Joan Francesc Mira i Casterà (born December 3, 1939 in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, Spain) is a Spanish writer,

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

and sociologist. He is an honorary member of the

Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana The Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (, "Association of Writers in the Catalan Language", or "Association of Catalan-Language Writers"), also known by the acronym AELC, is a professional organisation of authors, poets, scriptwriters, tra ...

and President of

Acció Cultural del País Valencià ''Acció'' ('Action') was a weekly newspaper published from Tarragona, Spain 1936–1937. It was the local organ of the Iberian Communist Youth (JCI), the youth wing of POUM. The first issue was published on 1 October 1936. Ricard Garriga Salvadó ...

. In politics he is a supporter and has been a candidate of

Valencian Nationalist Bloc The Valencian Nationalist Bloc ( ca-valencia, Bloc Nacionalista Valencià, Bloc or ''BNV''; ) was a Valencian nationalist party in the Valencian Country, Spain. It was the largest party in the Coalició Compromís until 2021, when it was replaced ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

. Around the valencianist and historical theme, his works include '' Crítica de la Nació Pura'' (1985), which he discusses the concept of nation, '' Sobre la nació dels valencians'' (1997) and ''Els Borja, família i mite'' ("The

Borgia The House of Borgia ( , ; Spanish and an, Borja ; ca-valencia, Borja ) was an Italian-Aragonese Spanish noble family, which rose to prominence during the Italian Renaissance. They were from Valencia, the surname being a toponymic from the town ...

: family and myth", 2000).

Biography

In 1959 he obtained a bachelor's degree in

Pontifical Gregorian University The Pontifical Gregorian University ( it, Pontificia Università Gregoriana; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana,) is a higher education ecclesiastical school ( pontifical university) located in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as ...

, and the following year, also in Rome, he graduated in philosophy by

Lateran University The Pontifical Lateran University ( it, Pontificia Università Lateranense; la, Pontificia Universitas Lateranensis), also known as Lateranum, is a pontifical university based in Rome. The university also hosts the central session of the Ponti ...

. In 1962 he graduated in Philosophy from the

University of Valencia The University of Valencia ( ca-valencia, Universitat de València ; also known as UV) is a public research university located in the city of Valencia, Spain. It is one of the oldest surviving universities in Spain, and the oldest in the Vale ...

and he reached his PhD in Philosophy from the same university in 1971. He later worked as a professor of Ancient Greek language in 1983 and 1991, when he reached the chair of this language in the

Jaume I University Jaume I University ( es, Universidad Jaime I, ca-valencia, Universitat Jaume I, UJI; ) is a university in the city of Castelló de la Plana, Valencian Community, Spain. It was founded in 1991, and it has approximately 14,000 students. The camp ...

where he developed his teaching. In 1991 he received the Creu de Sant Jordi Award for his civic engagement. Also in 1999 became a member of the

Institute of Catalan Studies The Institute for Catalan Studies ( ca, Institut d'Estudis Catalans, ), also known by the acronym IEC, is an academic institution which seeks to undertake research and study into "all elements of Catalan culture". It is based in Barcelona, Catalon ...

. During the seventies he collaborates in the '' Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Sociale'' from

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, and in 1978+1979 he was lecturer at the

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

. He directed the Valencian Institute of Sociology and Social Anthropology between 1980 and 1984, and in 1982 he founded the Museum of Ethnology in Valencia, institution that he directed until 1984. He is also author of novels and short stories as ''El bou de foc'' (1974), ''Els cucs de seda'' (1975), ''Viatge al final del fred'' (1984), ''Els treballs perduts'' (1989) – Lectors del Temps Award, 1990 and a thematic approach to Ulysses from Joyce-, ''Borja Papa'' (1996), ''Quatre qüestions d'amor'' (1998) and ''Purgatori'' (2002). As a translator, include versions of ''

The Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...

'' (2001), the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

(2004) and the

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...

(2011)Editorial file translation of ''Odyssey''
/ref> In 2009 he was awarded the Premi de la Crítica de narrativa catalana 2008 for his work '' El professor d'historia''.

Works

Novels

*''El bou de foc'' (1974) *''Els cucs de seda'' (1975) *''El desig dels dies'' (1981) *''Viatge al final del fred'' (1983) *''El treballs perduts'' (1989) *''Borja Papa'' (1996) *''Purgatori'' (2002) *''El professor d'història'' (2008) * ''El tramvia groc'' (2013)

Short stories

*''Quatre qüestions d'amor'' (1998) *''Els cucs de seda'' (1975)

Essays, studies, biographies

*''Som. Llengua i Literatura'' (1974) *''Un estudi d'antropologia social al País Valencià: els pobles de Vallalta i Miralcamp'' (1974) *''Els valencians i la terra'' (1978) *''Introducció a un País'' (1980) *''Població i llengua al País Valencià'' (1981) *''Crítica de la nació pura'' (1985) *''Hèrcules i l'antropòleg'' (1994) *''Sense música ni pàtria'' (1995) *'' Sobre la nació dels valencians'' (1997) *''Cap d'any a Houston'' (1998) *''Els Borja. Família i mite'' (2000) *''Sant Vicent Ferrer. Vida i llegenda d'un predicador'' (2002) *''La prodigiosa història de Vicent Blasco Ibáñez'' (2004) *''Vida i final dels moriscos valencians'' (2009) *''En un món fet de nacions'' (2008) *''Europeus. Retrat en setanta imatges'' (2010)

Translations

*''Borja Papa'' (1997) *''Valencia para visitantes y vecinos'' (1999) *''Los Borja: familia y mito'' (2000) *''El tramvia'' (2001), from

Claude Simon Claude Simon (; 10 October 1913 – 6 July 2005) was a French novelist, and was awarded the 1985 Nobel Prize in Literature. Biography Claude Simon was born in Tananarive on the isle of Madagascar. His parents were French, his father being a ...

*''La divina comèdia'' (2001) *''Evangelis'' (2004) *''l'Odissea'' (2011)

Notes

External links

Joan F. Mira
at the website of

(AELC) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mira i Castera, Joan Francesc Living people Catalan-language writers 1939 births Pontifical Gregorian University alumni Pontifical Lateran University alumni University of Valencia alumni