Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Modern & Medieval Languages

Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Paper Sp 10

Introduction to Catalan literature and culture

Primary material for study

Strictly speaking there are no set texts and students will be encouraged to read widely around the material. Below a sample is offered of representative items which the student should find particularly relevant.

Modernism, the Avant-Garde, Catalanism (1900-1939)

  • Jaume Aulet, Antologia de la poesia noucentista
  • Robert Hughes, Barcelona
  • Marilyn McCully, Homage to Barcelona: the city and its art (1888-1936)
  • David Mackay, Modern Architecture in Barcelona
  • Joan Salvat-Papasseit, Selected Poems

The Years of Resistance (1939-1975)

  • Pere Calders, La verge de les vies
  • Salvador Espriu, Cementiri de Sinera
  • La ciutat cremada  (Antoni Riba)
  • Joan Fuster, Diccionari per a ociosos
  • Mercè Rodoreda, La plaça del diamant
  • Vicent Andrés Estellés, 69 Poemes d'amor

The Post Franco Era (1975 to present day)

  • Sergi Belbel, Carícies
  • Albert Sanchez Pinol, La pell freda; Pandora al Congo
  • Joaquim Monzó, El perquè de tot plegat
  • La teta i la lluna (Bigas Luna)
  • Carícies (Ventura Pons)
  • En construcción (J L Guerín)
  • Farrera (Martínez Pifarré)

Secondary reading

Language Learning

  • M. Wheeler, A. Yates, N. Dols, Catalan: A Comprehensive Grammar
  • Diccionari VOX essencial: Anglès-Català/Català-Anglès
  • Richmonds Student Dictionary: Anglès-Català/Català-Anglès
  • online Catalan-English/English-Catalan Dictionary www.ibiblio.org/dacco/cat/
  • Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana www.grec.net/home/cel/dicc.htm

General Essays on Catalan Culture

  • Albert Balcells, Catalan Nationalism: Past and Present
  • Fuster, J., Literatura catalana contemporània
  • Guibernau, M., Catalan Nationalism: Francoism, Transition and Democracy
  • Terry A., A Companion to Catalan Literature
  • Vallverdú, J., Histària de la literatura catalana 1900-1939, Lletra Encyclopedia of Catalan Culture www.uoc.edu

Critical Works on Specific Authors

1) Joan Salvat-Papasseit
  • Dominic Keown, Sobre la poesia catalana contemporània
  • ----- Salvat-Papasseit: Selected Poems
  • ----- Polifonia de la subversió: la poesia de Vicent Andrés Estellés pp. 57-110
2) Pere Calders
  • Amanda Bath, 'Introduction' to Pere Calders La verge de les vies
  • Agustí Pons, Pere Calders: veritat oculta
  • "Brush" story by Pere Calders (translated by Louise Lewis)
3) Salvador Espriu
  • J. M. Castellet, Lord of the shadow: poems by Salvador Espriu
  • Salvador Espriu, Selected poems, (translated by Magda Bogin; introduction by Francesc Vallverdu)
  • Dominic Keown, Polifonia de la subversió: la poesia de Vicent Andrés Estellés, pp. 111-170
  • M. I. Pijoan i Picas, Salvador Espriu o els itineraris de la poesia
4) Joan Fuster
  • Joan Fuster, Dictionary for the Idle (ed. D Keown)
  • Vicent Salvador, Fuster o l'estratàgia del centaure.
5) Mercè Rodoreda
  • Neus Carbonell, La plaça del Diamant (critical study)
  • Kathryn Everly, Catalan Women Writers and Artists: Revisionist Views from a Feminist Space.
  • Mercè Ibarz, Exile and Reconstruction: Mercè Rodoreda and Visual Art in the 1950s.
  • Mercè Rodoreda, Els miralls interiors (videorecording)
  • Kathleen McNerney and Nancy Vosburg (eds), The garden across the border: Mercè Rodoreda's fiction
  • Elizabeth A. Scarlett, Under construction: the body in Spanish novels
6) Vicent Andrés Estellés
  • Dominic Keown, Sobre la poesia catalana contemporània
  • ------ Polifonia de la subversió: la poesia de Vicent Andrés Estellés
  • ------ The Liberating Instinct in the Catalan Lyrical Tradition
7) Quim Monzó 8) Sergi Belbel
  • George and London (eds.), Contemporary Catalan Theatre: An Introduction
  • ----- (eds.), Modern Catalan Plays
9) Bigas Luna
  • Marvin D'Lugo, "La teta i la lluna: The Form of Transnational Cinema in Spain" in Marsha Kinder (ed.), Refiguring Spain: cinema, media, representation (Durham [N.C.]; London: Duke University Press, 1997) pp. 196-214
  • Paul Julian Smith, "Between Land and Language: locating Bigas Luna" in The Moderns: Time, Space and Subjectivity in Contemporary Spanish Culture (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) pp. 89-107
10) Guerín; Martínez Pifarré
  • Richard Barsam, Nonfiction film: a critical history
  • Bill Nichols, Introduction to Documentary

     

     

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