Language, the Novelist and National Identity in Post-Franco Catalonia

Kathryn Crameri reveals some of the complex responses of writers and literary critics to the new possibilities for the expression of Catalan identities which resulted from Spain's transition from dictatorship to democracy. The study begins by considering the cultural and political context of the Catalan novel from the 'Renaixenca' to the present day, and then offers a detailed analysis of novels by four very different writers - Montserrat Roig, Manuel de Pedrolo, Juan Marse (who writes in Spanish) and Biel Mesquida - all of whom seem to share an underlying thematic preoccupation with both individual and national 'transitions' and the intricate relationship between language and identity. These writers challenge institutionalised visions of the link between Catalanism, the Catalan language and Catalan literature, and offer a more pluralistic and personalised version of what it is to call oneself a Catalan.