Catalan Theater and Literature: Sagarra and Villalonga
Catalan Theater in the Early 20th Century
Catalan theater was in crisis in the early decades of the 20th century. Some authors, inspired by the French theater model, began writing works reflecting the bourgeoisie’s hegemony, moving away from the realist tradition and exploring their own family conflicts. These crises also led to the inclusion of critical elements.
Josep Maria de Sagarra (1894-1961)
Josep Maria de Sagarra studied law at the University of Barcelona (UB). In 1914, he published his first book, First Book of Poems. His first play, the comedy Romea Sparrow, premiered in 1918. In 1932, he published the novel Private Life. He went into exile at the start of the Spanish Civil War. In 1940, he returned to Barcelona and was forced to restrict his activities. He finally premiered new plays in 1945. In 1954, he wrote his memoirs and died in 1961.
Sagarra’s Plays
Sagarra was a popular and important playwright in the first half of the 20th century. His plays can be divided into two genres:
- Comedy of Manners: Connected to the 19th-century tradition, with works such as The Rambla of Florists.
- Dramatic Poems: Presented dramatic situations driven by dominant personalities, often led by passion and love conflicts. For example, *Maria’s Coffee*.
After the war, he wrote works that moved away from the populism of his previous creations. However, this theater did not have the same acceptance, and he rewrote some as pre-war theater. Between 1952 and 1957, he opted for thesis theater, presenting religious and moral problems, such as in Light Wound.
Narrative Work
Sagarra’s narrative work consists of short stories and novels, including Paulina Buxareu (1919), All Brackish (1928), and Private Life (1932). The latter is a chronicle of the decline of the Barcelona aristocracy during the transition from the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera to the Republic. His memoirs, summarizing his experiences until 1918, were published in 1954.
Poetic Works
Sagarra wrote clear and comprehensive poetry, avoiding abstractions and intellectualisms, connecting with popular sensibility. His poems contain images and resources from popular lyric poetry. Nature, landscape, and the characters that inhabit them are the principal themes of his poems, such as in Evil Hunter and Count Arnau.
Llorenç Villalonga (1897-1980) (Post-War)
Llorenç Villalonga, born in Majorca to a wealthy family, studied medicine. Before the Spanish Civil War, he wrote in both Catalan and Spanish and collaborated with the local press. He founded the magazine Brisas, aiming to introduce new aesthetic and ideological trends to the island. When the war broke out, he joined the Falange. Most of his literary output came after the Civil War. He is considered a writer of the psychological novel.
Villalonga created the myth of Bearn, based on Binissalem, his place of residence during the Civil War. This myth reflects the peculiar situation of the island, where the ruling class is the bourgeoisie, but a semi-feudal aristocracy persists.
Novels
His first work, Mort de Dama (Lady Death) (1931), is considered one of the key pieces of his work. The play recounts the agony of a lady of the aristocracy, symbolizing the situation of an entire social class. *The Hobro* is a satire against the nobles, especially the Chuetas (Majorcan Jews), Aina Cohen, and writers.
The publication of *The Baroness of Bearn* caused a scandal because it related characters in the novel to real people on the island. *Bearn or The Dolls’ Room* was first published in Spanish and later in Catalan (1961). From this point, Villalonga wrote all his literary production exclusively in Catalan. The work is an autobiography of the author and his wife. In 1952, he wrote the novel *The Great Batting*, and in 1968, *Palmina*, in which he criticized modern consumer society and the world of tourism. He won the Josep Pla Prize with *Andrea Victrix*.
Stories
Villalonga’s short story collections include:
- The Courtyard of the Hackberry (1958), which contains two stories with a clear Proustian influence.
- And Outside Majorca (published in 1966).
Theater
Most of his plays are narrative texts adapted for the stage, repeating symbols, myths, and characters. Notable works include Faust (1962) and the series Wreck (1965), consisting of fifteen short works close to the theater of the absurd.