The third edition of the Essai Ateneu Barcelonès award has awarded the doctoral thesis Germany seen from Catalan politics and culture between 1890 and 1914, by Xavier Fleck Gatius. The vice-president of the Ateneo Lluïsa Julià presented the prize during the opening conference of the course this Monday, with the title Women in the literary tradition: are they there?
The jury made up of Carme Gregori, Josep Montserrat, Vicent Olmos and Sebastià Serra has decided to distinguish the thesis by Xavier Fleck, from the University of Barcelona, for "his important contribution to the study of Catalan and European culture and politics, with the focus placed on the relations and influences of German culture at such a crucial moment in European history as the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, when, from an institutional point of view, the Catalan cultural world looks very influenced by the culture and politics of the Second Reich which, before 1914, before the Great War, had become an example to follow”. The jury also highlights the interest of the topic of German-Catalan relations at a crucial time in European history and "the contribution of the thesis to the history of Catalan culture and politics from the perspective of an alterity turned into a mirror" .
The Assaig Ateneu Barcelonès award, endowed with 4,000 euros, is awarded every three years and is aimed at doctoral theses in the field of humanities and social sciences presented at Catalan, Valencian and Balearic universities. It is also an award that responds to the will of Carles Guitart, and the Ateneu Barcelonès remembers the figure of this partner and his great dedication to the study of these disciplines.
Doctor Xavier Fleck Gatius graduated in History from the University of Barcelona in 2013 and in 2021 he obtained a doctorate in Contemporary History from the same university with the thesis that has now been awarded. The same 2021 published in the magazine Cercles. Revista d'Història Cultural the article "The German experience of Manuel de Montoliu (1908-1911)".
Catalan version, here
