Could H.P. Lovecraft Create a Semblance of Normality?

As part of historically minorized culture, Catalan literature endured difficult periods, e.g., the Francoist regime. To imagine different worlds writing in this language was even more arduous in the 20th century because of the negative attitude towards the fantastic shared by two fundamental trends of Catalan literature up to the 1970s: Noucentisme and historical realism. Nonetheless, H.P. Lovecraft was an important reference in the Catalan non-mimetic fiction that had a certain revival in post-war times. As a step towards “normalization” of Catalan literature after Franco’s death, the writers’ collective Ofèlia Dracs published several collections of short-stories of “genre” fiction–among them Lovecraft, Lovecraft! (1981). On the one hand, this article inscribes this exceptional collection in its historical context and in the contemporary Catalan literary system; on the other, it aims to shed light on Lovecraft’s role in Ofèlia Dracs’ book, proving the projection of his extraordinary supernatural world onto it by the presence not only of Lovecraftian hypotexts in its different tales, but also of metafictional elements inherited mainly from Joan Perucho’s postmodernist writings.

Joan Maragall: creació, traducció i reescriptura

What is the role of translation in Maragall’s work? If his first goal was to bestow cultural support to Catalan literature with the addition of the European authors of Modernism, the second stage of the Catalan poet’s agenda becomes more ambitious, delving into the origins of Western literature and culminating in the translation of the Homeric Hymns. My contribution analyzes how, on the one hand, the Catalan rewriting of the works of Nietzsche, Goethe, Novalis, or Dante draws a progressive and continuous line within Maragall’s ideas; and, on the other hand, what impact these versions have on his own literary creation, through the loanwords that spread across his translations, and his poetry.

David Rokeah. De Leópolis a Palestina. La creación de un canon en su traducción al catalán

The publisher Edicions del Mall made the first attempt to translate the most important poets of the 20th century into Catalan language, and suffered a clear setback, as this happened after 35 years of dictatorship in which Catalan literature was not allowed to be published officially. The publisher tried to recover normality within the literary tradition. In this context, they published the translation of an author of Lemberg, who had emigrated to Palestine and who writes in Hebrew, David Rokeah. The editor was Eduard Feliu, a prestigious translator of Hebrew and also of English and who had already translated to poets such as W.H. Auden in that same collection.The relevance already acquired by the publisher and by the translator at the time of publishing Rokeah facilitates the reception of this unknown author by the general public. The way in which the publisher is presented, as well as the para-texts, the translator’s work and the use of specific language for translation indicate that we are dealing with a case of literary translation in which the invisibility not only of the translator is fictitious, since the translated text must respond to a more literary-social action and must have a specific role within the new literary system.

Rompiendo la jerarquía de la mesa. Emulación social, alimentación y materialidad en la literatura catalana bajomedieval.

Resumen: Este artículo supone un acercamiento al fenómeno de la emulación social en el ámbito de la alimentación y los objetos que la rodeaban. Para ello se estudian algunas de las obras más representativas de Ramon Llull, Francesc Eiximenis y Vicent Ferrer, quienes criticaron fieramente la moral de los individuos corrientes y humildes que deseaban comer y beber como los ricos. A partir de las percepciones y consideraciones incluidas en sus escritos, se aborda qué aspectos de la alimentación de las élites podían reproducir las clases populares, cómo se difundían las modas alimentarias y por qué todo ello era tan duramente atacado por estos autores. Palabras clave: emulación social, alimentación, materialidad, literatura catalana, Baja Edad Media. Abstract: This essay represents an approach to the phenomenon of social emulation as to feeding and the objects around it. Some of the most representative works by Ramon Llull, Francesc Eiximenis and Vicent Ferrer are studied for this purpose, for they fiercely criticized the moral of those ordinary and humble individuals that wished to eat and drink like the rich. Relying on the perceptions and statements contained in their writings, this essay addresses which aspects of the food of the elites could be reproduced by common people, how food fashions could spread, and why it all was so severely attacked by these authors. Keywords: social emulation, food, materiality, Catalan literature, later Middle Ages.

O vício capital da inveja na visão de Ramon Llull

Resumo: Exposição do pensamento de Ramon Llull acerca do vício capital da inveja, inserida na cultura e na espiritualidade da Idade Média, destacando, de um lado, sua conformidade com a doutrina espiritual e teológica acerca do assunto, e de outro lado sua extrema originalidade na aplicação prática dessa doutrina.Palavras-chave: inveja, vício capital, espiritualidade medieval, literatura catalã, Ramon Llull.Abstract: Exposition of Ramon Llull’s thought about the capital vice of envy, inserted in the culture and spirituality of the Middle Ages, highlighting its conformity with the spiritual and theological doctrine on the subject, and at the same time his extreme originality in the application practice of that doctrine.Keywords: envy, capital vice, medieval spirituality, catalan literature, Ramon Llull

The historical background of Catalan separatism: The case of Occitania

The purpose of this study is to discuss the originality of the Catalan literature at its beginnings in relation to the poetry of the Occitan troubadours, and to explain why some Catalans today do not feel connected to the Castilian heritage. The paper presents the Occitan-Catalan political and cultural relations in the time between 993 and 1213, with particular emphasis on the 12th century when the Great Occitan War took place. The historical Occitania at that time was divided into numerous principalities affected by constant internal struggles. That unstable political situation encouraged powerful neighbours – as the rulers from the House of Barcelona – to attain their domination over the region. The successful military and diplomatic engagements of the Catalan sovereigns allowed them to create a relatively homogeneoas Occitan-Catalan community based on cultural similarity and feudal dependence.

"No em silencieu!": La literatura catalana d'autora sota el franquisme

Resum: Aquest treball proposa una aproximació sistematitzada al conjunt de les escriptoresque van nèixer abans de la Guerra Civil però que van escriure tota o part de la seua obra sotael franquisme. Es divideix en tres apartats: en primer lloc, s’ofereix una panoràmica generala la producció en català de les escriptores de tot el domini lingüístic durant la dictadura. Ensegon lloc, s’observen les circumstàncies específiques de les escriptores valencianes s’analitzal’aportació que van fer Anna Rebeca Mezquita Almer, Maria Ibars i Ibars, Matilde Llòria,Beatriu Civera (Valence 1914-1995), Sofia Salvador, Maria Beneyto i Cuñat, CarmelinaSánchez-Cutillas i Maria Mulet. En tercer lloc, es comentarà la seua obra, tant publicadacom inèdita per tal de valorar l’impacte que han tingut fins a l’actualitat. Paraules clau: literatura catalana del segle XX, escriptores, País Valencià, genealogies femenines,dictadura, exili, feminisme. Abstract: This work proposes a systematic approach to all the writers who were bornbefore the Civil War but who wrote all or part of their work under the Franco regime. It isdivided into three sections: firstly, it offers a general overview of women writers from all theCatalan speaking territories who produced their work in Catalan language during the dictatorship.Secondly, it looks at the specific circumstances of the Valencian writers and analysesthe contribution made by Anna Rebeca Mezquita Almer, Maria Ibars i Ibars, Matilde Llòria,Beatriu Civera, Sofia Salvador, Maria Beneyto and Cuñat, Carmelina Sánchez- Cutillas andMaria Mulet. Thirdly, both their published and unpublished works will be discussed to assessthe impact they have had up to present days. Keywords: Contemporary Catalan literature, 20th century, Valencian Country, WomenWriters, Female Genealogies, identity, exile.

The Staging of Ciudad Juárez’s Feminicides: Àlex Rigola and Angélica Liddell Speak for the Victims

Tackling violence against women in the theatre is often a controversial matter. To identify the ethical risks that victim representation may entail, we conduct a comparative analysis of two works about Ciudad Juárez’s feminicides staged in Barcelona: 2666 (2007), an adaptation of Roberto Bolaño’s novel directed by Àlex Rigola, and House of Strength (2011) by Angélica Liddell. This article argues that while Rigola reduces victims to mere sexual objects with no narrative of their own, Liddell places the voice and resilience of Mexicans in the foreground and represents their bodies respectfully. Adriana Nicolau is completing her doctoral studies on ‘Feminisms in contemporary Catalan theatre’ at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) in Barcelona. Her publications include articles for Feminismo/s. Teresa Iribarren is an assistant professor at UOC, where she is the Director of the Catalan Literature, Publishing, and Society research group. Her current research focuses on narratives of violence and the promotion of human rights in literature.