(In)complete works

Collections of complete works are an unbeatable indicator of the state of a literary culture: in France, the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade by Éditions Gallimard has published more than 500 volumes since 1931; other examples include I Meridiani by Mondadori (1969), the Deutscher Klassiker Verlag (1981), and the Libray of America (1982). They are also a fundamental component of any culture’s (nation’s?) heritage. This article discusses the concept of complete works and the difficulties they pose in minor cultures such as Catalan. The discussion will address the following two questions: (1) what part of an author’s work is considered for complete works, and what is not, and (2) what should we do with authors who constantly rewrite their work (Carner, Pla, and in fact much of the literature of the twentieth century), including those who try to hide what they have previously published (Borges, Rodoreda)?