Joan Güell: Soldier of Work

They say that the best way to begin a story is at the beginning. But every story has two beginnings. There is the first sentence-- that is the usual place to start a story-- but there is also the first time that the story was told. The story of the musealization of the Vapor Vell is a bit like a game of telephone in this sense-- that game children play by sending a secret message down a line of friends by whispering it to the next in line and letting them pass it on. The one thing you can be certain of in a game of telephone is that the message will most likely change along the way. This is how it was with the story of the Vapor Vell as it passed, over the years, from the pen of Jaume Vicens Vives to Josep Maria Huertas, to Carles Carreras, to Xavier Hernàndez, to Maria Lluïsa Gutiérrez, etc.

Given this, it seems fitting, on the occasion of this study which is based almost entirely on the topic of the Vapor Vell, to begin at the beginning--the true beginning--with the first line of the Vapor Vell’s history, as it was told for the first time. I had never felt so much like a real historian as the day I stood in line at the Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya to request a consultation with a first edition of this little book:

78 Biography of the Most Excellent Sr. D. Juan Güell y Ferrer. From the solemn act celebrated in the salon de ciento de las casas consistoriales on the occasion of the hanging of a portrait in the Municipal Gallery of illustrious Catalans. Typographic establishment of the successors of N. Ramírez and Company: Barcelona, September 29, 1879.¹⁸

Over 150 years separated me from its printing in 1879, but this distance in time seemed to evaporate once I felt its weight in my hands. It smelled like dust, but the pages were still sturdy and the ink stood out clearly on the page. It was a beautiful moment. The book itself acted like a bridge between two worlds, as did the knowledge that the message of this book would be the start of a game of historical telephone leading right up to the current wikipedia entry for the Vapor Vell. This is because this book is a biography of the Vapor Vell’s founder, Joan Güell (although here he is called by his Castillian name “Juan”) and it is here that we first learn the story of how the Vapor Vell came to be.

The author, José Argullol y Serra, writes in a grand literary style which practically begs to be read aloud and, most likely, that was exactly what took place. As Argullol explains in the forward, the setting for the presentation of this book is the festival of La Mercè, in which part of the program of public celebration was the ceremonial hanging of a portrait of an ‘illustrious Catalan’ in a special gallery which had recently been inaugurated for this purpose in Barcelona’s City Hall.¹⁹ I imagine Argullol rising to his feet to read aloud from this manuscript, his voice rising and falling dramatically in order to capture the attention of the crowd. This is how he began:

“It was the dawn of that century which now inclines towards twilight: in the province of Tarragona, in the picturesque village known as Torredembarra there lived a modest family, the head of which, don Pablo Güell, was engaged in commerce. His consort, homemaker and a woman of character and governance, the prototype of Catalan womanhood, was named Doña Rosa Ferrer.

On May 3, 1800, the Lord blessed this happy marriage, giving them a child, who, upon opening his eyes to the light and taking his first breath of air, saw the sea and its waves, heard the noise of its breakers, and saw in it, unconsciously, both tranquility and struggle, perseverance and difficulties, horizon and space.

Following, as men do, the example of contrary elements, the child’s spirit was fed on tales of battles; those of France, its republic and the first empire; that of Trafalgar in his first years, and then the practical example before his eyes of struggle

18 Argullol y Serra, José. (1879). Biografía del Excmo. Sr. D. Juan Güell y Ferrer. N. Ramírez y Compañía: Barcelona.

19“Part of the program of public celebrations is the placement of the portrait of an illustrious Catalan in the gallery of the Excellent City Hall, thus reconciling the civil and the religious, and adding to that which is joyful and profane, what which diverts and stimulates the living, and gives due reward, glory and honor, to the dead…” In: Argullol y Serra, José. (1879). Biografía del Excmo. Sr. D. Juan Güell y Ferrer. N. Ramírez y Compañía: (forward).

79 and war, that of the Independence of Spain, sealed forever with the precious blood of our fathers.

It is common that, in imitation of their elders, young ones will reenact their own battles, and, in the first years of this century, the prepubescent youths of Altafulla and Torredembarra waged war with slings and brook stones. You can already imagine that the son of Don Pablo and Doña Rosa would appear in the armies of this last nation, because for nothing in the world, neither before nor after, would he have betrayed his country.

It was in one of those skirmishes that fate had turned the tide in favor of those of Altafulla, and the defeated ones of Torredembarra declared themselves in a precipitous and shameful flight; but the child Joan does not suffer this reproach; he takes courage, chooses a partner, and both, slings in hand, retrace their steps; Instead of running away, they attack, advance, and continue to advance, determined and resolute: terror and panic enter the enemy ranks, and little by little what had been their inevitable defeat turns into a splendid victory.

Do not go to believe with this that what I tell you is the background of the life of an illustrious warrior, no: these are the antecedents of the life of a soldier of work, who with perseverance and courage, without fanfare and without boast achieved brilliant victories. These are the events of the infancy of our fellow citizen Don Juan Güell y Ferrer, whose effigy you have before you.”

I stopped reading for a second. Argullol’s story was really turning out to be a page-turner, but it was not at all what I had expected it to be. As history, it was difficult to take seriously. It was as though this biographical sketch was being given a comic-book style treatment. I felt like I was reading the origin story of a Marvel superhero. While my historiographic sensibility recoiled at the liberties Argullol takes in order to establish his heroic portrayal of Juan Güell-- “soldier of work”--at the same time I found myself somewhat envious. I wished I could make my own thesis as entertaining as Argullol’s. Maybe it wasn’t good history, but it was fine storytelling. Argullol is setting us up for a classic retelling of the hero’s journey, complete with immersive narrative details and quasi-mythological embellishment. Honestly, it reminded me of the way people tell stories back home in North Carolina. Telling stories around the campfire is a local artform with a long and proud tradition- and I could imagine some of the best storytellers I know reading Argullol’s tale and taking notes. Take, for example, the epic symbolism of the sea during the birth scene-- it crossed my mind that maybe I should be viewing this, not as a historical exaggeration, but as a genius story-telling device. It all depends on the answer to the question which I found myself asking again and again as I continued through the book, “what exactly am I reading here?”

Essentially, this would become the research question driving my investigation for the duration of this section. In what follows, I break the question up into pieces, starting with an examination of the author’s identity. Who is José Argullol y Serra and why did he write this?

Who was his intended public? What was the broader historical context of this publication?

80 What objectives did it serve? In the final section I will look at the book from the perspective of literary analysis and take a critical look at the discourses it contains.