The essayist, literary critic and professor Josep Nadal Suau (Palma, 1980) has been awarded the 51st Anagrama Essay Prize for his work “Curar la piel. An essay on tattooing”, in which he narrates the history and evolution of tattoos, their meaning, their presence in films and novels, and the nature of tattoo artists. Nadal conceives of the body as a canvas, as a map that explains life, and uses tattoos to talk about everything in life: bonds, emotions, feelings… about how we live and how we could live, perhaps at a slower pace, more attentive to the passing of time and to making things last. On the act of getting a tattoo, the author says: “Getting a tattoo is a celebration. For us who mark ourselves, getting a tattoo is the biggest party imaginable, a mixture of solemn vow and childish trick”.
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The jury’s opinion
Of the 113 original essays received by the jury – composed of Jordi Gracia, Pau Luque, Daniel Rico and Remedios Zafra – from fifteen different countries, only eight manuscripts were selected to go through to the final.
The winning work, “Curar la piel. An essay on tattooing”, was described by Jordi Gracia as follows: “The labyrinthine nature of tattoos lacks a monolithic explanation: Nadal Suau has succumbed to them and a good part of his life can be explained through this graphic hieroglyphic. In reality, “Curar la piel” speaks of our own, of our life and our skin, even without tattoos, but with parents, partners, ex-partners and busy lives: a discovery”.
For his part, Luque referred to the essay with these words: “”Curar la piel” invites us to talk about life through tattoos. The complex paternal-filial relationships, love, declassification, the meaning of the subversive, and literature. It is as if Nadal Suau had tattooed an immense dragon on Montaigne’s back”.
Daniel Rico wanted to highlight the vital reflection of Nadal’s work: “In a sort of personal and literary ontology of tattooing, in the light of the marks engraved on his own skin, Nadal Suau invites us to think about everything that really marks the life of the human being: (dis)love, pleasure and pain, the mortal relationship with time”.
Finally, Zafra has reviewed it as follows: “To curate the skin, to narrate oneself by projecting, rehearsing, recounting and always seeking to heal the skin, you know, the deep. In this essay the body is the book and the tattoo the entry point to the narration of culture and the present, from the biographical, from the liminarity of different duels where the needles are resisted and enjoyed”.
The career of the Mallorcan
Josep Nadal Suau will receive €10,000 for this prestigious award, which was created in the early 1970s, when there was still no essay prize. The essayist holds a doctorate in Contemporary Literature and contributes to media such as “El Cultural”, “Publishers Weekly”, “Quadern” of “El País” and “Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos”. He is also the author of the books “Parapetos. Crítica literaria y cultural”, “Temporada alta”, “El matrimonio anarquista”, “San Francisco” and the book-interview “José Carlos Llop: una conversación”.
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