Writer
Terenci Moix

Shameless, instigator, pathological liar in love with the glamour of old Hollywood and also in love of Egypt, was a novice icon of the culture gay in Spain. Terenci Moix, eternal Peter Pan, always supported the freedom as flag and found fantasy more habitable than reality. He could conquer the most diverse public, from the most exquisite cultural circles up to the most popular. Moix has been consolidated as one of the most exceptional writers from the generation of the '70's, a breath of fresh air to Catalan literature.

His original name was Ramón Moix. Some say that he changed it to honour the Latin poet, Terencio, others, that, he was seduced by the interpretation of Terence Stamp, he wanted to adopt the name of the worrying actor as his own identity of battle. Terenci Moix was born on 5 January 1942, in Ponent street of the Chinese quarter of Barcelona, known at present as the Raval. His adolescence was marked by solitude and cinema; Moix was an assiduous spectator of the double programming sessions, where he could flee the pro-Franco atmosphere of the postwar period, to enter the world of dream of the old Hollywood.

He studied commerce, shorthand, topographic drawing and dramatic art. At the beginning of the '60's, he started travelling. According to Moix, it was a flight towards literature. First it was Paris, then London, wherefrom he said that he had learned more than in no other place in the world. To these first trips, it would be necessary to add much more along his life, but they were Rome, where he began a big friendship with Passolini, and especially his dear Egypt, which it would be necessary to mention in his travels.

He returned to Barcelona at the end of the '60's, he collaborated with publishing house Destino, where he did translations and wrote articles about cinema in Fotogramas and Tele/Estel. They were the years of Gauche Divine when Terrenci burst in to the Catalan literary panorama in to the purest style Star. In only 18 months he was consolidated as one of the literary promises of the period. In 1968 he received the Víctor Català award with the book of stories 'La torre dels vicis capital' and in 1969 he was rewarded the Josep Plà prize with his novel 'Onades' about a desert rock. That same year he obtained the Crítica Serra d'Or.

More than 30 critics selected 'El día que murió Marylin' as the most important work written in the Catalan language between 1960 and 1970. This novel represented a rupture with literary prevailing tradition in the epoch. It left the thematic proper tradition of literature of the postwar period and pop replaced the historical realism with the aesthetics, cinema, comic, camp culture, eroticism and transgressor sexuality. Terenci Moix turned into the terrible enfant of the Catalan literature.

After Mundo Macho in 1971, a long narrative silence. Terenci split with his partner of 14 years, the actor Enric Majó and he suffered a deep depression. He returned in 1983 with 'Nuestro vírgen de los mártires' and 'Amami Alfredo'. Three years later, in 1986, he received the Planet award with the novel 'No digas que fue un sueño'. This book turned into the best selling work of this historical award, more than 1,600,000 copies.

Moix had returned strongly and during 15 following years he did not stop harvesting successes and awards. In 1992 he received the Ramon Llull award and the of the Crítica Lletra d'Or award with 'El sexo de los ángeles'. In 1996 Fernando Lara obtained the award for his book 'El amargo don de la belleza' and the José Manuel Lara Hernández award of novel, in 2002, with 'El arpista ciego'.

Terenci could bring together his two passions with the job of writing: Cinema and Egypt.
Cinema kept on acting like refuge. He had a monumental collection of films, more than 2000 tapes accumulated in his house, and of cinematographic material. He wrote very much on cinema: articles, books and his essays are gathered in the titled series: 'Mis inmortales del cine' or 'Suspiros de España: la copla y el cine en nuestro recuerdo'. He travelled 22 times to the ground of the Pharaohs, turned into an expert of this civilisation. Ancient Egypt co-inspired many of his works as 'El sueño de Alejandría', or 'La herida de la esfinge' and the book of trips 'Terenci del Nilo'.

In the last years, Moix had to leave another of his passions, the tobacco, because of a pulmonary emphysema and cardiac problems consequence of 40 years smoking approximately 3 daily packets of Ducados. But, in spite of needing a mask of oxygen to breathe, he kept on asking his sister Ann Maria or Inés, his decisive secretary for Ducados. Terenci Moix died on 2 April 2003, at the age of 61, in his flat of the Muntaner street. He loved life and he was afraid of death, but exactly as he announced at the end of his third book of memoirs in 'Extraño en el Paraíso': "He had to die often if he aspired to live much more".

Bibliography
Novels
Olas sobre una roca desierta. Barcelona: Destino, 1969.
El día que murió Marilyn. Barcelona: Planeta, 1970.
Mundo Macho. Barcelona: Planeta, 1971.
Amami Alfredo!. Barcelona: Plaza & Janés, 1984.
No digas que fue un sueño. Barcelona: Planeta, 1986.
El sueño de Alejandría. Barcelona: Planeta, 1988.
Garras de astracán. Barcelona: Planeta, 1991.
La herida de la esfinge. Barcelona: Planeta, 1991.
El sexo de los àngeles. Barcelona: Planeta, 1992.
Nuesto virgen de los mártires. Barcelona: Plaza & Janés, 1993.
Venus Bonaparte. Barcelona: Planeta, 1994.
La noche no es hermosa. Barcelona: Planeta, 1995.
Mujercísimas. Barcelona: Planeta, 1995.
El amargo don de la belleza. Barcelona: Planeta, 1996.
Chulas y Famosas. Barcelona: Planeta, 1999
El demonio. Barcelona: Planeta, 1999.
Melodrama o la increada conciencia de la raza. Barcelona: Planeta- De Agostini, 2002.
El arpista ciego. Barcelona: Planeta, 2002.

Brief Narration/Books of Stories:
La torre de los vicios capitales. Barcelona: Planeta – De Agostini, 2002.
Narracions : Lilí Barcelona i altres travestis; Molta roba i poc sabó. Barcelona : Edicions 62: Orbis, 1984.
Màrius Byron. Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1995.

Rehearsals:
Sadístic, espertèntic i àdhuc metafísic. Barcelona: Dopesa, 1976
Mis inmortales del cine. Hollywood años 30. Barcelona: Planeta, 1996.
Mis inmortales del cine. Hollywood años 40. Barcelona: Planeta, 1996
Mis inmortales del cine. Hollywood años 50. Barcelona: Planeta, 2001
Suspiros de España : la copla y el cine en nuestro recuerdo. Barcelona: Plaza & Janés, 1993.
Sufrir de amores. Barcelona: Planeta, 1995. 208 p.

Travel Books:
Terenci del Nilo: (viaje sentimental a Egipto). Barcelona: Planeta, 1983.
Tres viajes románticos: (Grecia, Túnez, México). Barcelona: Planeta-De Agostini, 2002.

Memoirs:
El peso de la paja : memorias. 1: el cine de los sábados. Barcelona : Planeta, 1998.
El peso de la paja: memorias. 2 : el beso de Peter Pan. Barcelona: Planeta, 1998.
El peso de la paja : memorias. 3: extraño en un paraíso. Barcelona: Planeta, 1998.
El beso de Peter Pan. Barcelona: Planeta, 1993.


Elisenda Martí Collado