As T.S. Eliot explained in his lecture on Johnsons Lives of the poets (1957): In appraising the judgements of any critic of a past age, one needed to see him in the context of that age, to try to place oneself at his point of view. (1) It might prove appropriate to locate an appraisal of Professor Terrys work in the context of a foreign critic in Francoist Spain and repressed Catalonia.
Arthur Terry, one of the first beneficiaries of the first Josep Maria Batista i Roca personal bursaries to study in Barcelona, became involved in Catalan criticism in 1949 and since then, his work on Catalan literature has been very wide-ranging. Taking as a point of reference T.S. Eliots classification of critics (the Professional, the Critic with Gusto, the Academic and Theoretical and the Poet-Critic), this commentators work shows an overlap between the second and third categories.
With reference to the Critic with Gusto, Eliot explains that: This critic is not called to the seat of judgement: he is rather the advocate of the authors whose work he expounds, authors who are sometimes the forgotten or unduly despised. He calls for our attention to such writers, helps us to see merit which we had overlooked and to find charm where we had expected to find boredom. According to this view of criticism, then, Terry is called to the seat of judgement; but he has repeatedly stated that he mostly works on the poetry he already likes. As for the Academic and Theoretical Critic, Eliot states that this category is perhaps too comprehensive, since it ranges from the purely scholarly, like W.P. Ker, who could illuminate an author of one age or language by an unexpected parallel with some author of another age or another language, to the philosophical critic, such as I.A. Richards and his disciple the philosophical critic William Empson and includes in this category those who have combined teaching with analytical work.(2) On this point Terry declares that his work leans towards the Academic rather than to the theoretical/philosophical:
...he volgut acostar-me a lobra de cada poeta sense massa preocupacions teòriques; [...] al més sovint serà el mateix poema, llegit amb atenció, el que suggerirà la natura dun possible comentari, i, potser, caldria afegir, que ens ensenyarà en quin moment hem de callar. Cal reconèixer, així, els límits de lexplicació: si lanàlisi racional ens permet de parlar fins a un cert punt de la nostra manera dentendre un text, també hem de saber respectar lelement de misteri que es reserva tot poema autèntic i que mai no es deixa definir en termes estrictes. Suggerir, sense mistificacions, la presència daquest misteri és potser la tasca més àrdua del crític. Ignorar aquesta dimensió de la poesia, en canvi, -o bé suprimir-la en nom duna claredat massa superficial-, seria destruir aquella força poètica que hauria de resistir a tot intent de familiarització.(3)
In spite of that, Terry has always been admired for his vast erudition, displayed mainly through his university teaching and to his life-long contribution to comparative literary studies.(4) His concern about teaching and distribution of knowledge has produced works of general criticism like his A Literary History of Spain. Catalan Literature, (London: Ernest Benn Ltd., 1972) or the 1991 Kate Elder Lecture on Modern Catalan Poetry, a European Perspective and some appreciations of individual authors such as the introduction to Ausias March, Selected Poems, (Edinburgh University Press, 1976) and others, all of which were aimed at an English readership that was mainly unaware of the riches of Catalan poetry.
In the Preface to A Literary History of Spain. Catalan Literature, Terry explained:
In writing this brief history of Catalan literature, I have tried to bear in mind the needs of the non-specialist reader with some knowledge of Spanish who wishes to know more about an important but, on the whole, neglected area of Peninsular culture. Where English readers are concerned, the task, unfortunately, is long overdue: in a recent and otherwise excellent literary encyclopaedia, the whole of Catalan literature is allotted the same amount of space as Jean-Paul Sartre, and this seems characteristic of a situation which few specialists as yet have tried to alter. The chief barrier, of course, is linguistic: yet it is not difficult to acquire a reading knowledge of Catalan ...(5)
This neglect prompted him to bring Catalan literature to the attention of the English reader:
...an impartial observer cannot fail to be struck by the very distinctive nature of Catalan society compared with the rest of the Peninsula and by the obvious European quality which goes with the best features of this society and its literature. In the last half-century, an impressive number of Catalan painters, architects, and musicians -Miró, Dalí, Tàpies, Gaudí, Roberto Gerhard, Pau Casals, Montserrat Caballé- have been acclaimed outside their own country. What is not generally realised is that their achievement in the non-verbal arts is matched by a similar degree of excellence in literature.(p.xvi)
And he is very aware of the need for the continuing promotion of things Catalan in Britain, to which he sees himself as making a humble contribution:
Needless to say, a book like this makes no claims to exhaustiveness. Since information on Catalan writers is generally lacking in English, it seemed best to give as much space as possible to major authors and tendencies, and to exclude those minor writers whose interest is mainly documentary. At the same time, I hope that something of the general social background has emerged, and I have tried in the opening section to touch briefly on certain basic facts of language which directly affect the growth of literary expression.(p.xvi)
This critic, then, is no advocate of an encyclopaedic approach to criticism but rather an encouragement for the reader to find out more by himself.(6) On the other hand, and with the Catalan reader in mind, Terry has produced some very substantial appraisals of some key poets whose work had not as yet been thoroughly analysed by critics at home. This is the case of La poesia de Joan Maragall (1963), his Prologue to Carles Ribas, Obres Completes I, Poesia (Barcelona: Ed.62, 1984), his articles on Gimferrer, Brossa, Ferrater and Xirau (Barcelona: Ed.62, 1991), Foix, Espriu and his introduction to the poems of Lluis Alpera (València: 3 i 4, 1998), etc.
However, his main claim to fame in Catalonia has come primarily through his very personal approach to criticism, one that he has been formulating in his work right from the start. His lecture "Two views of Poetry" concludes by positioning poetry between the non-verbal and the discursive:
Whether we believe, like the Renaissance, that our ideas and feelings are perceptions of divine truths, or whether we prefer to think of them as emerging from a pattern of pre-conscious impulses, there is no doubt that the richness of poetry depends on its existence somewhere between the two extremes of non-verbal communication and discursive statement.(7)
It seems that for him, as for I.A. Richards, literature and more specifically poetry offers a type of help in understanding life. The role of the best critic is, precisely, to make poetry understandable:
... si un poema representa un tipus de síntesi molt especial, també, com la literatura en conjunt, és capaç dafegir quelcom dimportant a la nostra comprensió general de la vida. Dit duna altra manera: un poema sempre contribueix a quelcom que es troba més enllà de si mateix, i una part de la feina del crític consisteix a demostrar la natura daquesta contribució. Es tracta duna feina que probablement tan sols pot acomplir duna manera adequada un crític excepcional; tanmateix, en un nivell més modest, lessencial consisteix a preguntar-se, no solament com un poema aconsegueix els seus efectes, sinó també què és allò que ha aconseguit mitjançant aquests efectes. Així, mai no és suficient analitzar les complexitats dun poema com si la complexitat fos un valor en si mateixa; allò que volem saber és quant sha guanyat per tals mitjans en termes dexperiència vital.(8)
But that is a very difficult task:
Aquesta insistència en el poder que té la poesia de renovellar les mateixes fonts de la percepció no deixa de crear certs problemes per al crític que intenti restar fidel a la seva pròpia experiència de lector. Més concretament, li és qüestió de trobar una manera de parlar duna poesia determinada sense trair ni la seva força ni la seva capacitat per a suggerir unes implicacions que solen transcendir la mateixa matèria verbal del poema. Es tracta, evidentment, dun ideal difícilment assequible, però que mai no sha de perdre de vista.(9)
It is on the basis of these considerations that Terry opts for a technique of close reading of the poems. As he explains: El mètode que hem seguit consisteix senzillament a comentar els poemes, amb totes les circumstàncies rellevants, com si es tractés duna primera lectura lenta i detinguda.(10) An attitude of modesty, however, will characterise his work throughout:
Aquest llibre no vol ésser sinó un guia discret a la poesia de Maragall, és a dir, un llibre del qual el lector podrà prescindir com més sendinsi ell mateix en la comprensió dels poemes. [...] Tanmateix, esperem haver donat una visió de conjunt de la poesia maragalliana que pugui servir com a base per a la crítica futura que vindrà a rectificar aquest intent nostre.
However, as he recently pointed out, this close reading is not a paraphrase but an analysis of the relationship between the sensations and concepts that constitute the poem:
... sempre he pensat que el comentari dun poema que se cenyeixi a allò que saplicaria igualment a una paràfrasi en prosa no constitueix una interpretació. Qualsevol poema autèntic, en fi -i la majoria dels poemes de Maragall ho són- consisteix en unes estructures imaginatives que depenen simultàniament de la col·locació exacta de mots i de sons dins un context molt precís, i de les relacions més àmplies de sensacions i conceptes que determinen el conjunt del poema. És això que he intentat analitzar, no sé amb quin èxit, tot pensant que fer altrament seria trair la força, i alhora el sentit, dun poema determinat.(11)
The aim, therefore, is to analyse the poem and let it speak for itself:
... al més sovint serà el mateix poema, llegit amb atenció, el que suggerirà la natura dun possible comentari: tot fent-nos conscients dallò que inclou, també ens ajuda a veure allò que exclou -les significacions que, en aquest cas serien errònies o inaplicables.[...]Saber calcular el tipus de lectura que sembla exigir un poema determinat demana, més que principis, un cert tacte -o sigui, una mena dhabilitat que sabem reconèixer en el tracte diari, on la impossibilitat de la prova ens obliga a triar entre diverses hipòtesis duna manera semblant a la que acabo de descriure.(12)
The final outcome should be a new understanding of the poetry and poets he admires:
Si la crítica literària consisteix a justificar en termes racionals allò que hom experimenta en llegir una obra de literatura, al crític mateix li pot constituir una manera datendre, amb tota la fidelitat possible, a la natura veritable daquesta experiència. En el cas present, el desig de parlar dun poeta o duns poemes determinats, representava, al més sovint, un intent daproximar-me a una obra que ja admirava sense comprendre-la del tot. "Comprendre", en aquest cas, vol dir trobar una manera de respondre a unes estructures imaginatives complexes. Unes estructures que depenen simultàniament de la col·locació exacta de mots i de sons dins un context molt precís, i de les relacions més àmplies de sensacions i conceptes que determinen el conjunt del poema.(13)
But, following René Welleks definition of the New Critics as enemies of science, Terry too places himself against a scientific approach to criticism:
Al mateix temps, si volem suggerir, ni que fos aproximadament, la qualitat essencial de la poesia, podem fer dues observacions. La primera és que qualsevol poema seriós representa una síntesi imaginativa- i no gens intel·lectual- duns materials més o menys complexos. És per això que la crítica literària mai no pot ésser "científica": tot i que pugui conduir al coneixement, no té res a veure amb les proves objectives. Tanmateix, la seva subjectivitat queda limitada pel fet que algunes opinions siguin preferibles a unes altres, i que això es pugui demostrar mitjançant el tipus devidència que sap presentar un crític intel·ligent.(14)
Right from the start, Terrys work succeeded in inciting participation. Just after the publication of his study on Maragall, Marià Manent exalted the worth of his personal reading and wrote that:
El seu mètode estimula, és cert, la imaginació del lector, lempeny a explorar la possibilitat daltres interpretacions de la poesia maragalliana: però la modèstia amb què Terry exposa el seu propòsit podria fer-nos creure que es tracta duna crítica purament impressionista i suggestiva.
In fact, the impression he left with the Catalans was quite the contrary. As Manent went on to explain:
És, en realitat, un llibre profund, rigorós, admirablement construït. Lexposició crítica, desplegada a través duna erudició densa i vària -referida a set o vuit literatures-, hi arrenca daquell assaboriment intuïtiu dels poemes sense el qual no seria eficaç lestricta anàlisi formal ni lajut del context cultural i històric.(15)
This was the proof that the Modernista and Noucentista feelings about Catalonia being essentially European were now confirmed by a scholar from outside: objective and highly qualified. For many years Marià Manent had reported on the developments that were taking place in both English and American criticism; but the only truly European academic critic in Catalonia so far had been Carles Riba who, unfortunately, was already dead. According to Manent:
En aquests darrers anys shan publicat molts llibres i articles sobre la funció i els mètodes de la crítica literària. Shi subratllen els inconvenients duna crítica basada fonamentalment en la psicoanàlisi o excessivament inclinada a lús de lanècdota biogràfica; i ha sorgit també un purisme que intenta de delimitar rigorosament el camp de la crítica literària, excloent-ne tota matèria que pugui correspondre a lestètica o ala història de la cultura. "Per damunt de tot -escrivia Raymond Picard- la crítica comença i acaba com a esbrinament textual, com a explication du texte."(16)
And in this context he viewed Terrys approach as a very personal combination of critical trends that happened to be very much in tune with the Catalan desire to retain a sense of tradition at the same time as presenting a modern outlook. He explained:
El mètode de Terry, tal com ell ens el defineix, consisteix senzillament a comentar els poemes, amb totes les circumstàncies rellevants, com si es tractés duna primera lectura lenta i detinguda". Hi ha, doncs, una atenció al text, pacient, minuciosa, un intent de resoldre el que Richards, en Principles of Literary Criticism, anomena "el problema de la comunicació", és a dir, la plena captació de lexperiència reflectida en el poema.(17)
In fact, many of the ideas on criticism expressed by Terry, as he openly acknowledges,
are inspired by those
of I.A. Richards and John Holloway and, in his book on Maragall, he explains:
Els lectors anglesos reconeixeran la influència de les teories dI.A. Richards en
la manera de plantejar la qüestió de la natura en el capítol 3; el mètode analític
que hem utilitzat en parlar dels Elogis va ésser suggerit pel llibre de John
Holloway, The Victorian Sage: studies in argument (Londres, 1953). (18) However, Terrys attitude, like that of the New critics, was much more inclusive
and did not deny a relative value to the poets biographies, social background and
national difference, and Manent was well aware of that:
... el llibre de Terry ens mostra amplament com, per a dilucidar aquesta experiència,
cal acudir més duna vegada a les "circumstàncies", a la biografia, a la
situació cultural o social, a daltres escrits de lautor (i amb més motiu
tractant-se dun escriptor tan coherent com Maragall), als comentaris de la crítica
contemporània. Further, in the introduction to Ausias March, Selected poems, we have an example
of this type of correlation:
Oddly enough, his [Ausias] relation to the tradition is echoed in the facts of his
life. As is often the case with medieval poets, there is a baffling gap between the nature
of the poetry and the biographical facts that have survived. Yet it is surely curious that
both the father and uncle of Ausias March were respectable, if dull, minor poets, and that
his uncle, Jaume March, was one of the people entrusted by riyal command with drawing up
the statutes of the Consistori de la Gaia Ciència in 1393. When he comes to write
his own poetry, Ausias March is reacting very forcefully to the largely sterile tradition
that these older poets represent. Apart from this, his life seems in no way different from
that of dozens of his contemporaries who wrote no poetry.(p.4) That, however, did not mean that Terry neglected form; and Manent revealed the approval
of the Catalans in this respect:
En comentar les imatges i lestructura sintàctica i mètrica de La vaca cega,
Terry ens ofereix unes pàgines que poden posar-se entre les millors que shagin
inspirat en el rigorós mètode del Practical criticism. This combination of attention to language, form and background was very different from
the historical-stylistic criticism which had prevailed in Spain and Catalonia until then;
but, from a Catalan perspective, the appearance of the monograph on Maragall was much more
transcendent. The notion that a foreign academic of Terry's standing had both taken the
trouble to master the subtleties of their treasured but threatened language in order to
gain a proper 'understanding of the text', and written his book in Catalan rather than
English, was signally impressive. Accordingly, in another review Manent announced:
Amb el llibre La poesia de Joan Maragall, el crític anglès Arthur Terry,
professor a la Universitat de Belfast, ens dóna en primer lloc un exemple de mètode i de
rigor crítics. Lobra és escrita directament en català, val a dir-ho, malgrat que
la llengua de lautor no sigui ni veïna de la nostra, i així acompleix
lexigència fonamental de tota crítica: la comprensió del text. Una preparació,
doncs, tan lenta com apassionada. Per això la intensitat del llibre no defalleix en cap
moment, i sovint fins i tot ens produeix la impressió que sentim parlar de Maragall per
primera vegada.(19) The result was very refreshing but also prestigious and highly rated by those Catalans
who had been working towards the promotion of Catalan literature in Britain and in other
European and Latin-American countries. Besides, this was also a comment on the state of
Academic criticism in Catalonia: it was seen as the very first complete study of the work
of a major figure in Catalan literature and the verdict was that:
... aquesta obra és la primera exposició completa del complex poètic de Maragall que
tenim. Lautor pot ben dir, i shi honra, que el llibre "no vol ésser
sinó una un guia discret a la poesia de Maragall", però en realitat ha escrit el
millor llibre sobre el tema que sha publicat fins ara en català. And this was no easy task. As Terry knew all too well, a foreigner always runs an
incredible risk when venturing into foreign lands:
Per a un crític, com jo mateix, que escriu sobre la poesia duna llengua que no
és la seva, això comporta un doble risc: dins el context immediat, pot desconèixer
certs matisos verbals familiars a qualsevol lector autòcton; i, en un nivell més
general, pot no tenir prou en compte les ressonàncies més àmplies -col·lectives i
personals- que tot poeta ha de compartir de naixença amb el seu públic original. [...]Al
mateix temps, el fet que un crític estranger hagi de procedir amb molta cautela -que al
més sovint hagi de fer un gran esforç abans dassolir quelcom de
lespontaneïtat del lector natiu- almenys vol dir que la seva atenció es dirigeix
forçosament vers el punt on comença tota crítica autèntica: o sigui, vers allò que
diuen els mateixos mots dun poema, i a la manera en què ho diuen. Això,
evidentment, està relacionat amb la "integritat del poema" segons la frase de
T.S.Eliot.(20) However, Terrys work scored very highly on two different fronts: Firstly, it was
the product of a British scholar with impeccable academic credentials and a very
disciplined approach to critical analysis. This gave Catalan letters a claim to their much
wished for "normality". Manent wrote:
Arthur Terry, que fou deixeble del professor Ignasi Gonzàlez Llubera a la Universitat
de Belfast i ajudant seu, és un amic de Catalunya. Però el més bon servei no ens
lha pas fet per amistat, sinó aplicant els seus coneixements a una matèria
catalana com si es tractava de qualsevol altra, una danglesa posem per cas. La
força excepcional del seu llibre admirable no prové, doncs, duna voluntat
dafavorir, sinó duna normal aplicació a un tema, amb la qual cosa sha
situat en la línia de "normalitat" que havíem assolit pel camí del mig en les
nostres terres, i que, malgrat tot; hem continuat en aquests anys difícils. And Terrys friendship with Catalonia, sincere as it was, also turned out to be
long lasting. As Joan Veny explains:
Terry és un exemple de fidelitat a la nostra cultura. El 1949 ja prenia contacte amb
el nostre poble i era testimoni de les vexacions i insolències de què era objecte la
nostra cultura. Participà en reunions literàries clandestines i col·laborà en revistes
que sortosament aconseguien sortejar la censura. Va restar seduït per un poble que
"havia reeixit a conservar un alt sentit de la dignitat humana i del valor de les
seves pròpies tradicions". I de lamor va passar a les obres.(21) Furthermore, his commitment to Catalonia was crucial in the promotion of Catalan
literary issues at an international level. Terry has been a member of the Anglo-Catalan
society since its foundation in 1956 and was its president in 1963. He was also president
of the Associació Internacional de Llengua i Literatura Catalanes between 1982 and 1988,
a post which he overlapped with the secretariat and presidency of the British Comparative
Literature Association (1980 - 1992).(22) According to his
colleagues, in these posts Terry took a hands-on approach: he produced several works of
promotion of Catalan letters and more often that not, he completed them with his very own
translations into English.(23) Secondly, whether by chance or design, Terry has placed himself alongside the most
influential personalities of the time. In 1963 he wrote:
... reconeixem un deute especial envers el senyor Joaquim Molas, que ens ha salvat de
molts errors i ens ha prodigat tan generosament el seu temps. A més, hem de constatar la
influència de dos grans desapareguts: del professor Ignasi González Llubera, mestre
inoblidable, amb qui hem parlat tantes vegades de Maragall, i de Carles Riba, gran poeta i
humanista, la intel·ligència crítica del qual ha determinat més duna pàgina de
la nostra obra.(24) This aligned Terry with the best critic Catalonia had produced: Carles Riba. In fact,
Terry had started his career in Catalan criticism with a study of the Elegies de
Bierville in 1954 and his continued respect for Ribas criticism was evident. As
Manent put it:
Quan Carles Riba és recordat, tan sovint, en aquest llibre i les seves interpretacions
del món maragallià fan autoritat, ens adonem que havia désser així, i ens plau
que hi hagi unes concordances tan segures i tan estretes, entre homes diversos i llunyans,
afectats de problemes ben diferents. També sabem que Riba shauria complagut
enormement llegint un estudi veritablement crític sobre lobra literària de
Maragall. Però és que lactitud, en el fons, és la mateixa. Només varien els
problemes que shi enfoquen. Arthur Terry ha tingut el coratge denfrontar-se
amb la problemàtica maragalliana i lencert de tractar-la amb el rigor
intel·lectual que mereix. So, Terry not only portrayed Catalan literature as truly European but also found
himself, alongside the best intellectual Catalonia had been able to produce, at the very
top of the Catalan critical world. In his Nota a la segona edició of La poesia de Joan Maragall,
looking back on almost 40 years, Terry reflected on the rudimentary stage of Catalan
criticism in 1963:
Des de la seva publicació, és clar, han passat moltes coses: no tant en els estudis
estrictament maragallians, com en la comprensió de lèpoca en què escrivia i, més
concretament, de latmosfera que envolta una gran part de la seva poesia.(p.9) Fortunately, things have come a long way since then, but if they have done so it has
been because critics like Terry have laboured ceaselessly towards this end. In essence the work of Arthur Terry can be divided, according to T.S. Eliots line
of demarcation, between the essays of generalization and appreciations of individual
authors. It was Eliots view that it is those in the latter category which seem
[...] to have the best chance of retaining some value for future readers(25), a view with which Terry agreed when he wrote that the
ultimate aim of the critic was to display and suggest:
Si res tenen de valor els assaigs que ací presento, serà que, més enllà de tota
intenció orientadora, hagin volgut deixar lliure el lector davant la seva pròpia
experiència duns poemes la fascinació dels quals amb prou feines es podria
exhaurir.(26) Like Eliot, Terry has never forgotten that, at the end of the day, poetry is a finer
art than criticism and that "quan hom considera la poesia, lha de considerar
abans de tot com a poesia, i no com a altra cosa" (27).
The role of the critic, however, is of crucial importance in helping poetry to become
meaningful to many and Catalonia has undoubtedly benefited from and acknowledged
Terrys work through many personal friendships and also its institutions. As Joan
Veny declared on behalf of the Catalans:
... no agrairem mai prou a Arthur Terry la seva tasca difusora de la cultura catalana
durant el franquisme i dhaver donat al català el lloc que li corresponia en els
estudis de literatura comparada. and
Les nostres institucions han valorat la seva trajectòria. A més del Premi Bonay i
Carbó a la millor obra crítica sobre escriptors catalans, atorgat per lInstitut
dEstudis Catalans (1966), ha rebut la Creu de Sant Jordi (1982) i el Premi Ramon
Llull (1995) atorgat pel Govern de Catalunya i lInstitut dEstudis Catalans.(28)