Catalan Literature Decline and Renaissance: A Historical View
The Decline of Catalan Literature (16th-18th Centuries)
Definition: A period of crisis lasting three centuries (16th-18th centuries) where Catalan literature diminished under the influence of Latin and Spanish literature.
Historical Reasons:
- The end of the Barcelona dynasty and the enthronement of a Castilian king, Ferdinand of Antequera.
- The union of the Crown of Aragon with Castile through the marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain (1469).
Socio-economic Causes:
- The shift of Mediterranean maritime trade due to the discovery of the Americas.
- Economic crisis and demographic decline.
- Establishment of the Inquisition and expulsion of the Moors and Jews.
- Repopulation of Valencia by Spanish speakers.
Cultural Causes:
- The dominance of Latin language and culture in education.
- The printing press favored works in Spanish or Latin due to a larger readership.
- The disappearance of the Royal Chancellery (administrative body of the Crown of Aragon).
- Dialectalization leading to the displacement of Catalan, with Valencia becoming increasingly Castilianized during the viceroyalty of Germaine de Foix.
The Renaissance (16th Century)
Ideology: Humanism, valuing the artistic, aesthetic, and social aspects of the classical world. Reason is the primary source of knowledge, and discipline is the standard for art. The pursuit of balance, beauty, and harmony.
Catalan Authors:
- Writing in Latin: Joan Lluís Vives (Valencian).
- Writing in Spanish: Joan Boscà (Barcelona).
- Writing in Catalan (against the trend):
- Cristòfor Despuig: Los Col·loquis de la insigne ciutat de Tortosa (prose), praising Tortosa, Catalonia, and the Catalan language.
- Pere Serafí: Ausiàs March poet, influenced by Renaissance metrics.
The Baroque (17th-18th Centuries)
Ideology: A response to the preceding crisis, characterized by disappointment with reality and an obsession with time and the brevity of life. Irrationality prevails, and the rules of equilibrium disappear.
Two Styles:
- Conceptisme: Poetry focused on intellectual games, prioritizing content over form. Characterized by antithesis, wordplay, and distorted reality, exemplified by Quevedo.
- Culteranisme: Emphasizes external beauty and idealization of reality through abundant metaphors, hyperbaton, mythological allusions, and phonic and metric resources, exemplified by Góngora.
Catalan Authors: Influenced by the Spanish Golden Age, including Quevedo (Conceptisme), Góngora (Culteranisme), and Lope de Vega.
-
Francesc Vicent Garcia: Known as the Rector of Vallfogona, a legendary figure attributed with anecdotes, adventures, and jokes. His work features:
- Sober and elegant poems expressing concern for form.
- Eschatological and satirical burlesque poems aiming to surprise readers with wordplay, focusing on content to describe societal ugliness.
The Enlightenment (18th Century)
Historical Facts: War of the Spanish Succession and the Nueva Planta decrees (repressive measures against Catalan language and culture, except in English-controlled Menorca).
Ideology: Neoclassicism and Illustration.
- Neoclassicism: An aesthetic movement originating in France, seeking a return to Greek and Latin models, emphasizing measure, equilibrium, and reason.
- Illustration: An ideological movement originating in Britain, France, and Germany, also known as the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason, prioritizing reason over irrationality.
Catalan Authors: Writing in Spanish but focusing on Catalan culture.
- Rafael Cortada: Wrote an external diary about events in Barcelona and Esplugues, using refined language.
- Joan Ramis i Ramis: Wrote theatrical tragedies such as Lucrecia and Rossaura o la constància en l’amor. He was from Menorca.