Beloved majorcans

“I’ve been living in Majorca for many years, and I must admit that I still find it hard to understand some of the reactions of the inhabitants”. My friend John W. wore an anxious expression as he uttered these words at a party, a gathering of foreigners, Majorcans and other Spaniards…
These are the opening words of this book by Guy de Forestier, who analises, with a touch of irony, the Majorcan’s ways and habits –“a judiciously calm and pleasurable pace of life which is in danger of going, stupidly, up the spout.”

Guy de Forestier’s observations are based on the information gleaned from the anecdotes and personal experiences of more than a hundred historians, anthropologists, sociologists, journalists, writers and members of the clergy.

A pseudonym was needed to represent this diverse group, and Guy de Forestier was the name chosen, for its phonetic similarity to the Majorcan term guia de forasters or “outsiders’ guide”; it was, however, the architect Carlos García-Delgado, Catalan by birth and Majorcan by adop- tion, who actually put pen to paper. The author has won several national and international awards in the field of architecture and town planning and although he has lived on the is- land since childhood, he regularly visits his native Catalonia to lecture at the Polytechnic University there. In 1992, José J. de Olañeta published Arquitectura tradicional de la isla de Mallorca, his first book, which will shortly appear in English.