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Catalan literature (orValencian literature) is the name conventionally used to refer toliterature written in theCatalan language. The focus of this article is not just the literature ofCatalonia, but literature written in Catalan from anywhere, so that it includes writers fromAndorra, theValencian Community,Balearic Islands and other territories where any Catalan variant is spoken.
The Catalan literary tradition is extensive, starting in the earlyMiddle Ages. ARomanticrevivalist movement of the 19th century,Renaixença, classified Catalan literature in periods. The centuries long chapter known asDecadència that followed the golden age ofValencian literature, was perceived as extremely poor and lacking literary works of quality. Further attempts to explain why this happened (seeHistory of Catalonia) have motivated new critical studies of the period, and nowadays a revalorisation of this early modern age is taking place. Catalan literature reemerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries, to experience troubled times from the start of theSpanish Civil War on. Many intellectuals were forced into exile and Catalan culture was repressed. However, this repression began to temper after the end ofWorld War II. Catalan was repressed until Francisco Franco's death and the end of his dictatorship in 1975. Then, a development towards officiality and presence in schools and media started to this day.
Catalan, aRomance language, evolved fromVulgar Latin in theMiddle Ages, when it became a separate language from Latin. Literary use of the Catalan language is generally said to have started with the religious text known asHomilies d'Organyà, written either in late 11th or early 12th century, though the earlierCançó de Santa Fe, from 1054–76, may be Catalan orOccitan. Another early Catalan poem is the mid-13th centuryAugats, seyós qui credets Déu lo Payre, aplanctus Mariae (lament ofMary).
Ramon Llull (13th century), one of the major medieval Majorcan writers in the Catalan language is not only saluted for starting a Catalan literary tradition clearly separated from theOccitan-speaking world of the time, but also credited with enriching the language with his coining of a large number of words, and hisphilosophy. SeeLlibre de Meravelles [ca] (including the famedLlibre de les bèsties [ca]) andBlanquerna (includingLlibre d'Amic e Amat) for more details on his works.
These four major literary works are chronicles written between the 13th and 14th centuries narrating the deeds of the monarchs and leading figures of theCrown of Aragon. They are the following:
The first widespread vernacular writing in any Romance language was thelyric poetry of thetroubadours, who composed inOccitan. Since Occitan and Catalan are often indistinguishable before the 14th century, it is not surprising that many Catalans composed in the Occitan poetic koiné. The first Catalan troubadour (trobadors) may beBerenguier de Palazol, active around 1150, who wrote onlycançons (love songs in thecourtly tradition).Guerau III de Cabrera andGuillem de Berguedà, active in the generation after, were noted exponents of theensenhamen andsirventes genres respectively. During this early period Occitan literature was patronised by the rulers of Catalonia—not surprisingly considering their wide involvement in Occitanian politics and asCounts of Provence.Alfonso II patronised many composers, not just from Catalonia, and even wrote Occitan poetry himself. The tradition of royal troubadours continued with his descendantsPeter IIIJames II of Aragon, the anonymous known only as "Lo bord del rei d'Arago", andFrederick II of Sicily. The most prolific Catalan troubadour during the ascendancy of Occitan as language of literature, wasCerverí de Girona, who left behind more than one hundred works. He was the most prolific troubadour of any nationality.
In the early 13th century,Raimon Vidal, fromBesalú, composed his poetic grammar, theRazos de trobar ("Purposes of Composition"). This was the earliest and perhaps most influential Occitan lyric treatise. The troubadour lyric followed the Catalans to Sicily later in the century, whereJaufre de Foixa composed aRegles de trobar ("Rules for Composing") modelled on Vidal's earlier work. A third Catalan treatise on the language of the troubadours and composing lyric poetry, theMirall de trobar ("Mirror of Composition"), was written by aMajorcan,Berenguer d'Anoia.
The first golden age of this language was developed in theKingdom of Valencia around the 15th century under the variant of "Valenciano" . The Catalan language consolidated and clearly differentiated, even in lyrical poetry, from Occitan language. The prose is widely cultivated, with influences from Italian humanism. Authors as the humanistBernat Metge the preacherVincent Ferrer,Francesc Eiximenis orAnselm Turmeda write works now considered as classical models of Catalan prose. The narrative and the fiction are shown in novels asHistòria de Jacob Xalabín [ca],Paris e Viana [ca] or the chivalric romanCurial i Güelfa. In the 15th century the main centre of literary production isValencia: the lyric poetry has outstanding Petrarchian poets:Jordi de Sant Jordi orAusiàs Marc, or the elaborate poetry and prose ofJoan Roís de Corella. In fiction could be outlinedJaume Roig'sEspill orTirant lo Blanc.
Written by the Valencian writerJoanot Martorell, thisepicromance was among its time's most influential novels, and possibly the last major book in Catalan literature until the 19th century.
The early modern period (late 15th-18th centuries), while extremely productive for Castilian writers of theSpanish Golden Age, was termedLa Decadència by 19th century Catalan scholars and writers. This "decadent" period in Catalan literature came about because of a general decline in the use of the vernacular language and a lack ofpatronage among the nobility as Aragonese institutions declined. The Catalan-language decadence accompanied the rise of Catalan commercial influence in theSpanish Empire in which the use of Spanish language was essential after the dynastic union that resulted from the marriage ofFerdinand II of Aragon andIsabella I of Castile in 1474. Today, this is seen as a romantic view made popular by writers and thinkers of the 19th centurynational awakening movement known asRenaixença. The presumed period of decadence is being contested with the appearance of recent cultural and literary studies showing that there were indeed literary works of note in the period, from authors such asCristòfor Despuig [ca],Pere Serafí [ca],Francesc Vicenç Garcia,Francesc Fontanella andJoan Ramis, among others.[1]
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The first Romantics inCatalonia and theBalearic Islands choseSpanish as their language, and did not resort to using theCatalan language until anational awakening movement, kickstarted byRomantic nationalism, appeared. The foundation of the basis of the movement is most often credited toBonaventura Carles Aribau with hisOda a la Pàtria.Renaixença or "rebirth". Literary Renaixença shares withEuropeanRomanticism most of its traits, but created a style of its own through its admiration of theMiddle Ages and its will to embellish the language and the need to create a new common standard.Realism andnaturalism deeply influenced later authors. Their most important adherents were indeedJacint Verdaguer, who pennedCatalonia'snational epic, andÀngel Guimerà, whose plays were translated and performed around Europe.
Literary Catalanmodernisme was the natural follow-up of Renaixença, still showingRomantic traits and influences while focusing on dark themes, such as violence or the dark side of life and nature. As for poetry, it closely followed the style ofParnassians andSymbolists. The movement was subdivided into authors in whose work prevailed darkerdecadentism themes, classed under the nameBohèmia Negra, and those whose career embracedAestheticism, known as participants ofBohèmia Daurada orBohèmia Rosa.Santiago Rusiñol,Joan Maragall andJoan Puig i Ferreter were some of its most influential adherents. Furthermore, it is necessary to allude to the seminal work ofMiquel Costa i Llobera andJoan Alcover, Balearic poets who developed their work parallel to the heyday ofArt Nouveau, whilst raising a conception of literature certainly antagonistic relative to them, and more comparable to classical poetry.
The cultural and political movement known asNoucentisme appeared in the early 20th century, a time of great economic growth inCatalonia, as a mostlyconservative reaction againstModernisme and theAvantgarde, both inart andthought. ItsClassicism was framed as a "return tobeauty." The love of elaborated form, along with its much sought perfection of language, was accused bymodernistes of being excessively affected and artificial. Poetry was its preferred genre, as evidenced byJosep Carner orCarles Riba's masterpieces.
After what seemed to be a period of hope and rapid growth, theSpanish Civil War and the establishment ofFrancoist Spain (starting in 1939) forced many Catalan leftist intellectuals intoexile, as many of them faced political persecution.
During the initial years of Francoist Spain the use of Catalan in the media became frowned upon. Publishing in Catalan never ceased completely, though, even though only a few notable authors likeSalvador Espriu did publish in this language in the first years of Francoist Spain.Those initial political restrictions on publishing in Catalan relaxed over time. By the 1950s publishing in Catalan was no longer extraordinary; by the 1960s it had become possible without restrictions[2] other than the ideological ones which applied to all of Spain.
Some literary awards in Catalan had been established as early as 1947 (Premi Joanot Martorell). Also by the end of the 1940s well known authors such asJosep Maria de Sagarra were publishing again in Catalan (among others,El prestigi dels morts, 1946,L'Hereu i la forastera, 1949). Many other literary awards followed, like thePremi Carles de la Riba (1950), theVictor Català (1953) or theLletra d'Or (1956). Since 1951, the most remarkable literary contest in Catalonia at the time (thePremio Ciudad de Barcelona) accepted originals in Catalan.[3]
In 1962,Mercè Rodoreda publishedThe Time of the Doves, possibly the book which paved the way of modern Catalan literature, since it could enjoy wider recognition due to the new media and the spreading of literacy in this language. In 1963, Spain won an international song contest with a piece sung in Catalan.[4]
Later on that decadeJosep Pla published what has been considered the masterpiece of the contemporary literature in Catalan, the seminalThe Gray Notebook (El Quadern Gris, 1966). The Catalan cultural associationÒmnium Cultural, which had been established in 1961, could begin its work in favour of Catalan literature by 1967 onwards. Salvador Espriu, who had published most of his works in Catalan, was a candidate for theNobel Prize in Literature in 1971.
After thetransition to democracy (1975–1978) and the restoration of the Catalan regional governmentGeneralitat (1980), literary life and the editorial market have returned to normality and literary production in Catalan is being bolstered with a number of language policies intended to protect Catalan culture. Besides the aforementioned authors, other relevant 20th-century writers of the Francoist and democracy periods includeJoan Brossa,Agustí Bartra,Manuel de Pedrolo,Pere Calders orQuim Monzó,Jesús Moncada or, in 21st century,Jaume Cabré orAlbert Sánchez Piñol. The number of twenty-first century women writers increases like Dolors Miquel,Núria Perpinyà orIrene Solà.
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