Víctor Balaguer i la identitat col·lectiva

2008, 264 pp.

For many years, Víctor Balaguer has been forgotten by historiography although he is a fundamental person if you want to understand the proposals for the construction of a liberal society. Even though it seems that lately the trend is about to break, there is still a lot to go if you want to understand the real scope. Víctor Balaguer and the collective identity is an approach to the political —and specially—  cultural programme made by Balaguer by means of a journey through his texts and his personal relations with contemporary intellectuals. The main objective is to offer a tool that helps to reflect on his contribution to the recovery and popularization of the history of Catalonia and how he kept this project initiated in youth throughout his life. His way of thinking is also reflected in the correspondence with some of his collaborators and friends. We will find him writing the construction of the imaginary and historical topography in the press, participating in the 68th revolution and explaining it to his friends (who supported the Félibrige movement), trusting the wisdom of Bergnes de las Casas, or planning the construction of the Biblioteca Balaguer Museum with Josep Coroleu and Eduard Toda, with an invisible and constant narrative of an ambitious plan that, deciphered in letters and various texts, is surprising because of its complexity.