Evolution of Post-Civil War Catalan Narrative: From Repression to Renaissance
1. Post-Civil War Sociopolitical Context and Narrative
The post-Civil War era witnessed significant political shifts, including linguistic unification and the suppression of minority languages like Catalan. The government, political parties, and the Statute were abolished, alongside a ban on Catalan’s public and educational use. Confined to the private sphere, Catalan literature faced marginalization. Many writers sought exile, joining existing journals or establishing new ones. After 1939, the Catalan novel slowly reemerged, initially from exile due to publishing difficulties and censorship within Spain. However, exiled novelists preferred publishing their works in Catalonia. The political climate heavily influenced the narrative until the early sixties, with many works avoiding direct portrayals of reality, opting instead for symbolism and myth. Others explored imaginative literature, fantasy, and psychological narratives. This trend continued until the sixties when Italian neorealism and American war novels began to exert their influence.
From the 1960s onwards, attitudes towards the Franco regime shifted. The dictatorship adopted more tolerant stances due to international openness, granting writers access to a wider audience. In the early seventies, a new generation of writers emerged, significantly impacting the literary world.
2. Enric Valor’s Literary Significance
Born in Castalla, Enric Valor prioritized his role in disseminating Valencian grammar rules during the dictatorship. His literary pursuits during this time culminated in the novel The Ambition of Alexius and short stories that gained considerable recognition. Valor aimed to promote knowledge of the Valencian landscape, language, and culture, crafting a captivating literary world. In the late seventies, he began publishing novels within the Cycle of Cassana trilogy, named after a fictional village in the southern regions. These novels chronicle rural society in Cassana during the first half of the 20th century, meticulously depicting the social scene and narrating the decline of a private, mountainous, and feudal way of life. Valor’s work displays a strong connection to rural areas, particularly his native Foia de Castalla, where nature plays a crucial role. He adhered to traditional narrative realism, with his novels categorized into two groups: those centered on individual heroes and their conflicts with their environment, and those focused on collective heroes, often family groups analyzed over time, as seen in the Cycle of Cassana.
3. Mercè Rodoreda’s Focus on Character Psychology
The 20th century marked the rise of the psychological novel, and Mercè Rodoreda’s works, such as Aloma, The Time of the Doves, and Camellia Street, exemplify this genre. Her novels delve into the inner world and moral life of characters, often female. Key characteristics of her work include:
- Realism: Stories set in specific geographical areas (Barcelona) and historical contexts (Second Republic, war period).
- Psychologism: Events are significant for their impact on characters’ minds.
- Inner world analysis: Exploration of characters’ thoughts and perspectives.
- Symbolism: Recurring motifs (objects, places, situations) hold symbolic meaning.
Rodoreda’s work revolves around life’s decisive stages: adolescence, youth, maturity, old age, and death. Her protagonists, predominantly women in early works, grapple with conflict, pain, disappointment, and unhappiness. They seek solace in memories of a happier past and create their own worlds detached from reality. Recurring themes include the complexities of human relationships, the resulting unhappiness, a negative view of humanity marked by selfishness, the use of sex as a form of domination over women, the role of memory, the myth of childhood and youth, and the significance of dreams.
4. Narrative from the 70s to the Present
The 1970s witnessed the weakening of the Franco dictatorship. Following Franco’s death in 1975, Spain transitioned towards democracy and restored freedoms. Catalan regained its social and legal standing, becoming co-official in Valencia, Catalonia, and the Balearic Islands, and re-entering the education system. This revitalized Catalan culture, boosting publishers, readers, and literary prizes. The narrative of this period showcased diverse themes and techniques, including:
- Novel of rupture: Breaking away from classic narrative techniques, characterized by realism, experimentation with language and narrative, and a focus on psychological realism.
The 1980s and 1990s saw a return to more traditional forms, embracing genres like detective fiction, science fiction, horror, historical fiction, and erotica. Authors like Ferran Torrent explored “dirty realism,” portraying the contradictions of capitalist society and critiquing urban, bourgeois, conformist, consumerist, and unsupportive attitudes.
The present literary scene is characterized by a wide range of themes and styles, making it challenging to define. Key trends include the use of the internet as a space for experimentation, the success and diffusion of Catalan literature, and a focus on individual identity within Valencian society. Notable authors include Terenci Moix, Carme Riera, and Ferran Torrent.