“The harm done by having a rotten government is incalculable. On the one hand, because of the evil it has done. On the other hand, because of the good it has done and failed to do.” This reflection rabid freshness in these post-election and pre-election weeks, which applies not just to any level of politics, but to society as a whole, seven centuries. He wrote Ramon Lull (1232-1316) ‘Book of Monsters’ at the end of XIII. “But it has a timeless and universal reading, fully in force. It’s a colossal work, a fable where animals are an excuse to talk about the human condition. It’s a satire on human behavior until the conquest of power. We didn’t evolve. We see it every day: people do their best to stay in their seats.” does everything that comes in”, notes cartoonist and illustrator Pep Brocal (Terrassa, 1967), “possibly the most influential writer of the Catalan letters”, who took the challenge of bringing this piece of the Palma de Mallorca-born writer, philosopher, and theologian into comics.
“Book of Monsters” / “Llibre de les besties”
“Trying to stay true to the original text and preserve its essence,” but taking it into his own graphic realm, Brocal crafts this very careful edition of ‘Book of Beasts’, published (along with) in Catalan, Spanish and French by Bang Ediciones. three different covers). , with a foreword by philologist and Llull expert Joan Santanach. “The parallels with the present are inevitable. You see how they fight in the book: the animals gather to choose their king, and the majority choose the lion. But the herbivores prefer the horse. The fox sees that he can take advantage of this and makes his own solo career to gain power. He doesn’t care who is responsible. Of those who offend him. climbing the machine to escape and be with the king,” explains the author of “The Underworld” (Astiberri, 2019. ACDCómic Critics Award).
“Power corrupts, yes: the nice way to say it is the seduction of power, I think it’s decay of power says Brocal. In these elections, we saw that politicians can sell their mother without getting bloody and deal with whom. We are political animals, we work according to the hierarchy of power. In a party, in a P3 class… there is always a leader and his deputies, non-speaking, marginalized, buffoon, artist… the whole society is reflected in any group of people”.
‘Book of Monsters’ The seventh of the ten parts that make up the ‘Llibre de meravelles’It is the most popular of Llull’s 265 works. He wrote in Catalan, Arabic, Latin, and Occitan.. “And on many subjects: philosophy, theology, science, rhetoric, law, novels, poetry, autobiography… all he lacked was comics. I’m ready to help with that,” the cartoonist jokes. “Majorcan wise man pregnant ‘Free from the best’ as a tribute to the then young King Philippe the Fair of France. So that he can distinguish good counselors from bad ones, and know if there are foxes in his palace.”
The animals in the fairy tale will also visit the king of humans. Brocal, who believes that “Llull is something destructive” because he has the animals choose a king, “And they are stunned by the immorality they find: jealousy, greed, cruelty, lack of compassion…” Brocal details. “Kings were not elected. He was betrayed by his progressive mentality.
sex change
One of the licenses taken by the cartoonist is to change gender. Renard the fox, already feminine ‘guinea’ in Catalan. “She’s driven by a lust for power, but she’s cunning and clever. She’s the main character, the story wouldn’t exist without her. She’s the only female character in the comic who’s left out. Leopardwho was raped snake, It carries a negative charge as it leads to the expulsion of Adam and Eve from heaven. But Llull treats him very well: he gives him the role of a serious and reasonable character.”
The author of the book “Cosmonaut” explains that Llull “wanted his work to be translated into as many languages as possible so that it would survive time and reach as many buyers as possible.” He paid for the translations with his own money. “I like to think that by adapting it to the comic, translating it with illustrations, it’s a somewhat free version, albeit respectful, that I’m contributing to its survival.”