent book to say that El hijo del chófer (Barcelona, Edicions 62) is the chronicle of the rise and fall of journalist and lawyer Alfons Quintà.
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I suppose for this reason ---because there is much to say, much to comment on---, opinion writers are writing dozens of articles about The Crown and also reviews of El hijo del chófer, but I believe I am the first columnist to talk about both in the same column. This week, The Crown and the chauffeur's son share a title and, in the same paragraph, Lady Di and Quintà appear, the strange couple. Or, to use another worn-out reference: the beauty and the beast.
Sometimes, chance or fate makes us relate books or films that a priori have nothing in common. This is somewhat what has happened to me with the fourth season of The Crown and Amat's book. I devoured all the episodes of the series in three or four nights and dedicated their respective afternoons to devouring El hijo del chófer. So I digested both works at the same time, and it is well known that everything ends up mixed in the stomach: Thatcher, Pujol, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prenafeta, Lord Mountbatten, Tarradellas...
They show us the city ---London and Barcelona--- from its centers of power, and this seems to me to be an interesting perspective
It may seem like I'm mixing apples and oranges, but I believe the series and the book have some things in common, beyond being set in the same era. The main one is that they essentially talk about power: how it is achieved, how it is exercised, and, very importantly, how it is staged. That is, through what mechanisms (rituals, dresses, jewels, ceremonies and, obviously, leaks to the media) rulers represent themselves before the governed.
They also show us the city ---London and Barcelona--- from the perspective of their power scenarios, and this seems to me to be an interesting view. Buckingham Palace is, primarily, a grand stage for representations of power (parades, audiences, red box up and down...). So is the entrance to 10 Downing Street where, by contrast, the executive is represented at street level. Or the skyline of the City, a representation of financial power.
Is the Banca Catalana Building, later the Planeta Building, one of the most beautiful in the city?
In Barcelona, the main stage of political power is, without a doubt, Plaça de Sant Jaume. More specifically, the balcony of the Palau de la Generalitat. In Amat's book, we find two great power dramatizations without which current Catalonia cannot be understood: Tarradellas's Ja soc aquí! and the acclamation of Pujol, once re-elected president, despite the Banca Catalana scandal. El hijo del chófer also talks about financial power and how it turns Diagonal into its stage, to the point that Banca Catalana projects a breathtaking headquarters there. Is the Banca Catalana Building, later the Planeta Building, one of the most beautiful in the city?