Interviewer: “You [think] that not only should a writer have enemies but that he should actually cultivate them?” Cela: “Yes, so that they help him move up the ladder.”

The life, times, and meteorological theories of Josep Pla.“I’ve attended the procession of my country with a match in hand. Not an altar candle, not a torch, not a candlestick, but a match.” Josep Pla (1897–1981) is a controversial figure in…