How many betrayals are necessary to make a contemporary classic?

When we say that a work is classic, it is wrapped in an imposing aura and integrated into the great tradition; in a certain way we place it at a certain distance from us, as if it had not directly affected our vines. But in order to achieve this status, and to repeat these noble ideas, the work must have touched the public in many ways and must have faced the conflicts of its time. That is why the word “classic” is so ambivalent and problematic; at the end of the day, it is just a way of saying that the work of established art always swings between surprise and stereotyped language, between tradition and homage.

The activity offered a reflective visit to the exhibition Known masterpieces. If you were unable to visit it, we invite you to the activity page, where you will find a video-tour of the exhibition.

Raül Garrigasait (1929) is a writer, translator and a hellenist. He has published several essays on cultural history and the novel Els estranys (Edicions de 1984, 2017), which won the Llibreter Prize, the Òmnium Prize for the best Catalan-language novel of the year and the Setè Cel Prize. He has translated Plato, Goethe, Papadiamandis, Joseph Roth and Peter Sloterijk, among others. He currently presides over La Casa dels Clàssics, a project that promotes the creation, thought and dissemination of universal classics, and has an essay in press entitled Els fundadors, about the first decades of the Bernat Metge Collection and the relationship between classics and politics.