Catalan Language and Modernist Literature: History and Key Figures
The Catalan Language: A Historical Overview
The official status of the Catalan language has been a subject of contention. While there have been efforts to establish it officially, the state has often resisted.
- Commonwealth of Catalonia (1914): Elaboration of rules for grammar, spelling, and lexical units, which later extended to Valencia and the Balearic Islands (current rules).
- Primo de Rivera Dictatorship: Prohibited the use of the Catalan language.
- Second Republic: Catalan was reinstated and established as an official language, but this was reversed again during the Franco dictatorship.
Modernist Literature in Catalonia
Modernist literature in Catalonia was a literary and cultural movement characterized by a desire to modernize and renew Catalan culture, aligning it with other European cultures.
Key Figures and Journals
- Journals: The Winds, Youth, and works by Pen and Fernando.
Aesthetic Influences on Modernist Writers
- Symbolism: A literary movement originating in France that emphasized the power of words. It suggested ideas through metaphorical expression and musicality (e.g., Maurice Maeterlinck).
- Impressionism: Focused on the sensations produced by writers describing things, rather than the things themselves.
- Parnassianism: Emphasized flawless form and absolute beauty.
- Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood: Criticized industrialization and its dehumanizing effects, rejecting rationalism and embracing mysticism. Influenced by the Bible.
Two Groups of Modernist Artists
- Regenerationists: Believed that art could transform society (Internationalist).
- Aesthetes: Did not believe artists should focus on changing society, but rather on enjoying art for its own sake.
Modernist Narrative
Rural Novels
These novels are set in the countryside, where nature often represents negative forces opposing the individual.
- Raimon Casellas: A writer, art critic, and modernist painter who introduced formal innovations. He published The Wild Assistant, considered the first modernist work.
- Josep Pous i Pagès: A writer, journalist, and politician who collaborated with the Catalan people in Barcelona. He was arrested for an article and later became a theatrical impresario. His works include Life and the Word George Fraginal. He was exiled to Mexico and returned to fight Franco.
- Víctor Català (Caterina Albert): Author of the novel Solitude, which recounts the life of Milà, a woman struggling for self-affirmation amidst nature. The novel explores the conflict between individual will and destiny.
Decadent Novels
These novels reflected a belief that civilization had reached its end and was in a period of decline, characterized by feelings of insecurity, weariness, death, and disease, with a search for transformation into an ideal world. Example: Prudenci Bertrana (Josafat).
Manners Novels
These novels critiqued bourgeois society.
- Joaquim Ruyra: Used nature to reflect a rich lexicon (marine and woods).
- Santiago Rusiñol: A painter, playwright, and storyteller who depicted the upper bourgeoisie. His work was marked by the tension between the artist and society (e.g., The Lord Stephen Storybook, which explores the decision to become an artist rather than continue the family business).
Valencia
Eduardo López-Chávarri: A modernist composer, musicologist, and writer known for emotional and lyrical works.