The work collected here spans translation studies, literary criticism, and pedagogy, unified by a sustained concern with how texts are taught, transmitted, and made legible across linguistic, cultural, and institutional contexts. Whether addressing the circulation of Catalan literature in English, the close reading of canonical texts for high-stakes examinations, or the design of equitable assessment practices in U.S. public schools, these pieces reflect a commitment to rigorous interpretation, intellectual accessibility, and ethical attention to readers and learners alike. Together, they document a trajectory of practitioner-scholarship shaped by classrooms, curricula, and cultural mediation.

“Comentari Ausiàs March Poema LXXVI” (2000)

This pedagogical commentary offers a rigorous, step-by-step close reading of Ausiàs March’s Poem LXXVI, one of the most conceptually demanding texts in the Catalan literary canon. Written for Selectivitat (the Catalan university entrance examinations), the analysis models the kind of interpretive clarity, textual precision, and argumentative structure required in high-stakes literary assessment.

The commentary situates the poem within March’s moral and metaphysical framework—examining the tension between pensament and voler, desire and reason, love and ethical disintegration—while attending closely to form, imagery, and rhetorical strategy. Rather than reducing difficulty, the piece teaches students how to read through it, transforming complexity into intelligible structure.

First published in Selectivitat. Literatura Catalana (Edicions de la Magrana, 2000), this text has remained widely consulted by students and educators preparing for the exam and continues to circulate extensively in academic and pedagogical contexts.

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“Comentari Josafat (La Magrana)” (2000)

Published in Selectivitat. Literatura Catalana 2000, this critical commentary offers a close reading of a key fragment from Josafat (1906), one of the most emblematic novels of Catalan Modernisme.

Situating Bertrana’s work within the aesthetic and ideological framework of European decadentism, the commentary examines the novel’s symbolic system, narrative rhythm, and stylistic strategies, with particular attention to oppositional structures such as innocence and transgression, music and silence, paganism and Christianity.

Written with a clear pedagogical purpose, the analysis models the kind of interpretive rigor required in the Selectivitatexaminations, guiding students through textual evidence, historical context, and conceptual articulation. The commentary has been widely consulted by secondary and university students preparing for high-stakes literary analysis.

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“Introducció a Ausiàs March, Llir entre cards” (1999)

In this volume, Francesc Borrull provides a rigorous yet accessible introduction to the poetry of Ausiàs March, one of the central figures of medieval Catalan literature. The book brings together a curated selection of poems from March’s cants d’amor, presented in a modern verse adaptation by Climent Forner, alongside a substantial critical framework designed for advanced secondary students.

Borrull’s introduction situates March within his historical, biographical, and intellectual context, while foregrounding the poet’s exploration of love as a moral, psychological, and existential problem. Drawing on medieval poetics, scholastic thought, and close textual analysis, the study examines themes such as desire, interior conflict, ethical responsibility, and the emergence of a distinctly modern lyrical voice.

The volume concludes with detailed textual commentaries and pedagogical proposals that invite sustained engagement with the poems through analysis, comparison, and creative response. Conceived as both a scholarly and educational work, Llir entre cards was published as the inaugural title in a nationally adopted series of required texts for upper-secondary Catalan literature, marking an early contribution to curriculum-shaping literary scholarship.

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