Catalan literature is the name conventionally used
to refer to
literature written in the
Catalan language. The Catalan
literary tradition is extensive, starting in the
Middle Ages.A
Romantic revivalist movement of the 19th century,
Renaixença, classified Catalan
literature in periods.
The centuries long chapter known as
Decadència that followed the golden age of Valencian
literature, was perceived as extremely poor and
lacking literary works of quality. Further attempts to
explain why this happened (see
History of Catalonia) have motivated
new critical studies of the period, and nowadays a revalorisation
of this early modern age is taking place. Catalan literature
reemerged in the 19th century and early 20th century, to experience
troubled times from the start of the
Spanish Civil War on. Many intellectuals
were forced into exile and Catalan culture couldn't find its place
in Catalonia until the
restoration of democracy in
Spain.
Middle Ages
Origins
Catalan, a
romance language,
evolved from
Vulgar Latin in the
Middle Ages, when it became a separate
language from Latin. Literary use of the Catalan language is
generally said to have started with the religious text known as
Homilies d'Organyà, written
late in either late 11th or early 12th century, though the earlier
Cançó de Santa
Fe, from 1054–76, may be Catalan or
Occitan. Another early Catalan poem is the
mid-thirteenth century
Augats, seyós
qui credets Déu lo Payre, a
planctus Mariae
(
lament of
Mary).
Ramon Llull (13th century), one of the
major medieval writers in the Catalan language is not only saluted
for starting a Catalan literary tradition clearly separated from
the
Occitan-speaking world of the time, but
also credited with enriching the language with his coining of a
large number of words, and his
philosophy. See
Llibre de Meravelles (including the
famed
Llibre de les
bèsties) and
Blanquerna (including
Llibre d'Amic e Amat) for more
details on his works.
Les quatre grans cròniques
These four major literary works are chronicles written between the
13th and 14th centuries narrating the deeds of the monarchs and
leading figures of the
Crown of
Aragon. They're the following:
Lyric poetry
The first widespread vernacular writing in any Romance language was
the
lyric poetry of the
troubadours, who composed in
Occitan. Since Occitan and Catalan are often
indistinguishable before the fourteenth century, it is not
surprising that many Catalans composed in the Occitan poetic koiné.
The first Catalan troubadour (
trobadors) may be
Berenguier de Palazol, active around
1150, who wrote only
cansos
(love songs in the
courtly tradition).
Guerau de Cabrera and
Guillem de Berguedan, active in the
generation after, were noted exponents of the
ensenhamen and
sirventes genres respectively. During this
early period Occitan literature was patronised by the rulers of
Catalonia—not surprisingly considering their wide involvement in
Occitanian politics and as
Counts of
Provence.
Alfonso II
patronised many composers, not just from Catalonia, and even wrote
Occitan poetry himself. The tradition of royal troubadours
continued with his descendants
Peter
III James II of Aragon, the
anonymous known only as "
Lo bord
del rei d'Arago", and
Frederick II of Sicily. The most
prolific Catalan troubadour during the ascendancy of Occitan as
language of literature, was
Cerverí de Girona, who left behind
more than one hundred works. He was the most prolific troubadour of
any nationality.
In the
early thirteenth century Raimon Vidal,
from Besalú
, composed
his poetic grammar, the Razos de trobar ("Purposes of
Composition"). This was the earliest and perhaps most
influential Occitan lyric treatise. The troubadour lyric followed
the Catalans to Sicily later in the century, where
Jaufre de Foixa composed a
Regles de
trobar ("Rules for Composing") modelled on Vidal's earlier
work.
A
third Catalan treatise on the language of the troubadours and
composing lyric poetry, the Mirall de trobar ("Mirror of
Composition"), was written by a Majorcan
, Berenguer d'Anoia.
Tirant lo Blanc
Written by
Joanot Martorell, this
epic romance was among its time's most
influential novels, and possibly the last major book in Catalan
literature until the 19th century.
Modern Era
La Decadència
The early modern period (late 15th-18th centuries), while extremely
productive for Castilian writers of the
Siglo de Oro, has been termed
La
Decadència, the "decadent" period in Catalan literature
because of a general falling into disuse of the vernacular language
in cultural contexts and lack of
patronage
among the nobility, even in lands of the Catalan-Aragonese Empire,
which led to a cultural void.
The Catalan-language decadence accompanied
the Catalan commercial influence in the Spanish Empire, in which the use of Spanish
language was essential, and overall neglect for the Crown of Aragon's institutions after the
dynastic union of Castile and
Aragon
that resulted from the marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, a union
finalized in 1474. This is, however, a Romantic view made
popular by writers and thinkers of the
national awakening period known as
Renaixença, in the 19th century.
This presumed state of decadence is being contested with the
appearance of recent cultural and literary studies showing there
were indeed works of note in the period.
Renaixença
The first
Romantics in Catalonia
and the Balearic Islands
chose Spanish as
their language, and wouldn't resort to using the Catalan language until a national awakening movement, kickstarted
by Romantic nationalism,
appeared. The foundation of the basis of the movement is
most often credited to
Bonaventura Carles Aribau with his
Oda a la Pàtria.
Renaixença or "rebirth". Literary Renaixença shares with
European Romanticism most of its traits, but created a
style of its own through its admiration of the
Middle Ages and its will to embellish the
language and the need create a new common standard.
Realism and
naturalism deeply influenced later
authors.
Its most important adherent was indeed
Jacint Verdaguer, who penned
Catalonia's national
epic.
Modernisme
Literary Catalan
modernisme was the
natural follow-up of Renaixença, still showing
Romantic traits and influences while focusing on
dark themes, such as violence or the dark side of life and nature.
As for poetry, it closely followed the style of
Parnassians and
Symbolists. The movement was subdivided
into authors in whose work prevailed darker
decadentist themes, classed under the name
Bohèmia Negra, and those whose career embraced
Aestheticism, known as participants of
Bohèmia Daurada or
Bohèmia Rosa.
Santiago Rusiñol,
Joan Maragall and
Joan Puig i Ferreter were some of its
most influential adherents.
Noucentisme
The
cultural and political movement known as Noucentisme appeared in the early 20th century,
a time of great economic growth in Catalonia, as a mostly conservative reaction against Modernisme and the Avantgarde, both in art and
thought. Its
Classicism as a "return to
beauty" and the love of elaborated form, along with
its much sought perfection of language, was accused by
modernistes of being excessively affected and artificial.
Poetry was its preferred genre, as evidenced by
Josep Carner or
Carles
Riba's masterpices.
Dictatorship, exile and political transition
After what seemed to be a period of hope and rapid growth, the
Spanish Civil War and
Francisco Franco's regime forced many
Catalan intellectuals into
exile, as many of
them faced persecution and the use of Catalan in the media became
frowned upon.
Publishing in Catalan never ceased completely, but only a few
notable authors like
Salvador Espriu
did publish in this language in the first years of the Franco
dictatorship. The initial restrictions on Catalan publishing of the
Francoist period relaxed over time, and during the 1960s and
beyond, publishing in Catalan became possible without restrictions
other than the political ones which applied to the entire
Spain.
Thus, some literary contests in Catalan like the
Premi Lletra
d'Or were established as early as 1956. During those years,
Mercè Rodoreda published
The Time of the Doves (1962),
probably the book which paved the way of modern Catalan literature,
since it could enjoy wider recognition due to the new media and the
spreading of literacy in this language.Later on that decade
Josep Pla published what has been
considered the masterpiece of the contemporary literature in
Catalan, the seminal
El Quadern Gris (1966). The Catalan
cultural association
Òmnium
Cultural, which had been established in 1961, could begin its
work in favour of Catalan literature by 1967 onwards. Salvador
Espriu, who had published most of his works in Catalan, was a
candidate for the
Nobel Prize
in Literature in
1971.
After the
transition to
democracy (1975-1978) and the restoration of the Catalan
regional government
Generalitat
(1980), literary life and the editorial market have returned to
normality and literary production in Catalan is being bolstered
with a number of language policies intended to protect Catalan
culture. Besides the aforementioned authors, other relevant 20th
century writers of the Francoist and democracy periods include
Agustí Bartra,
Manuel de Pedrolo,
Pere Calders or
Quim
Monzó.
List of Catalan-language writers
Àngel Guimerà
External links
General
E-books
References
- Comas, Antoni. La decadència. Sant Cugat del Vallès:
A. Romero, 1986.
- Elliott, J.H. Imperial Spain 1469-1716. London:
Penguin, 2002.
- Riquer, Martí de.
Història de la literatura catalana. 6 vols. Barcelona:
Editorial Ariel, 1980.
- Rossich, Albert. "És valid avui el concepte de decadència de la
cultura catalana de l'època moderna? Es pot identificar decadència
amb castellanizació?" Manuscrits 15 (1997), 127-34.
- Terry, Arthur. A Companion to Catalan Literature.
Woodbridge, Suffolk, U.K. / Rochester, N.Y.: Tamesis, 2003.
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