Character and Gender in Contemporary Catalan Literature

Contemporary Catalan literature has created many diverse characters ‒ women created by men, men created by women, women written by women and men written by men. It has designed models of individuals that enrich the world’s imaginary population. These range from Mercè Rodoreda’s Colometa to Maria-Mercè Marçal’s Renée Vivien. From Maria Antònia Oliver’s Joana E, Josep Lozano’s homosexual Mossén Adrià and his ‘letters to the absent one’ (his dead young lover) and Terenci Moix’s transvestite Lilí Barcelona. From Manuel Tur and Andreu Ramallo in the psychiatric hospital that Blai Bonet recreates in El mar [The Sea] to Isa Tròlec’s transsexual Bel. These are just some of many entries on a long list. Many of these characters have literary ancestors ‒ the lineage of the Phaedras, Oedipuses and Othellos has borne fruit for centuries ‒ but in contemporary Catalan literature they have taken the form of figures with new nuances, which are situated above all in a different context and shaped by those new historical-social contexts (Piquer 2020).

This volume contributes to these contemporary views of gender that Catalan literature has given us. In the social roles that they adopt, the characters act, express themselves and assert themselves in the language in which they have been written, and based on the society of which they are a part.

Accordingly, the first chapter in this monograph, “‘Ser tota ulls’. The Visual Imagination of Mila and Natàlia, the Two Major Characters of Caterina Albert/Víctor Català and Mercè Rodoreda”, by Maria Dasca, analyses the parallels between the narrative construction of two female characters separated by over half a century. The voices of these two protagonists echo modernity’s primary contributions to the contemporary novel: the construction of a complex individual perspective.

The importance of one of these two authors, Mercè Rodoreda, within the Catalan literary canon explains the process of fictionalization revisited in the next chapter, ‘Imaginary Women in Mercè Rodoreda’s Fiction’, in which Carles Cortés examines the female characters (women and even female creatures) in Rodoreda’s works of fiction, and focuses on the sources of inspiration, rooted in the profane or Christian traditions of some of those protagonists.

This stands in contrast to the masculine vision of femininity in ‘The Desired Woman: Portraits of Women in the Poetry of Vicent Andrés Estellés’, by Vicent Salvador (chapter 4), in which he considers the eroticism of the Valencian poet, focusing on his portraits of women, and those of three female figures in particular: his wife (Isabel), an attractive prostitute (La Cordovesa del Raval), and a young woman (Jackeley). In these portraits, with very varied subjects, the women are characterized by a discourse that combines a lyrical tone with descriptive and narrative characteristics.

In the fifth chapter, ‘Poems, Diaries and Masks: Joan Ferraté,’ Rafael Mérida analyses the thematic originality of the literary works of Joan Ferraté, which are overshadowed by his academic works, such as his critical studies and editions. He also raises the possibility that the construction of a ‘character’ as singular and far removed from the Catalan queer literary tradition could have been an expression of homoeroticism.

The next two chapters are dedicated to one of the emerging authors in current Catalan literature: Eva Baltasar. In ‘On Sexual Difference and Lesbianism in Eva Baltasar’s Novels Permagel (2019) and Boulder (2020)’, Azucena Trincado subjects the later novels of Eva Baltasar to a feminist analysis, focusing on the role of autofiction. This text aims to determine the reason why Baltasar selects this subgenre to assert a dissident existence, by isolating her characters, who are thoroughly disconnected from reality.

Meri Torras continues the study of the female protagonists of Baltasar’s work with ‘Demystification of (Lesbian) Romantic Love and Estrangement in Motherhood: Eva Baltasar’s Lonely Protagonists’. These lonely lesbians who share a particular experience and relationship with motherhood make us reflect critically on various cultural imperatives and gender norms associated with the institution and practice of motherhood.

The eighth chapter, ‘Rewriting Female Characters in Contemporary Catalan Theatre: Phaedra and Antigone’, by Ramon Rosselló, is a study of how female characters from Greek mythology have been rewritten in contemporary Catalan theatre. He focuses on two female characters in particular, Phaedra and Antigone, who are a recurring presence in the works of various Catalan dramatists, including Llorenç Villalonga, Salvador Espriu, Josep M. Muñoz i Pujol, Miquel M. Gibert and Jordi Coca.