Touched by Fire: A Bilingual Edition of Manuel de Pedrolo’s Tocats Pel Foc

Tocats pel foc, written by one of the foremost authors of twentieth-century Catalan fiction, intertwines a love story with a series of conversations in which a young man, a stranger to whom a family has granted a few nights’ lodging at the request of a friend, presents his beliefs with regard to moral aspects of conflicting socio-economic models. The discussions are conducted in clear, simple language and, in fact, leave the reader feeling somewhat enlightened as to why certain social doctrines, based on wisdom contaminated by foolishness and failing to reject the notion that one must sometimes do wrong for the sake of what is right, have gained popular acceptance with catastrophic consequences.