The Myths of the Republic: Literature and Identity

The book «The Myths of the Republic: Literature and Identity» explores Catalan republican thinking through a series of writers and literary texts from the 19th and 20th centuries. The book has thirteen chapters distributed over two parts and features various specialists who analyse the contemporary points of reference for Catalan republicanism and their relation to the republican mythology and symbolism of Western culture during this period. Roger Canadell studies the myth and the man who fought so hard for democracy in the middle of the 1800s: Josep Anselm Clavé. Magí Sunyer and Biel Sansano examine the ideological aspects of the theatre of the Democratic Six-Year period in Barcelona and Valencia, respectively. Pere Gabriel and Margalida Tomàs analyse features of Rossend Arús’ work, a combination of republicanism, free thinking and freemasonry. Emili Samper interprets the poetry of the quite singular folklorist and anarchist Cels Gomis. Josep M. Domingo and Anna Llovera study a book that is the key to understanding Apel·les Mestres, the republican “total artist” and internationalist. And Margarida Aritzeta relates the myth of Vilaniu, created by Narcís Oller, to republicanism. Montserrat Palau and Montserrat Duch discuss the approaches of female republican writers. Carme Oriol shows that in this new setting folklore, which had been related to the reactionary side of Romanticism, finds its place as an element of identity and a tool for cultural development. Montserrat Corretger and Oriol Teixell delve into the situation of democratic ideals in the exile that followed the defeat in 1939 by focusing on writers such as Odó Hurtado, Joan Puig i Ferreter and Domènec Guansé. Alfons Gregori observes the nostalgia of the Republic in the narratives of Jesús Moncada.