The house where Llorenç Villalonga resided temporarily, becomes a scenario of fiction, in the prologue of the short stories book El lledoner de la clastra.
The library, situated on the upper floors, is large and hidden. Its only window looks out on the courtyard, where an old Mediterranean hackberry rises high above the building's roof. In August, in Robines, beside the mountains, between Montlleó and Bearn, the days are scorching hot. To escape the sun and the flies, people take refuge in the shade in shuttered rooms. The library is defended by shutters and the thick curtain of the hackberry. Even so, the great damask blue of the sky infiltrates through the shutter blades. Above this vibrant Majorcan sky swifts hunt their prey with loud cries. Hunger, that vital yearning, makes them go mad. Now and then, a gust of wind carries scents of indigenous basil and carnations. The vegetable world, in its own way, also wants to show its existence...
El lledoner de la clasta (The Hackberry in the Courtyard), 1958
Translated by Richard Mansell.
(Palma, 1897 - 1980). Llorenç Villalonga is considered to be one of the foremost novelists in Catalan literature. A columnist, prose writer and playwright, he was an author who defied the conventions of literary genres, producing a solid interconnecting body of literature, with continuous interrelations among characters and settings and a blend fiction and reality. Villalonga heralds the start of the modern novel in the Catalan language, inspired by certain European models that allowed him to break away from the prevailing Costumbrista literary trend, which focused on local customs and manners. In his writings, there are echoes of Marcel Proust, Valle Inclán and the classics of enlightened thinking.
His best-known novel, Bearn or The Dolls’ House, has been translated into over 20 languages and adapted for theatre, television and cinema. Set in 19th century Mallorca, it reflects the waning values of a society in a state of radical change. For Villalonga, “the only paradises are lost ones”.
In Bearn, a fictional setting was created that can partly be identified with Binissalem. The author spent long periods living at Casal de Can Sabater, which today houses the Literary Museum & Home of Llorenç Villalonga. Villalonga’s contact with this rural environment played a fundamental role in the creation of Bearn, a novel inspired by a look at the past and by recollections of his childhood. In Binissalem, he also wrote the stories in El lledoner de la clastra (The Hackberry in the Courtyard) in the peace and quiet of his study at Can Sabater.
In the writer's mythical universe, Binissalem is also known as Robines, a recurring place name. In Robines, Villalonga shared meetings and concerns with another writer, Llorenç Moyà i Gilabert de la Portella, owner of Can Gelabert and a multi-faceted writer. Moyà is the author of A Robines també hi plou (It also rains in Robines), a collection of stories published in 1958. Binissalem also enjoyed the presence of other prestigious literary figures such as Juan Cortada and Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos.
Binissalem is a land of literature and also a land of wine. The town is situated at the foot of the mountains, the name has Arabic origins and it used to be called Robines. Today Binissalem has regained, in part, the economic splendour of the past, thanks to the importance of the wine industry and the existence of vineyards with a long history that are covered by the Binissalem denomination of origin. One of the other surprises that the town holds in store for visitors are the stone houses built from local quarries and called 'Binissalem stone'. These houses, found in the old part of town, are a reflection of the town's previous wealth.
