Temps, memòria i mite: La narrativa de ciència-ficció d'Antoni Munné-Jordà (1994-2015)

Antoni Munné-Jordà (Barcelona, 1948) is considered one of the most outstanding authors of contemporary science-fiction literature in the Catalan language. In addition to tracing his dedication to the genre as a specialist and popularizer, this article examines the five novels, Llibre de tot, La paciència del mar, L’única mort, Poso el comptaquilòmetres a zero and Michelíada, and the short story anthology, El mirall venecià, which he has devoted to speculative fiction between 1994 and 2015. The analysis of Michelíada, one of his most risky, complex, and outstanding contributions, is especially dwelled on as a futuristic novel that parodies Homer’s Iliad. Following Isaac Asimov, Munné-Jordà understands science fiction as the literature that deals with human responses to the changes brought about by science and technology. Like the greatest novels of the genre, his work denotes a similar concern for the future of humanity or the destructive capacity of Earthlings. Whether projected into a future time or into the past, Munné-Jordà’s speculative fiction about other worlds reflects on memory and myth and, like the best science fiction by Wells, Ray Bradbury, Dick, or Vonnegut, it asks about the present time and conjures up a future that may be fateful.