Catalan Literature Overview
Josep Pla (1897-1981)
Born in Palafurgell into a family of small rural landowners, Josep Pla’s vocation was journalism. He worked as a correspondent in Paris, Italy, Berlin, and London, and collaborated on the newspaper The Voice of Catalonia.
His prose, marked by his journalistic background, is realistic and avoids excessive use of adjectives. His style reflects a keen interest in representing the real world and his critical writings stem from a desire to describe his time and society.
Pla was a prolific writer, producing around 44 volumes. His prose is characterized by its simplicity and clarity, employing short sentences and precise adjective use. He also wrote numerous diaries, memoirs, biographies, portraits, travel books, tourist guides, stories, and essays.
Madrid
Madrid is a diary written during Pla’s time in the city. In this essay-like genre, the author records daily impressions on various topics, both individual and collective.
Joan Oliver (Pere Quart) (1899-1986)
Born in Sabadell into a wealthy family, Joan Oliver formed a literary group in Sabadell with Armand Obiols and Francesc Trabal. He went into exile in France and returned to Catalonia in 1948.
Oliver’s works span all literary genres, with a particular emphasis on theater.
Characteristics of his work:
- Careful use of language, avoiding Symbolist and Noucentista artificiality.
- Concreteness and synthesis in his writing.
- Ironic and sarcastic humor.
- Parody of religious themes, myths, and the bourgeoisie.
- Interweaving of his personal circumstances with the social and political situation of the country.
- Evolution from an ironic and biting prose in his early period to a more relaxed and humorous style.
Theater:
Allò que tal vegada s’esdevingué
A bourgeois comedy.
La dansa d’Herodias
A psychological comedy that reflects on human existence, love, and marriage. It critiques the hypocrisy of marital relationships and explores the human condition (always wanting what one doesn’t have).
Vicent Andrés Estellés (1924-1993)
Born in Burjassot (Valencia) in 1924, Estellés was the son of a baker. His life was marked by the Spanish Civil War, the Franco regime, and the repression that followed. He studied journalism and worked for a newspaper until he was expelled in 1978, accused of Catalanism. He combined his literary activity with involvement in cultural and political nationalist movements.
Estellés’s poetry, published in the 1950s and 1960s, gained popularity in the 1970s. His style realistically portrays themes of death (influenced by the death of his daughter and grandfather), passionate love, sex, and the everyday life of the working class in Valencia. He employs a direct and rhetorical style, using metaphors, hyperbaton, and comparisons.
Llibre de meravelles
In this work, Estellés reflects on himself and his wife, concluding that they are no longer at the age for love. This work exemplifies historical realism, representing his life and experiences with love.
Salvador Espriu (1913-1985)
Born in Santa Coloma de Farners in 1913, Salvador Espriu graduated in law and ancient history. He might have become a professor of Egyptology if the Civil War hadn’t interrupted his plans. He lived a kind of internal exile, balancing his work with a dedication to his literary creation.
Characteristics of his work:
- Influenced by existentialism, questioning the human condition, freedom, and love.
- His work is an elegy for lost time, expressing nostalgia for the past.
- Espriu creates a mythical universe drawing from his childhood and the mythologies of different cultures, particularly Greek (Ariadne) and Egyptian (Osiris, judge of the dead).
Cementiri de Sinera
This work reflects on the past, associating it with home, sleep, security, freedom, order, and the rest of his soul. He contrasts this with La pell de brau, which deals with shipwreck, prison, and death. This poem alludes to the situation of the country during the Civil War, depicting a desolate landscape where hopes from the republican period have collapsed, replaced by fear and death.
Miquel Martí i Pol (1929-2003)
Born in Roda de Ter in 1929, Miquel Martí i Pol’s family worked in a textile factory. He felt a strong commitment to his social class and his country. In 1970, he developed multiple sclerosis but continued writing, especially poetry, until his death in 2003.
His literary career began in the 1950s. His early works were influenced by existentialism, but his poetry gradually became more realistic. In the 1960s, he published books aligned with historical realism, a movement based on Marxist ideology that advocated a critical approach to reality and social condemnation.
El poble and La fàbrica
These works portray the people of Roda de Ter, their lives, the world of work, and everyday life, using accessible and lyrical language. His collection reflects on the experience of illness, love, and patriotism, and delves into the experience of knowing, loving, and growing.
L’Elionor
This work reflects on life itself, particularly child labor, as it belongs to historical realism and exposes the harsh social reality and poor working conditions of the time.