Foix i Mas, Josep Vicenç

J. V. Foix (1893-1987). Born in Sarrià. He began his degree in law, but he left it because of his love of reading. In 1917, J. Folguera hired him at La Revista, and the next year he became editor-in-chief of Trossos, which J. M. Junoy had founded.

In 1927 he published Gertrudis and in 1932 KRTU, two books of poetic prose that were an integral part of the extensive diary that Foix dated from 1918. When La Publicitat was a voice of Catalan nationalism, he edited its literary section and contributed to it every day under the pseudonym of “Focius”.

After a long period of silence, his first book of poetry, Sol, i de dol, appeared in 1947, although it had been printed in 1936. Foix combines the Catalan humanistic tradition with the newest literary currents, which he adapts with a singular originality. He defines himself as “an investigator of poetry”. He himself summarised his attitude with the famous verse “M’exalta el nou i m’enamora el vell” [I am exalted by the new and in love with the old]. Foix published poetry quite late.

In fact, the poet did not become well-known until the 1950s. Gimferrer considers Sol, i de dol – a collection that contains 70 sonnets divided into five sections – “one of the great books in modern Catalan poetry”. A combination of doctrinal poetry, didactics and a meditation on the world, the author uses it to present his artistic ideal: “Supreme, classicist balance”.

In 1956 he published Del diari 1918, a continuation Gertrudis of or KRTU, yet at the same time an evolution in terms of his philosophical conception of the world and the poet’s ideas. From then on, he began to publish poems and poetic prose regularly. His last book of poetry is Cròniques d’ultrason, written in prose and published in 1985. He died at home on the 29^th of January 1987, the day after his 94^th birthday.