Carles Casajuana presents novel 'La guerra dins la guerra' on Catalan identity

Carles Casajuana presented his new novel, La guerra dins la guerra (Editorial Proa), yesterday at the Spanish embassy in Andorra, accompanied by writer Iñaki Rubio. Casajuana describes the book as having many layers, like puff pastry, and said it addresses Catalan identity, literary fiction, the limits of relationships between teachers and students — both personal and sexual — and the landscape after the battle of the procés in Catalonia.

Casajuana, born in Sant Cugat in 1954, is a career diplomat now retired; he has served as Spain’s ambassador to postings including Greece, Malaysia and the European Union. A prolific author, he has published more than a dozen works of fiction and essay. In this novel he mixes irony and seriousness and brings back two characters who first appeared in earlier books, originally introduced in L’últim home que parlava català, which won the Ramon Llull Prize in 2009.

The two returning characters are writers living in Catalonia: one writes in Catalan and the other in Spanish. That contrast allows the narrator to situate the story in Barcelona in 2019 and explore enduring conflicts within Catalan society. Casajuana said yesterday that “where there is conflict there is novel,” explaining his interest in confronting the two characters’ differing views of contemporary Catalonia — from the independentist perspective of Rovira to the unionist stance of Balaguer.

The plot also includes a love triangle: the third figure is a young Québécois doctoral student interested in the international brigades. Described in the presentation as outspoken, empowered and liberated, she becomes involved with both writers, adding personal and emotional stakes to the political tensions.