Catalan Review

La Literatura Com a Salvació i Com a Repressió.: Qüestions Nacionals al Voltant de Qüestió D'amor Propi de Carme Riera i D'aquells Cels de Bernardo Atxaga

Catalan Review (2009), 23, (1), 105–127.

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3828/CATR.23.1.105
Language
English
Pages
23

Abstract

Bernardo Atxaga and Carme Riera are two internationally consolidated writers whose novels have attained great popularity among critics and readers. This fact is especially important from a national point of view, since they employ languages in particular sociolinguistic contexts: Basque and Catalan languages respectively. The cultural tensions between the Spanish State and nationalities, like the Basque Country and Catalonia, was a controversial issue —and it persists as such—in the first years of the democracy. In the eighties and nineties the cultural awakening after Francoism made it possible for writers like Atxaga and Riera to defend national positions from a literary field. In this article, I analyze the role that literature plays as a tool for the defense of Basque and Catalan culture in Bernardo Atxaga's Aquells cels and Carme Riera's Qüestió d'amor propi. From the field of comparative literature, I offer a close reading of this metaliterary aspect in these novels, conducting a close reading of the intertextual net that the authors create in order to defend national cultures. The literary references that appear in both novels are far from accidental; they are carefully selected to stimulate a particular reading: literature as salvation in Cels, and as repression in Qüestió. In Cels, the main character, a former ETA member, struggles to reintegrate into a repressive society. She finds a way to escape from the repressive Spanish apparatuses in the different literary books that she reads. Conversely, in Qüestió, literature is presented as a means of repression. Spanish literature is perceived as a powerful mechanism to erode the future of Catalan culture, personified in the character of the writer Àngela.

Access Token

FormatArticle

£25.00
READ THIS ARTICLE
References
Full Text
PDF
If you have private access to this content, please log in with your username and password here

Althusser, Louis. "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes towards an Investigation)". Mapping Ideology. Ed. Slavoj Zizek. Londres: Verso, 1994. 100-141. Mapping Ideology 100 141 Google Scholar

Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. 2nd ed. Nova York: Verso, 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism Google Scholar

Ardolino, Francesco. "La ficció epistolar de Carme Riera". Journal of Catalan Studies, JOCS, 3. (2000). 12 Gen. 2009. http://www.uoc.edu/jocs/3/articles/ardolino4. http://www.uoc.edu/jocs/3/articles/ardolino4 La ficció epistolar de Carme Riera Journal of Catalan Studies, JOCS 3 Google Scholar

Atxaga, Bernardo. Aquells cels. Trad. Pau Joan Hernàndez. Barcelona: La Magrana, 1999. Aquells cels Google Scholar

Atxaga, Bernardo. Esos Cielos. Barcelona: Ediciones B, 2004. Esos Cielos Google Scholar

Atxaga, Bernardo. Nueva Etiopía. Madrid: El Europeo, 1996. Nueva Etiopía Google Scholar

Bakhtin, Mikhail. The Dialogic Imagination, Four Essays, Ed. Michael Holquist. Austin: U of Texas P, 1981. The Dialogic Imagination, Four Essays Google Scholar

Barthes, Roland. The Pleasure of Text. Nova York: Hill & Wang, 1975. The Pleasure of Text Google Scholar

Basque Cultural Studies. Eds. William Douglass, Carmelo Urza, Linda White, i Joseba Zulaika. Reno: U of Nevada P, 1999. Basque Cultural Studies Google Scholar

Bieder, Maryellen. "Cultural Capital: the play of language, gender, and nationality in C. Riera". Catalan Review 14. 1-2 (2000): 53-74. Cultural Capital: the play of language, gender, and nationality in C. Riera" Catalan Review 14 53 74 Google Scholar

Camí-Vela, María. La búsqueda de la identidad en la obra literaria de Carme Riera. Madrid: Pliegos, 2000. La búsqueda de la identidad en la obra literaria de Carme Riera Google Scholar

Clark, Robert. Negotiating with ETA. Obstacles to Peace in the Basque Country, 1975-1988. Reno: U of Nevada P, 1990. Negotiating with ETA. Obstacles to Peace in the Basque Country, 1975-1988 Google Scholar

Constitució Espanyola. 3 Gen. 2007. www.congreso.es/funciones/constitucion/indice.htm Google Scholar

Crameri, Kathryn. Language, the Novelist and National Identity in Post-Franco Catalonia. Oxford: U of Oxford P, 2000. Language, the Novelist and National Identity in Post-Franco Catalonia Google Scholar

Díez Medrano, Juan. Divided Nations. Class, Politics, and Nationalism in the Basque Country and Catalonia. Nova York: Cornell UP, 1995. Divided Nations. Class, Politics, and Nationalism in the Basque Country and Catalonia Google Scholar

Disidencia. Apología de lo Evidente. Barcelona: El Lokal, 1998. Google Scholar

Guibernau, Montserrat. Nationalism, the Nation-State and Nationalism in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Polity, 1996. Nationalism, the Nation-State and Nationalism in the Twentieth Century Google Scholar

Fox, Inman. La Invención de España. Madrid: Cátedra, 1997. La Invención de España Google Scholar

Foucault, Michel. "Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias". Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory. Ed. Neil Leach. Nova York: Routledge, 1997. 350-356. Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory 350 356 Google Scholar

Gabilondo, Joseba. "Bernardo Atxaga's Seduction: On the Symbolic Economy of Postcolonial and Postnational Literatures in the Global Market". Basque Cultural Studies. Eds. William Douglass, Carmelo Urza, Linda White, i Joseba Zulaika. Reno: U of Nevada P, 1999. 106-133. Basque Cultural Studies 106 133 Google Scholar

Generalitat de Catalunya. Relaciones de las culturas castellana y catalana. Encuentro de intelectuales. Sitges 20-22 diciembre 1981. Catalunya: Generalitat de Catalunya, 1983. Relaciones de las culturas castellana y catalana. Encuentro de intelectuales. Sitges 20-22 diciembre 1981 Google Scholar

Habeas Corpus. A las cosas por su nombre. Madrid: Desobediencia, 1999. A las cosas por su nombre Google Scholar

Kristeva, Julia. Semiotika: recherches pour une semanalyze. París: Editions du Seuil, 1969. Semiotika: recherches pour une semanalyze Google Scholar

Martín, Annabel. "Modulations of the Basque Voice: an Interview with Bernardo Atxaga". Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, 1. 2 (2000): 193-204. Modulations of the Basque Voice: an Interview with Bernardo Atxaga" Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies 1 193 204 Google Scholar

Médem, Julio. La Pelota Vasca. Alicia Produce, 2003. La Pelota Vasca Google Scholar

Menéndez Pidal, Ramón. Sobre la nación española: respuesta a Rovira Virgili. 4 de gener de 2009. www.arrakis.es/~corcus/republica/articulos/pidal060931.htm Google Scholar

Moveable Margins. Eds. Kathkleen Glenn, Mirella Servodidio i Mary Seale Vásquez. Cranbury: Associated University Presses, 1999. Google Scholar

Oteiza, Jorge. Estética del huevo. Huevo y laberinto. Mentalidad vasca y laberinto. Iruña: Pamiela, 1995. Estética del huevo. Huevo y laberinto. Mentalidad vasca y laberinto Google Scholar

Pelay Orozco, Miguel. Oteiza, su vida, su obra, su pensamiento, su palabra. Bilbao: Gran Enciclopedia Vasca, 1978. Oteiza, su vida, su obra, su pensamiento, su palabra Google Scholar

Riera, Carme. Qüestió d'amor propi. Barcelona: Columna, 1998. Qüestió d'amor propi Google Scholar

Olaziregi, María José. Waking the Hedgehog. The Literary Universe of Bernardo Atxaga. Reno: U of Nevada P, 2005. Waking the Hedgehog. The Literary Universe of Bernardo Atxaga Google Scholar

Olaziregi, María José. Leyendo a Bernardo Atxaga. Bilbao: Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, 2002. Leyendo a Bernardo Atxaga Google Scholar

Ortega y Gasset, José. España Invertebrada. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 2004. España Invertebrada Google Scholar

Resultats electorals de les eleccions generals. 3 març 2009. www.congreso.es/elecciones/index.htm Google Scholar

Porter, Laurence. A Gustave Flaubert Encyclopedia. Westport: Greenwood, 2001. A Gustave Flaubert Encyclopedia Google Scholar

Roser i Puig, Montserrat i Ross, Yadira. "Identitat Nacional a Qüestió d'amor propi, de Carme Riera". Identitat, literatura i llengua. Actes de la secció literària del XIX Col·loqui Germano-Català (Colònia 2003). Ed. Pilar Arnau i Segarra. Barcelona: Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat, 2006. 255-72. Identitat, literatura i llengua. Actes de la secció literària del XIX Col·loqui Germano-Català (Colònia 2003) 255 72 Google Scholar

Schumm, Sandra. "‘Borrowed’ Language in Carme Riera's Cuestión de amor propio". Anales de la literatura española contemporánea, ALEC. 20. 1-2 (1995): 199-214. ‘Borrowed’ Language in Carme Riera's Cuestión de amor propio Anales de la literatura española contemporánea, ALEC 20 199 214 Google Scholar

Smith, Anthony. Myths and Memories of the Nation. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999. Myths and Memories of the Nation Google Scholar

Stam, Robert. Subversive Pleasures, Baltimore: John Hopkins UP, 1989. Subversive Pleasures Google Scholar

Stendhal. "A Monsieur le baron de M…, a París. Milan, le 21 décembre 1819". Correspondance inédite. Précédée d'une intruduction par Prosper. Ed. M. Lévy. París: Calmann-Levy, 1855. Google Scholar

Tarrío González, Xosé. Huye, hombre huye. Diario de un preso FIES. Barcelona: Virus, 2002. Huye, hombre huye. Diario de un preso FIES Google Scholar

Tsuchiya, Akiko. "Seducció i simulació a Una primavera per a Doménico Guarini i Joc de miralls". El mirall i la màscara. Ed. Luisa Cotoner. Barcelona: Destino, 2000. 51-72. El mirall i la màscara 51 72 Google Scholar

If you have private access to this content, please log in with your username and password here

Details

Author details

Llinares, Jaume