Product Description

The author of The Fatal Shore links 1,500 years of Catalan history with the architecture, painting, sculpture, music, and poetry of Barcelona to pay tribute to the intense accomplishments of the Catalunya culture. 50,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #706407 in Books
• Published on: 1992-02-18
• Released on: 1992-02-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 573 pages

From Publishers Weekly
This historical-cultural treatise on the Catalan capital arrives in time to prime tourists for the 1992 Olympics--although the city's parking problems will almost certainly not be solved by then. An observant and penetrating writer, Hughes, art critic for Time , conveys an exciting sense that he is reserving yet more opinions than are unleashed. He records and comments on the various myths of catalanisme , noting that Barcelona's reputation for dissidence should not be mistaken for leftism; rather, it reflects the indelibly bourgeois city's unquiet alienation from the dominant Castilian state. But even if Hughes served up history less capably, it would be hard to fumble with a subject so abundantly stocked with anecdotal plums. The author is very well versed in the general domain of the arts and letters; he is at his best, however, discussing architecture. Throughout the architectural history of Barcelona, authentic cultural expression faces off with a philistine instinct for "restoration," and Hughes pointedly communicates his anguish over it. In all, the sense that after 2000 years Barcelona's character is still forming gives the work a special impact. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA-- The throbbing beat of flamenco guitars and the clicking of castanets resound as readers peruse the pages of this epic history. Founded as an encampment by Roman invaders around 210 B.C. , Barcelona passed through centuries of strife until it reached its ``Golden Age'' between the years 1850 and 1925; it is on this era that Hughes focuses. Aficianados of his descriptive, colorful prose style from such bestsellers as The Fatal Shore (Random, 1988) and The Shock of the New (McGraw, 1981) will not be disappointed with this work, and students of architecture will be especially pleased with the author's detailed comparisons of the city's varied structural styles. A must book for students of modern Spanish or European history and culture.
- Richard Lisker, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The acclaimed author of The Fatal Shore ( LJ 11/1/86) and The Shock of the New ( LJ 2/15/81) brings to life that "great enchantress" of the Mediterranean with the same panache and elegant prose readers have come to expect. Barcelona's literature, painting, complex politics, vivid personalities, and cunning entrepreneurship through 1500 years are ingeniously interwoven. The result is a brilliant tapestry keyed to the city's architecture from its medieval Gothic splendors to Antoni Gaudi's dominating "delayed baroque" style and the present transformation associated with the forthcoming Olympic Games. Hughes's lengthy and thoroughly researched narrative lucidly delineates those historical factors generating the intense cultural nationalism of Spain's Catalonia and its great metropolis. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries. History Book Club and Quality Paperback alternates; previewed in Pre pub Alert, LJ 10/1/91.
- William F. Young, SUNY at Albany Lib.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Good detail on Barcelona and Catalunya
Robert Hughes' "Barcelona" is the book that I wish that I had before I went to live in and around Barcelona, and since it came along after that time, reading it made me want to go back to that city again and again. By all means, if you plan to visit Barcelona or any other city in Catalunya, dedicate the time necessary to absorb this book before you go. It is not light reading, nor is it a "guidebook." The format doesn't really lend itself to a brief and casual visit -- but the market is full of those alternatives. Instead, you gain a more fulfilling context and deeper historical perspective. "Barcelona" is a bit like the famous Canaletas fountain near the head of the Ramblas. Once you have drunk from it, as they say, you are thereafter certain to return to the city.

An important historical perspective
I read Hughes' Barcelona before I went to Barcelona for the first time, and it made all the difference in the world. I arrived not as a stranger, but as a student of Catalan culture and history. The book gave me the background to have an informed perspective on what I was seeing. It may be long, but it has tons of information. My only complaint is that Hughes assumes the reader has a knowledge of history that I, for one, don't have. So there were things I didn't understand.

I liked that Hughes sometimes talked about the big things -- big events, important people, and he sometimes talked about the little things that make a place distinctive. His love of the place came through to me, and I fell in love with it too.

Beautiful city, scholarly book
I visited Barcelona in 1982 and then again, 20 years later, in 2002. I am certainly glad I read Robert Hughes' "Barcelona" before going the second time since it certainly gave me a new perspective on the city, its history, its art, and its architecture.

The history of the Catalunya area is fascinating, an area that predates the Roman Empire. Two Roman Emperors came from Barcelona, Trajan and his nephew Hadrian. Hughes helps us understand the unique development of the Catalan language, culture, history which is frequently at odds with Madrid and Spain's central government.

Hughes does an excellent job of mapping the development of city with changes in politics and the coming of the industrial revolution. At one point, Barcelona was filled with sweat shops, offering long 12 hour days, very low wages, unhealthy nasty work conditions, deprivation of exercise and light, and explotative child labor. As I walked the city of Barceona, I imagined the struggling families trying to survive under these conditions in times past.

Even though the full 574 pages are engaging in this long book, the chapters on Gaudi are the strongest, most enjoyable, and most insightful. If pressed for time before taking a tripto Spain, I would strongly recommend reading the sections on Gaudi before seeing his actual works which are spread out all over the city of Barcelona.

The concept that was fascinating to me was Hughes' explanation that Gaudi's work was in fact very conservative rather than radical. His work is based on a return to the natural object, the shell,the wing, the tail, the spine, the leaf, the root. His work takes these natural objects and reduces to essential form and then expands again from that essential form with texture, color, and sensitivity to the material and physicality of the medium. This explains the amazing popularity among the Japanese for the work of Gaudi, which philosophically and esthetically is more in line with Japanese culture and esthetics. Knowing this before seeing his Cathedral, parks, and residences gave me a completely new appreciation for Gaudi and the city in which he created his masterpieces.