10 Due to an inconveniently hedonistic conception of reading, what are known as ‘compulsory readings’ in schools and high schools began to have a bad reputation. Paraphrasing Borges, it was said that ‘compulsory reading’ was an oxymoron, because all reading implies pleasure, and there is nothing compulsory that truly gives enjoyment. But in educational centers everything is compulsory: the multiplication tables are, or the periodic table of elements, or grammar, even the schedules. Learning implies yielding and placing oneself at the service of certain knowledge, or of wisdom that must be imposed as truths are always imposed; these are supposed to obey no one, but rather it is we who must pursue them. The end of compulsory readings meant nothing more than that they were no longer compulsory by law and common throughout the country, but rather that the choice of works was left to the centers. In my time, the classics of Catalan and Spanish literature were combined with more current and accessible books, often even commercial ones, ultimately of more than questionable quality, which made the important or canonical works that, often against the grain, we had to swallow, shine by contrast.

]]> We spoke a few days ago with the writer Sebastià Alzamora and the editor and poet Jordi Cornudella, at the presentation of the new edition of Béarn or the doll roomSurely, the maturity of a culture can also be measured by the care it takes for its heritage authors. Reading, rereading, and revisiting the ideas and creative universes of the writers who have come before us is a very good way to remind ourselves of where we come from and, above all, where we can gain momentum to move forward. This new edition of Béarn In Edicions 62, which recovers the definitive revision by Josep A. Grimalt and includes four readings by Alzamora, Carlota Gurt, Carme Riera, and myself, must be very similar to the way in which ordinary countries should relate to their artistic heritage: from a contemporary perspective, with historical and philological rigor. Yes! Béarn Return to the bookstores because, as Jaume Fuster said, every book we haven't read is something new.

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