JAUME CABRÉ. THE STORY OF ONE VIOLIN IN HIS WORK JO CONFESSO

Abstract

This article presents the work of the Catalan writer Jaume Cabré, who was born in Barcelona. Cabré wrote his books in Catalan even in the 1970s, during the regime of Francisco Franco (1892-1975), which eradicated all differences. Writing in his native language was a principle for Cabré, although he did not condemn his fellow Catalans who chose Spanish. His novel “Confessions” is a novel to which the writer dedicated eight years, and it is his greatest international success. The main character of “Confessions” is Adria Ardevol, the son of a cruel Barcelona antique collector, and the plot revolves around an exceptional violin, the jewel of his father’s collection. “Confessions” spans centuries and concerns over a hundred characters, some of whom do not hesitate to imitate one another. A subject that interests Cabré as much as the question of the nature of evil, and which in a way counteracts it, is creativity. In his novels, people play music, learn languages and write books, talk about art, see salvation (or not) in it, are deceived, disappointed, and then find hope again thanks to art. The main thing in art is the consolation of beauty, as conveyed in “Confessions”, when he describes the playing of two violins, the sounds of which fill the house with such melancholy that one begins to think of another chance in this life, as if one could start over. Perhaps this is Cabré’s answer to the problem of evil in humans. If it is inherent in our nature, and we are doomed to live in a world where there is so much of it, there is no other choice but to understand it through art and Cabré himself works tirelessly in this field.