JOAN TELLO BRUGAL English version

2012-07-29T23:24:00.027+02:00

JOAN TELLO BRUGAL

I have an eclectic nature, which combines the long for knowledge with the need to travel both physically and spiritually. I graduated in Classics (Latin and Greek) with Honors, and also enjoyed surfing on the waves of Sociology and Asian Studies. I have lived in Rome, Vienna, India, China and Belgium.

I spent half year in India studying Sanskrit and Vedanta Philosophy with local teachers. Two years later, in 2004, the ICO Foundation granted me a one-year-scholarship to study Chinese in Beijing Foreign Studies University. This opportunity allowed me to deepen my knowledge about Chinese language, and experience Chinese culture and society. I spent the following year working in some tv series as an extra actor, and in a kindergarten as an English teacher.

In September 2006 I published L’art de trontollar. Teràpia de xoc (The art of staggering. Shock therapy). It contains 545 short philosophical texts. In spring 2008, the book about my two-year experience in China El país del mig / El país del medio was successfully released, both in Catalan and Spanish. In December 2008, I published Ser humano, ser precario which deals with the unstable, precarious and never-fulfilled nature of the human being. It is a sharp look inside the currenly political, economic and social crisis. In December 2008 was aslo released my collaboration in the first bilingual Greek-Catalan translation of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. In 2009 I published the first Latin-Catalan translation of De subuentione pauperum (On assisting needy people), a major work of philosopher and humanist Joan Lluís Vives (1493-1540). Finally, in summer 2010 I was admitted as visiting scholar in the Katholieke Universiteit of Leuven (Flanders, Belgium) to deepen my knowledge on Renaissance philosophy.

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JOAN LLUÍS VIVES, ON ASSISTING NEEDY PEOPLE (2009)

Bilingual Latin - Catalan translation.
Forewords by Charles E. Fantazzi and Josep Enric Rubio.
Translation, notes and Catalan edition by Joan Tello Brugal.

Original Latin title: De subuentione pauperum.
Original title in the Catalan edition: Joan Lluís Vives. L'assistència als pobres.
First edition: Fall 2009.
Pages:
ISBN: 978-84-96563-85-8
Publisher: Llibres de l'Índex - Ediciones La Tempestad.

If any publishing company or individual is interested in getting in touch with
Llibres de l'Índex - Ediciones La Tempestad, please click on the Catalan or Spanish link.

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MEDITATIONS OF MARCUS AURELIUS (2008)

Bilingual Greek-Catalan translation.
Introduction, translation and notes by Joan Alberich i Mariné.
Edition by Joan Tello i Brugal.

Original Catalan title: Marc Aureli. Meditacions.
First edition: December 2008
Pages: 306
ISBN: 978 - 84 - 96563 - 74 - 2
Cover image: Marcus Aurelius. National Archaeological Museum of Tarragona.
Publisher: Llibres de l'Índex - Ediciones La Tempestad.

If any publishing company or individual is interested in getting in touch with
Llibres de l'Índex - Ediciones La Tempestad, please click on the Catalan or Spanish link.

2010-10-26T16:54:00.011+02:00

TO BE HUMAN, TO BE UNSTABLE (2008)

Original Spanish title: Ser humano, ser precario.
First edition: December 2008.
Pages: 112.
ISBN: 978 - 84 - 7948 - 093 - 6.
Publisher: Llibres de l'Índex - Ediciones La Tempestad.

If any publishing company or individual is interested in getting in touch with
Llibres de l'Índex - Ediciones La Tempestad, please click on the Catalan or Spanish link.

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A COUNTRY CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE (2008)
Living, studying and working two years in China

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Originally written in Catalan and Spanish.

Original Catalan title: El país del mig
First edition: May 2008
Pages: 276 + 8 (pictures)
ISBN: 978 - 84 - 96563 - 66 - 7

Original Spanish title: El país del medio
First edition: July 2008
Pages: 291 + 8 (visual materials)
ISBN: 978 - 84 - 79480 - 88 - 2

Publisher: Llibres de l'Índex - Ediciones La Tempestad.

If any publishing company or individual is interested in getting in touch with
Llibres de l'Índex - Ediciones La Tempestad, please click on the Catalan or Spanish link.

The book.

El país del mig / El país del medio depicts without censorship what the author saw and experienced during a two-year stay in China. Along with pen-portraits of the people with whom he lived, there are his accounts of attempts at swindling, descriptions of the educational system (university and kindergarten), comments on the environment, philosophy, and television filming; stories of possible and impossible love, teachers, a Japanese woman, Filipinos, a journalist traumatised in her childhood, a rebel artist, bureaucratic problems, families and, finally, journeys and situations in which he describes cities, customs and a wide range of behaviours. This book casts both an ironic and tragic gaze on a country that is trapped in a dilemma: whether to advance in the economic domain only and lose itself as a country and as a culture, or to put an end to the false appearance of progress and try to correct the ravages that the religion of unlimited growth has inflicted on the ecological balance, the society and the people.

El país del mig / El país del medio is, in brief, a direct source through which to discover and learn more about the China that nobody dares to describe. A China experienced and conveyed by a European who is critical not only of the Chinese but of ourselves as well.

From the author's Prologue.

Whatever country that mixes up honour with arrogance, discipline with authoritarianism, progress with destruction and freedom with consumerism is step by step nourishing its fall.
This book enlightens some dark points, hoping that once they have been given light they will have a chance to be healed.
The history of cinema cherishes with deep feelings films which seem to deal with war but that in the end are unequivocal hymns to peace. I hope the reader will realize that the only purpose in my writing is to help to build a better world.

What some newspapers have said.

Abc. “He (Tello) came up to China with a huge curiosity and an ability to observe the surface and what was hidden beneath (…) The reader will feel the variety of the Chinese Microcosm pass through in front of his eyes (…) Lots of questions float throughout the book”.

Maritimas. (…) We find lots of books concerning China. Most of them are informative and lack of insightful reflection. They keep on the surface and even mislead the audience. But there are some exceptions, like El país del mig by Joan Tello. He is neither a journalist, nor a writer who explains a tourist trip, nor a western citizen who by spending some time in China feels that he has mastered great knowledge about the country. Quite the other way round. Tello is in love with Oriental cultures (he had previously lived in India) and he spent two years in the Peoples’ Republic of China. At first, he was a student. Afterwards he was a kindergarten English teacher. He lived among Chinese, he travelled with Chinese public transports, he had three Chinese girlfriends and, in short, he speaks Mandarin and knows Chinese way of thinking (…) The author describes a messy and dirty country, full of polluted cities which live eternally drowned with noise. He also depicts its society: impolite, disrespectful towards coexistence rules and environmental care, absolutely crazy for personal profit and making money (…) The book is extremely revealing.”

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● THE BOOK IN THE MEDIA.

1. El Punt (June 23, 2008). Link in Catalan. Click on the picture or here.

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2. Abc (June 30, 2008), p 54. Link in Spanish. Click on the picture.

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3. Diario Maritimas (July 02, 2008), p 5. Link in Spanish. Click on the picture.

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4. Avui (July 08, 2008), p 38. Link in Catalan. Click on the picture or here.

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5. El Periódico de Catalunya (July 12, 2008), p 37. Link in Spanish. Click on the picture or here.

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6. El Mundo. Suplemento Tendències (July 24, 2008). Link in Spanish. Click on the picture.

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7. 25tv. (July 31, 2008). One hour interview in the magazine "L'hora d'en Reixach". Click on the pictures.

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8. RNE - Spanish National Radio (August 03, 2008). 20 minutes interview in the magazine "Revolución Caliente".

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9. La Vanguardia (August 08, 2008), p 37. Link in Spanish. Click on the pictures or here.

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10. TV3 - Catalonia Television (August 11, 2008). 20 minutes interview in the magazine "L'Entrevista". Tv3 Newschannel "3/24". Click on the pictures.

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11. Diario Información (August 24th, 2008). Digital newspaper. Link in Spanish. Click on the pictures.

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12. Travelport. Travel and Tourist Magazine. (October, 2008). "China, ¿el país de la apariencia?" Article. Pages 42 to 50. Link in Spanish. Click on the pictures.

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13. Leer. Revista decana de libros y cultura (November 08), page 64. Literature and Culture Magazine. Link in Spanish. Click on the picture.

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14. Guest in the Documentary Series "Made in China" (November 27th, 2008), organized by the Catalan Federation of Cinema Clubs, Barcelona Espai de Cinema and Casa Elizalde. Furher information can be found here or clicking on the first image (AVUI newspaper).

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15. Catalunya Informació - Catalonia National Radio (November 28th, 2008). Interview in the magazine "Mapamundi".

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16. Setmanari El Temps (December 02, 2008), #1277. Page 87. Click on the image. Link in Catalan.

2008-07-29T23:27:00.039+02:00

THE ART OF STAGGERING (2006)

Original Catalan title: L'art de trontollar
First edition: September 2006
Pages: 168
ISBN: 84 - 96563 - 29 - 4

Publisher: Llibres de l'Índex - Ediciones La Tempestad

If any publishing company or individual is interested in getting in touch with
Llibres de l'Índex - Ediciones La Tempestad, please click on the Catalan or Spanish link.

FRAGMENTS FROM THE BOOK

The problem is not being a man or being a woman.
The problem is… having to be.

You will never defeat me.
Although I am competent, I do not compete.

The lesser we understand,
the closer we get.

The good question, the one which is a true question,
is the one which has not got —can’t have— an answer.

The word does not give a response to the question.
It can explain the question but does not answer it.

If you always walk on a pathway,
you will never reach anywhere.

One never gets so far away
as when he does not know where he is going.

To get out
is to get in.

Better being truly empty
than falsely full.

If death could be mended,
life would be a fraud.

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OTHER MATERIALS

Peter Sellers in Being There (1979), directed by Hal Ashby. Quotation from Life and death of Peter Sellers (2004), directed by Stephen Hopkins.

The day the Earth stood still (1951), directed by Robert Wise.

Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), directed by Stanley Kubrick.