From M. Bergeret to D. Toni de Bearn: Llorenç Villalonga, an ironist

Abstract

This paper is devoted to study the importance of irony in Llorenç Villalonga’s literary works. First, it deals with the use of irony in the French writer Anatole France, who was admired by Villalonga as a master, and particularly in his character Lucien Bergeret, his greatest creation. Secondly, the paper analyses the concept of irony in Villalonga and focuses on how it is used in the novel Bearn o la sala de les nines. A special attention is paid to its main character, the eiron D. Toni de Bearn, because there is a close bond between Villalonga’s D. Toni and France’s professor Bergeret. Moreover, this character is related to two different narrative models: the roman a thèse and the Bildungsroman.