Catalan Literature

[BlogSpy]

Catalonia was last year’s Guest of Honor at the Fair, and put on a huge display of Catalan culture, and producing a number of slick publications and presentations to help make people aware of their rich literary tradition. (It’s sad, but I think a lot of Americans–and possibly others–think that Catalan is a Spanish dialect [...]

[Eric]

It's almost three years later now. But the Catalonians, steadily moving towards some sort of autonomy, if not outright independence, have held a huge rally. As Spain has just won the World Cup, this rally has not received the prominence in the newspapers that it might. But the Spanish constitutional court has rejected the constitutional basis upon which Catalonia could move forward, so there'll probably be trouble ahead.

I hope this means that Catalan literature, a seriously large one given the modest size of the Catalan-speaking world (Catalonia, parts of Aragon, the Balearics, and the official language of independent Andorra) will now come into its own.

When the BlogSpy robot found the previous starter article here in 2008, there were no responses whatsoever.

Now is the time to discover Catalan literature, both historical and contemporary.

[Flower]

How about posting some Catalan authors who have been translated?Anyone?

I for one would be interested!

[Eric]

OK, Flower, I'll find some specific URLs, as I rather like being the odd job man with smaller languages (even though I don't always speak them). So watch this space for specific websites.

But off the top of my head, without actually looking at some list, modern classic and contemporary authors who have been well received abroad include (no particular order): Merc? Rodoreda, Quim Monz?, Carme Riera, Josep Pla, Pere Gimferrer... OK, that's where my spontaneous memory stops.

So now, leafing through random issues of the now defunct English-language periodical Catalan Writing, I also have my memory jogged remember the names of: Carles Riba, Maria Aur?lia Capmany, Baltasar Porcel, Pere Calders, Salvador Espriu, Monserrat Roig, Lloren? Villalonga, and several other authors who wrote in Mexican or French exile, or somehow skilfully tacked their vessel of hope through the Franco years without causing too many ripples.

Only today did I borrow a novel by Merc? Rodoreda called Aloma. It starts well. I do not know in which direction it will move.

If you rely only on English translations, as opposed to ones into French, German and Spanish, you would have little to choose from. But happily Open Letter Books is publishing a few Catalan books in translation into English.

Next time, I'll locate the website of the Ramon Llull organisation and any interesting ones in French and German. Castilian or Iberian Spanish is not my forte, so someone else can scout there.

[Flower]

Thank you, Eric!

It will be nice to get to know more of that part of Spain as I have been on holiday in Barcelona and visit the north.

I did read Carlos Ruiz Saf?n last year and the story took place in Barcelona but Im not sure if the author is born and bread, so to speak.

[Eric]

From my superficial, but nonetheless personal investigations on the internet, Carlos Ruiz Z?fon is perhaps not one of the most important Catalan-language authors. Read for yourself. If you know French or Spanish (Castilian) or, preferably both, you'll grasp most of this:

Carlos Ruiz Zaf?n (Barcelona, 1964). Educat al col.legi barcelon? dels Jesu?tes de Sarri? Ruiz Zaf?n va cursar, anys despr?s, Periodisme. Es va decidir a ser publicitari. Va ser director creatiu de publicitat de la important ag?ncia de Lorente). La seva primera novel.la --El pr?ncipe de la niebla (1993)-- va guanyar el premi juvenil Edeb?, cosa que el va animar a seguir escrivint. Va deixar la feina de publicista, es va casar i se'n va anar a Los Angeles, ciutat on resideix des del 1994, a escriure guions de cine. La seva ?ltima novel?la ?s La sombra del viento, llibre que va ser finalista del premi Fernando Lara del 2000 i que es public? al maig de 2002. S?ha tradu?t catal?.

I get the impression that he hasn't done much for the past ten years but has all the right connections in Los Angeles. As he himself says elsewhere: ?Gran parte de la ficci?n actual es pura pose?.What stops us outsiders, reading the number of his published works, from applying the same description to him?

[Stiffelio]

As far as I know Ruiz Zaf?n writes in Spanish, not in Catalan.

[Peeping Tom]

The only writer who writes in Catalan that I?ve ever read (translated into English) was Albert S?nchez Pi?ol (Pandora in the Congo, which I read last year; and also Cold Skin, which I?ve yet to read). But these two novels have nothing to do with Catalan culture, as far as I can see, so can he still be considered a Catalan writer?

[Eric]

Stiffelio, from my browsings on the internet, Zaf?n (jab?n?) wrote one book in Catalan and other things in Spanish.

As for Pi?ol, he's a horror-drenched (Lovecraft-inspired) soul, from what I read. If you write such novels, you may not consider giving the reader information on the subtleties of Catalan culture as a major priority. But he nevertheless writes in Catalan, despite the tilde over the "n" of his surname (there is no "?" in the Catalan language). You can read the same article about him here (and compare the two Iberian languages):

Albert S?nchez Pi?ol - Authors at lletrA - Catalan literature online (English)

Albert S?nchez Pi?ol - Autores en lletrA - Literatura catalana en internet (Spanish)

Albert S?nchez Pi?ol - Autors a lletrA - Literatura catalana a internet (Catalan)

As to whether someone is actually regarded as a Catalan writer, this is a continuum between, at one end of the spectrum, someone who grew up a Catalan-speaker but anxiously suppresses the fact, doing everything he can to confirm to mainstream Castilianism. At the other end of the spectrum is someone whose books become boring because there is a lecture on every page about the woes of Catalonia. The real masters, such as Merc? Rodoreda, if you can call a woman a master, manage to interweave nation and private life. It's the same thing with the ex-Soviet republics. Why Jaan Kross is good is because he strikes a balance between nation and private life.

But the dominant factor is the language the book is written in. Given the fact that Catalan has been much suppressed as a literary language by fascistoid Castilians, the very fact that an author writes in Catalan is a sign that they in some way approve of and support the culture and literature that lives in that language. Writing in Catalan is a politico-cultural gesture, as well as a choice of literary idiom to be able to express oneself most genuinely and accurately.

[Flower]

I don't know if Zaf?n is born in Catalonia but writes in Spanish. Just thought that he might be as in some of his books the plot takes place in Barcelona.

I have actually heard both Spanish and Catalonian and I must say I like the sound of Catalonian best. I do not speak Spanish and therefore understand next to nothing. But having been in Barcelona among the natives and been watching their local TV where they of course spoke in their own language, I could tell a difference, but please do not ask me to explain it.

Gotta go now but will be back later and read some of the links posted here.

[Eric]

I discovered Catalan literature in the 1980s and have realised since then that this is one of the few viable European literary cultures that has been disadvantaged by history by the dominance of a neighbouring and more dominant culture, but that still stands a chance of a realistic renaissance. Compare the dynamism with Catalan literature with the death throes of things written in the Belarusian, Frisian, L?tzebuergesch, Friulian, Lusatian, Wallonian, Scottish Gaelic, V?ru, Saame, Breton and many other languages or dialects belonging to cultures that have lost the will to live. I do not deny that there is a whiff of linguistic Darwinism here: if you don't want to live, you die.

Not all small languages and cultures are at a level where they would, given the right political circumstances, be able to produce a fruitful literary culture. There are many small fragments of language residue in Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, and so on that do not stand a very realistic chance of producing a visible and viable literature, with readers throughout the world.

But the Catalonians have managed, for about 800 years, to keep the show on the road. And there is still a large enough body of writers, even today, to be able to produce things that will be read for their own sake, not only by people who have a maudlin penchant for dying cultures. The Basques and Galicians have not really crossed this threshold into a safe future. The only language and culture on the Iberian peninsular (except of course the Portuguese one) that has been able to continue to challenge the dominance of Castilian culture has been that of Catalonia.

[Daniel del Real]

There is a big difference between Literature written in Catalan language and the one written by authors born in Catalunya.
I think I haven't read any author who originally wrote in Catalan. However, authors such as Juan Mars? and Juan Goytisolo although writing in Spanigh brought a big overview of Catalunya depicting Barcelona and all their surrounding areas. That is Catalan literature even though it was written in Spanish.

[Eric]

Well, Daniel, maybe it's time you took a look at Catalan literature. Some of the key writers did, after all, go into exile in Mexico (e.g. Pere Calders in Veracruz).

Writing in Spanish and making all the right cringing noises about respecting Catalonian culture is maybe not enough. Such cultural tourists are still really saying that those jolly peasants from the upstart republic of Cataloonya are spiffing, but that their primitive patois isn't really worth considering.

Well look again. When a nation is obstinate enough to survive for some 800 years despite imperialist persecution, perhaps they deserve some credit for not giving in the the Castilians. The Basques are not as tough. Only about 7% of their nation can actually speak Basque. And given the fact that Catalan is very close to Castilian, the temptation must be huge to become one of the safe majority.

So, no cherry-picking of Catalan authors who happened to be lily-livered enough to write in Spanish to make their careers. There are some. In the same way as Brink and Breytenbach abandoned Afrikaans because English was more international and politically correct. Although my mother-tongue is English, I see only too clearly how smaller tongues get crushed - and I don't like it.

[Stiffelio]

This is an interesting topic, Eric. As stubborn and as nationalist as Catalonian people may be, they are doomed to stay isolated if they write only in Catalan. It's kind of an uphill battle for exclusively Catalan writers. Most writers from Catalania are successful only if they write in Spanish. And, ironically, Catalonia is the region in Spain with the most famous writers (in Spanish), at least if we take into account the last twenty years or so.

Other examples of such writers include Enrique Vila-Matas and Javier Cercas (actually born in Extremadura but raised in Catalonia). Curiously, Cercas writes some of his journalism in Catalan, most notably in the Catalan version of El Pa?s.

[Manuel76]

Once more Eric, you talk about something you are a complete ignorant, and if I?m being rude, sorry you deserve it for saying things as that Catalan has been much suppressed as a literary language by fascistoid Castilians. As a literary language Catalan, unlike Occitane or Basque in France, was never suppressed, not even under Franco?s regime (at least since 1947).

But remember Franco regime was not Castilian but Spanish. And remember Franco was not Castilian but Galician, with Portuguese and Andalusian ancestors. During Franco?s regime not only catalan writers went to exile (and not at all because they couldn?t write in catalan). Luis Cernuda, Rafael Alberti, Antonio Machado? the list would be long (all of them wrote in Castilian or Spanish, none of them were Castilians).

Secondly, 800 years is going back to more or less 1200 (more or less when Catalonya started being part of the Crown of Aragon), but Castilian influence over Catalu?a only started after Ferdinand the II married Isabel de Castilla (300 hundred years later). And even then they worked as very independent states. The reasons had of course nothing to do with fascism or imperialism.

More importantly, Catalan literature and Catalonia is not the same thing. Catalan literature did fairly well in the middle ages with Ramon Llull (Majorcan) Bernadt Metge (Valencian) and had a really Golden Age (Valencian Golden Age) in the XV century, with Ausias March (Valencian), Joanot Martorell (Valencian too), Jaume Roig (Valencian too) etc..so it doesn?t seem Catalan literature was suppressed 500 years ago.

If there were no important writers in Catalonia at that time it?s because unfortunately from the second quarter of the 14th century till the XVI century the Kingdom was in crisis (demographic, economic and so) while the Kingdom of Valencia took the lead.

In the XVI and XVII century there are no many important writers from Catalonia (nor in Spanish bor in Catalan) and the XVIII century was almost literary dead in all Spain (in any language). With the XIX century arrives the "Renaixen?a": Verdaguer, Maragall...

[Eric]

I wonder why it is that some nationalities are so supremely sensitive to the suggestion that they are not God's gift to this Earth. I don't know why I used the term "fascistoid", because "fascist" would have done nicely. Franco was a fascist, a real nasty piece of work, and he suppressed Catalan after his victory in the Spanish Civil War. This was even worse than the way that Russia tried to suppress local languages during that fake democracy the Soviet Union.

But languages and cultures must have the will to survive. Scots and Irish Gaelic, and Breton, are dying rapidly, Welsh is hanging on. Frisian and Low German are no more than local decoration. Only 7% of Basques actually speak the language. The languages of Central Asia and Belarusian are also on the knife-edge of survival. These languages are hardly going to produce world-class literature any more. But Catalan is different. It has an 800-year history of literary endeavour and there are still people writing sophisticated books in that language. This isn't y'r peasant patois with a few folk poems and drinking songs. It is an urban and urbane language that has simply been suppressed on many occasions.

I am fully aware that some of the most important Catalan writers wrote on Mallorca or in Aragon or Valencia. But it is the fact that Barcelona exists as a centre of culture that keeps Catalan alive. Barcelona is also industrialised and is an important part of the Spanish economy. Several Castilian publishing houses are located there, rather than in Madrid. And a sleight of hand has been played with the nationality and background of several cultural figures (e.g. Gaud?, Casals, Dal?), calling them Spanish, when they were Catalan. In Britain, this trick is often played with Scottish, Welsh or Irish cultural figures, i.e. when they're successful they're classed as English.

Please read the back numbers of the now defunct periodical "Catalan Writing" and look at the Ramon Llull website on the internet. These sources do not suggest a few token parochial writers and a dying language, but a dynamic culture.

My reading of Iberian history suggests that Catalan was suppressed from the eighteenth century until 1931 when the Generalitat was formed. Then a few years later Franco suppressed it again. Plenty of suppression. Let the Castilians rehabilitate their own exiled writers, but leave the Catalonians to develop their own culture.

[Manuel76]

Eric, I wonder too why you?re always talking about what other people or communities feel or think.

Yes, you could have used the term fascists instead of fascistoids, but the problem was with your talking about ?fascists Castilians? instead of ?Fascist Franco?s regime?. I hinted at that in my earlier answer, but I see you must be told things very plainly: It?s tasteless to insult a whole people.

At least you recognise now ?Franco was a nasty piece of work?, after your other stupidly frightening comments about fascism as a recipe for keeping a country quiet and reorganise economy. I think this is an improvement, congratulations.

Catalan has survived not because people is writing sophisticated books (I?m sorry, there?s something else in life apart from books), but because it never stopped being used and talked for more elemental reasons (daily oral communication), especially in the country. You know, I?ve been living in Catalunya for a lot of years.

As I don?t know much about British politics I can?t say about why almost every British writer writes in English. I?m not going to say that English are or were fascists.

Next point: Barcelona is not the centre of Catalan language, it?s the capital of Catalunya. Most people in Comunidad Valenciana speak catalan too, their cultural centre is not Barcelona.

And a sleight of hand has been played with the nationality and background of several cultural figures (e.g. Gaud?, Casals, Dal?), calling them Spanish, when they were Catalan. In Britain, this trick is often played with Scottish, Welsh or Irish cultural figures, i.e. when they're successful they're classed as English.

Are you joking? Scotland is England? Is it not part of Great Britain? Catalunya nowadays (for the last 400 years) is Spain, so Gaud?, Casals and Dal? are Spanish AND Catalan, as Picasso or Lorca are Spanish AND Andalusian, or Unamuno and Baroja are Spanish AND Basques. Their nationality is, following our Constitution, Spanish. It?s not clear Gaud? and Casals were independentist (it?s usually considered they weren?t). It?s positive Dal? considered himself Spanish (and even supported Franco?s regime). Those examples are not very good.

The fact is that I live in that dynamic culture, Eric. My little knowledge in the subject comes not from a badly read web page from a very known, very expensive, very conservative and stiffed upper class Catalan University. I don?t need to read a defunct catalan newspaper to realize that Catalan culture is very much alive, and to find out how many writers write in Catalan today I only have to go to a bookstore. You know nothing about Catalan society, probably you?ve never being here!!. Probably you?ve never spoken with more than a dozen Catalans!!!. You speak too much about what you know too little.

Generalitat de Catalunya is an organism of government for Catalunya not the Royal Catalan Academy!!. It was suppressed not by fascists Castilians but by an Absolutist royal dynasty imported from France. As you see it was only logical for the time and the same happened in every European country in the Absolutist XVIII century. If you thing the Country is yours and want to govern it by yourself, what?s the need for another independent Organism of Government? The country was the King, because he had inherited it. The problem too was that Catalan people supported the wrong dynasty in the War?

Of course there were sad episodes, and I suppose you know about the war of segadors, etc...

Later on during Franquism it was again suppressed, but it was a dictatorship (and remember Madrid was bombed too during that war) And Eric, Generalitat de Catalunya has nothing to do with the Catalan language. As I told you the Renaisen?a took place at the turn of the century without Generalitat or Autogovern. And it was the Golden Age in Catalan (from Calalunya) Literature. And under Franco?s regime writers could publish their works in Catalan even before 1947. After then, lots of Prizes awarded best poetry and novels written in Catalan. Espriu, Pl?, Porcel, Villalonga, all wrote in Catalan under Franco?s regime, while Mars?, Goytisolo? write in Spanish durind democracy. It seems to have little to do with politics (probably more with personalities, styles, upbringing and number of posible readers)

Jos?p Carner was exiled to Mexico not because he were Catalan, he was a Republican (mind, Spanish Republic, nor Catalan) diplomatic, and so his chances under Franco?s regime were few.

You says: ? But it is the fact that Barcelona exists as a centre of culture that keeps Catalan alive. Barcelona is also industrialised and is an important part of the Spanish economy.?

Barcelona is (perhaps too much) the centre and capital of Catalunya. There are other regions in Spain where Catalan is as much spoken as in Catalunya with their own centres. And you should say Catalunya (not Barcelona) is industrialised. Big industry here is located in Tarragona, while Barcelona is more a political and touristic city.

[Flower]

Manuel,
Thank you for informing us and correcting Eric!

One thing which surprised me was the fact that people in Valenciana speak Catalan as well! I take it its not just people born and bread in Catalunya, who speak Catalan. Then again I admit I know next to nothing about the history etc., but its a new interest of mine.

I would love to go back to the region and wish I had a driving license so I could drive around in the beautiful country side.

If I was to get to more about the region and authors, what would you recommend? Where do I start?

[Manuel76]

Yes, in Valencia they speak Valenciano, which is Catalan with another name. Valenciano and Spanish are both Oficial Languages in Valencia, as Catalan and Spanish are both Oficial Languages un Catalunya.

Well, if you visit Catalunya, there are very beautiful places to visit. Unfortunately most tourists only visit Barcelona (which I love) and the coast (Salou, which I hate).

Girona is probably the most beautiful and unspoiled province, with the Costa Brava which is amazing, with very small and rocky “calas”. There’s a small village in the north I recommend, it’s called Cadaques, and it’s near Figueres, where there’s the Dal? Museum. In the interior the villages are the most beautiful in all Catalunya, with stone houses, cold rivers and stone bridges: Camprodon, Urgel, Olot…the Sardenya near Pyrenees is famous with the ski resorts, but the landscape is amazing.

Lleida, which is the province in the interior, has no coast, but the Monte Perdido is very near and it’s a World Heritage Site Landscape (it’s the most impressive part of the Pyrenees) and it has the impressive Vall de Bo?, with some beautiful small romanic churches in an unspoiled landscape. They are just the same as 800 years ago, and the visit is a must.

In Tarragona, the city, with very intersting Roman ruins is not very spectacular, but there are some beautiful villages as Montblanc, with plenty of history. In Tarragona you can buy the best wines in all Catalunya (they are really good), in la Conca del Barber?. And very near you can find the Monastery of Poblet, a Cistercian monastery and the Royal Pantheon of the Kings of Aragon. It’s a place full of history and art.

And from Barcelona province, you can visit Sitges, a very beautiful village in the coast, very touristic but with plenty of charm. And then of course the city which is worth a visit of three days at least.

Literature: well I’m not very read in Catalan literature. I love Goytisolo’s brothers (two of them: Jose Luis and Juan), but they write in Spanish and don’t talk much about Catalunya. Mars? writes in Spanish too, he’s really great and his novels depicts life in Barcelona during the Franco Dictatorship. I’m in love with his novel ”Si te dicen que ca?” (If they tell you I fell.)

A very famous novel (the most famous catalan novel about the civil war) is La Pla?a del Diamant, de Merc? Rodoreda. Another classic in catalan is Bearn o la sala de les nines (Bearn or the dollhouse) by Villalonga (but he is Mallorquin). In Spanish, Nada from Carmen Laforet was the first Nadal Prize.


Among the classics in the XX century: Verdaguer and Maragall, but they're poets.

The classic in Catalan XX century prose is Pl?, but he’s no novelist, he wrote diaries (El quadern gris) books about Catalan cuisine and culture…And the great modern Catalan poet is Josep Carner.

More popular writers: Vazquez Montalb?n and Eduardo Mendoza but both write in Spanish.

[Flower]

Thank you very much, Manuel!

This novel "La Pla?a del Diamant, de Merc? Rodoreda", what is the author's name and do you know the English title? I don't speak Spanish or Catalan for that matter.

I see we have the same taste in towns and nature; When I went to Barcelona, I also went to Cadeques! And yes I visit Salvador Dali's house in Port Lligat! I simply loved it there and didnt want to go back to Barcelona. And I SO loved the fact that the small village has not been turned into some tourits place with tall hotel buildings etc etc. You could get the sense as to why Dali chose to live there and found it to be his hiding place from the world. So beautiful and so excluded from everything.

One of the many things which I didn't get to see when I was in Barcelona was the monesty with the black Madonna. I find it fascinating that you have a black Madonna and the history behind her. I take it, she is to be found in many other churches in the region?

Many years ago I went to the other side of Pyrenees in France. I was in Saint Sebastian and Lourdes. There they of course spoke Basque and the signs in the streets was often both in French and Basque.

Writing about this makes me want to go back there now.....