Jordi Arbonès Montull (Barcelona, 1929 – Bernal, Argentina, 2001) translated more than 140 works, mostly from British and north-American prose fiction and drama from the 19th and 20th centuries, into Catalan and Spanish. A part from translating, he wrote poetry, prose fiction and drama. He also wrote essays, especially about drama and Manuel de Pedrolo’s work. In addition, he produced a big amount of articles on translation and wrote the forewords for the most significant works of writers he knew.
He lived in Argentina since 1956 and from there he contributed to Catalan magazines such as Catalunya, Ressorgiment, Serra d’Or and Revista de Catalunya.
Aware that disseminating and studying one of the largest works in translation in the second half of the 20th century was of utmost importance, Arbonès’ family transferred his legacy to the Catalan university Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
His legacy consists in a great amount of translations or edited original versions as well as his own particular book collection, which includes dedicated books among other materials. It also contains first or very old editions and a big amount of unpublished manuscripts and a large correspondence maintained with various personalities of the Catalan literature and culture. There are also a lot of press excerpts which constitute valuable historical material.
Jordi Arbonès’ collection is kept in the library Biblioteca d’Humanitats of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
Entrevista a Glòria Arbonès i a Marta Albaladejo sobre la correspondència dels seus pares a RAC1.
Christopher Isherwood
Adéu a Berlín
Translated by Jordi Arbonès and Josep Cornudella i Defis
Viena Edicions
Collection «El Cercle de Viena», 56, 2016
289 p., 22 cm
ISBN: 978-84-8330-898-1
Ernest Hemingway
El vell al pont
Translated by Jordi Arbonès
Epilogue by Ian Gibson; illustrated by Pere Ginard
Libros del Zorro Rojo, 2016
45 p., 25 cm
ISBN: 978-84-9449-427-7
John Steinbeck
La perla
Translated by Jordi Arbonès
Introduction and notes by Francisco Antón
Vicens Vives
Collection «Aula de Lletres Vicens Vives», 1, 2015
115 p., 20 cm
ISBN: 978-84-6822-854-9
Charles Dickens
Una història de dues ciutats. Una novel·la de la Revolució Francesa
Translated by Jordi Arbonès
L’Avenç
Collection «Literatures», 2015
423 p., 24 cm
ISBN: 978-84-8883-986-2
Edited by J. Santamaría & P. Alonso
Antologia del relat policíac
Translated by Jordi Arbonès
Vicens Vives
Collection «Aula Literària Vicens Vives», 17, 2015
XXXIV p., 237p., 28 p., 20 cm
ISBN: 978-84-6823-503-5
Anthony Burgess
Translated by Jordi Arbonès
Prologue by Quim Monzó
Edicions Proa
Collection «Labutxaca», 2014
269 p., 18 cm
ISBN: 978-84-9930-846-3
C. S. Lewis
El nebot del mag
Translated by Jordi Arbonès; illustrated de Pauline Baynes
Estrella Polar
Collection «Les cròniques de Nàrnia», 1, 2014
251 p., 21 cm
ISBN: 978-84-9057-652-6
Gerald Durrell
El jardí dels déus
Translated by Jordi Arbonès
Viena Edicions
Collection «El Cercle de Viena», 44, 2014
264 p., 18 cm
ISBN: 978-84-8330-811-0