Dona i literatura en els anys trenta: la narrativa de les escriptores catalanes fins a la guerra civil

Abstract

This thesis begins with an overview of the Catalan literary production of women between the 20's and the 30's. It then goes through an analysis of the narratives of six of seven outstanding novelists and their critical reception. Finally, it ends up with a complete review of the career of the seventh and most important writer Mercè Rodoreda. In the first part, the fundamental dialectic between tradition and modernity as well as the general access of women in the cultural production and consumption in the specific context of our country, provides the necessary background to describe the map and the situation of an increasing amount of public (female audience) and a considerable number of writers, whose activities shock: more than six hundred women cultivate all genres (poetry, translation, children's literature, theater and prose) and they extend their activities towards other areas like journalism, participating in conferences, creating associations and doing militancy in social or political actions. The quantitative data are combined with the reflection of some relevant aspects (understanding the concept of feminism, the creation of a female literary tradition and a debate about art and morality, etc.) to expose the fundamental components this complex phenomenon and to suggest new lines of research of this unknown chapter of the contemporary Catalan literature. The second part examines the narratives of Maria Teresa Vernet, Carmen Montoriol, Rosa Maria Arquimbau, Anna Murià, Elvira Augusta Lewi and Aurora Bertrana. The female condition is the main question of this diachronic analysis. These authors are responsible for the emerging female literary production due to their recognition. Moreover their promotion had a clear strategic direction. Their stories, the way they were received by the public and the writers themselves represent the effort to modernize the social, cultural and literary reality in Catalonia, as a response to a specific national project, which also aimed to be like some other European realities. This framework also shows the deep changes that were affecting women in a versatile world, opened to new opportunities but stuck to traditional values. The third and final part is a review of the first stage of Rodoreda's career as a writer. It shows how the basis of her corpus are built over these years. From the beginning the author seeks a commitment with her time especially through the novels (the genre and their parody as well as the link between the tradition and modernity). However her research also takes a considerable number of forms and answers to certain approaches to personal needs and the specific cultural context. Beside her first four novels, she also wrote other genres like tales, theater, children's literature, essays, criticism and journalism. Her novel Aloma, completed in 1936, represents a milestone for what she published afterwards.

Date of Award	29 Mar 2004
Original language	Catalan
Supervisor	Jordi Castellanos Vila (Director)