Decadent Novel: Influence on Catalan Modernism

The Decadent Novel in Late 19th-Century European Literature

The Decadent Novel constitutes, in the context of late 19th-century European literature, a recent referral to Romantic literature. It introduced Modernism in Catalonia before 1900. Under the influence of decadence, the novel shifted to the suggestion of the narrative: it now reflected an inner reality, hidden and almost unknown, from the analysis of internal conflicts of characters who want to self-actualize. The cult of beauty and the creation of artificial paradises, where peace and finding led the authors to recreate distasteful, sexy, and forbidden situations, frustrated the desire to be isolated. In this novel of character, the subjective aspect of art is exalted as essential to life. In this context, abstract concepts such as ugliness and color are valued aesthetically, and eroticism and sensuality become popular topics. In addition, antithesis, suggestion, impressionism, and symbolic elements are of particular importance in this novel. We should mention that decadent novels are, like rural novels, novels of fragmentation.

Influential Authors and Their Works

The most influential European artists in this period were Oscar Wilde and Gabriele D'Annunzio. The most important decadent works are Path of Light by Miquel de Palol and Josafat by Prudenci Bertrana.

Miquel de Palol

• Path of Light (1909): In this novel, Palol participates in his own songs of decadence: the journey undertaken by a father and daughter, both with tuberculosis, in search of health, which takes them through mountains and sea. This argument is absorbed by an intense lyricism and suggestive description of the characters' moods.

The novel Edmon by Alfons Maseras also develops a decadent theme: the long tuberculous illness of a young man with a loving relationship in the background.

Prudenci Bertrana

• Josafat (1906): The novel Josafat is the most notable work by Prudenci Bertrana. In this play, he recreates the myth of Beauty and the Beast through the relationships between the prostitute Fineta and Josafat, the bell ringer of the Cathedral of Girona, who is caught between the sin of lust (represented by Fineta) and the fear of God. Pepona, Fineta's companion, represents the frustrated love of his idealized youth in rural areas and the ability to reconcile moral principles with lust. The author uses impressionistic description and free indirect style in a masterful way.

Other works by this author are Proses Bàrbares, Els Herois, and Jo! Memòries d'un Filòsof.