YOUNG READERS OF JOSEP MARIA FOLCH I TORRES. THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF IDEALISM

Abstract

Josep Maria Folch i Torres was the most successful writer in children’s literature – not only in sellings – from Catalonia in all history. His role as an educator of young generations is also remarkable, providing them with a patriotic and Christian base. This was the case of the Pomells de Joventut movement founded by him. First of all, he was a writer for adults; then he became a friend and confident for children and teenagers. This step did not mean a rejection: it rather meant a resettlement determined by the proper gradual and irreversible transfer of some personal ideals. In this article, we will analyse the different motivational axes that – within children’s literature context – will enable us to perceive all the breadth of the author’s appealing idealism. We will discover in his novels that the city and the countryside are not two antagonistic and opposed worlds, but two realms that need and complement each other; two vital spaces that make the consolidation of their individual convictions inherited from the Renaixença.