Luis Racionero i Grau (15 January 1940 – 8 March 2020)
was a Spanish essayist. He was born in

la Seu d'Urgell La Seu d'Urgell (; es, Seo de Urgel, formerly in ca, Urgell}) is a town located in the Catalan Pyrenees in Spain. La Seu d'Urgell is also the capital of the comarca Alt Urgell, head of the judicial district of la Seu d'Urgell and the seat of Bi ...

Lleida Lleida (, ; Spanish: Lérida ) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It is also the capital city of the Segrià comarca, as ...

, and studied engineering and economics at the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona ( ca, Universitat de Barcelona, UB; ; es, link=no, Universidad de Barcelona) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, in Spain. With 63,000 students, it is one of the biggest universities i ...

and urban studies at the

University of California Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

. He was director of Spain's national library and of the Spanish College (''Colegio de España'') in Paris. He worked with newspapers including ''

El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...

'', ''

La Vanguardia ' (; , Spanish for "The Vanguard") is a Spanish daily newspaper, founded in 1881. It is printed in Spanish and, since 3 May 2011, also in Catalan (Spanish copy is automatically translated into Catalan). It has its headquarters in Barcelona and i ...

'' and

Mundo Deportivo ''Mundo Deportivo'' (; meaning ''Sports World'' in English) is a Spanish nationwide daily sports newspaper published in Barcelona. History and profile ''Mundo Deportivo'' was first published on 1 February 1906, as a weekly newspaper, and since 1 ...

. He wrote both in

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

and in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

. In 1999 he won the

Fernando Lara Novel Award The Fernando Lara Novel Award ( es, Premio Fernando Lara de Novela, links=no) is given annually in Spain by the José Manuel Lara Foundation and the Planeta publishing house to an unpublished novel in the Spanish language. The publication of the f ...

for his then-unpublished work ''La sonrisa de la Gioconda''.

Works

* ''Filosofías del underground'' (''Philosophies of the underground''), 1977 * ''Sistemas de ciudades y ordenación del territorio'' (''Systems of cities and planning''), 1978 * ''Leonardo da Vinci'', 1978 * ''Cercamón'', 1981 * ''Del paro al ocio'' (''From unemployment to leisure''), 1983 * ''Textos de estética taoísta'' (''Texts of Taoist aesthetics''), 1983 * ''El Mediterráneo y los bárbaros del Norte'' (''The Mediterranean and the barbarians of the North'') (1985 and 1996) * ''La forja de l'exili'' (''The forging of the Exiles'') (1985) * ''Los ángeles cuánticos'' (''Quantum Angels'') (1986) * ''Arte y ciencia'' (''Art and Science'') (1988) * ''El Arte de Vivir'' (''The Art of Living'') (1989) * ''Florencia de los Médicis'' (''Florence of the Medicis'') (1990) * ''Atenas de Pericles'' (''Athens of Pericles'') (1993) * ''Oriente y Occidente: Filosofía oriental y dilemas occidentales'' (''East and West: Eastern Philosophy and Western dilemmas'') (1993) * ''El arte de escribir'' (''The art of writing'') (1995) * ''La cárcel del amor'' (''Prison of Love'') (1996) * ''El genio del lugar'' (''The genius of the place'') (1997) * ''Guía Práctica para Insatisfechos: Valores, Política y Futuro'' (''Practical Guide to Values, Politics and the Future'') (1997) * ''El progreso decadente'' (''Decadent Progress'') (2000) ( Espasa - Essay Prize, Premio Espasa de Ensayo) * ''El pecado original'' (''Original Sin'') (2001) * ''La Costa Brava recuperada'' (''Costa Brava recovered'') (2000) * ''El alquimista trovador: una fascinante novela histórica sobre Rai Mundo Lulio'' (''Trovador the alchemist: a fascinating historical novel about World Lulio Rai'') (2003) * ''La sonrisa de la Gioconda'' (''Mona Lisa's smile'') (2004) * ''Conversaciones con Pla y Dalí'' (''Conversations with Pla and Dalí'') (2004) * ''El libro de los pequeños placeres'' (''The Book of Small Pleasures'') (2005) * ''Los complejos de la derecha'' (''The complex on the right'') (2006) * ''Leonardo Da Vinci: genio del Renacimiento'' (''Leonardo Da Vinci: genius of the Renaissance'') (2006) * ''Sobrevivir a un gran amor seis veces -Memorias-'' (2009)

References

1940 births 2020 deaths People from La Seu d'Urgell Spanish essayists Spanish expatriates in France Male essayists University of Barcelona alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni 20th-century Spanish male writers 21st-century Spanish male writers Spanish expatriates in the United States {{Spain-writer-stub