“Una novel·la pornográfica, per favor!”: Scandal and provocation in the literatura Catalan (first half of the 20th century)

Abstract

This article sets out to analyse the role of controversy and scandal in the development of the Catalan literary field during the first half of the twentieth century. The main topics to be explored are the importance of religion and sexuality in the modernista novel, the debates caused by the impact of Freud’s ideas in the 1920s and 1930s and, finally, the moral conservatism of the 1940s and 1950s, which led to the ostracism of several authors. Drawing upon Bourdieu’s ideas and the sociological theory of scandal, this article shows that controversy is an integral element of the literary field which periodically helps to renovate literary techniques. Among the works examined are La dama enamorada (Joan Puig i Ferrater), Josafat (Prundenci Bertrana), Els sots feréstecs (Raimon Casellas), Fanny (Carles Soldevila), Aspectes (Salvador Espriu), Una mena d'amor (Cèsar August Jordana), Vida privada (Josep Maria de Sagarra), Laura a la ciutat dels sants (Miquel Llor) and El mar (Blai Bonet).