Damià Huguet blends in with the landscape of Campos and adopts the rough attitude that is reflected in Carn de vas.
Here men are made from red earth, like an idea,
Like the land that consents to the linear furrows and the aggressive stubble
That turns the steadfastly faithful fields yellow.
Voice and path. Hardworking race from the country
Where all skin shines on solid bodies full of energy.
A people who speak with a blood that writes this freedom of belief,
The whole fire of sweat stained with rock dust Which gives faces a redness full of life.
Campos, always rough, yet with human greens, place of mine.
I write this with dust from the dry land out of which grows wheat and flags.
Because I believe. Me, man of this red earth and damià of overflowing blood,
I am he who says land, country, Mallorca.
Carn de vas, 1976
Translated by Richard Mansell.
(Campos, 1946 – 19 juliol 1996). Huguet was a writer, journalist and publisher. Self-taught, he was a businessman in the construction materials industry. His first book, Home de primer mà (First-hand man) won the Blanquerna prize in Manacor in 1969. Together with Josep Albertí and Bernat Nadal he published 72 (1972) with a prologue by Blai Bonet. Cinc minuts amb tu (Five minutes with you, 1976), Carn de vas (Tomb meat, 1976) and Esquena de ganivet (Back of the knife, 1976) are an introduction, linked to the poetic realism of the time, to the world of Damià Huguet (cinema, Campos, travelling). He was the founder of the collections “Guaret” and “Quaderns campaners” which promoted authors who were little known at the time, or outside conventional circles. He also published his own collections Com un peix dins el rostoll (Like a fish in the stubble, 1978) and Traus badats (Open incisions, 1979), a successful display of a popular erotic vocabulary, amongst others. Between 1969 and 1976 he wrote for “Diario de Mallorca”, covering both local news and film. In the 1980s he published three volumes of poetry which display a certain unity, in which the people of his town are the protagonist, especially people dedicated to manual tasks. The books are influenced by the harshness and severity of the landscape with explicit titles: Els calls del manobre (The labourer’s calluses, 1984), Guarets a l’alba (Fallow land at dawn, 1987) and L’ull dels clapers (The eye of the stones, 1988).
The people of Campos, those working the land and the harsh red earth of Majorca shape Damià Huguet, as he imitates the landscape and adopts its harsh countenance, as seen in Carn de vas.
Campos is located between the coastal areas of Llucmajor and Santanyí, often grouped together under the name Migjorn (south). These are lands dedicated to agriculture, making good use of the fertile soil indicated by the place name itself (which means "fields"), and which is possibly Mozarab in origin. Grain used to be the main crop, but in the 20th century livestock has become more and more prevalent, especially cattle, leading to the subsequent exploitation of the vulnerable water table to water crops and make fodder. This activity led to a significant dairy industry, both for milk products and cheese, some of which remains to this day.
