Narcís Oller: Madness and the 19th Century Novel

The Rise of Madness in the Nineteenth Century

During the nineteenth century, public debate regarding madness began to spread due to three primary factors:

• 1. The progressive creation of psychiatric centers.
• 2. The emergence of new types of psychological distress resulting from the Industrial Revolution.
• 3. The rise of experimental studies in psychiatry.

Additionally, during the last decade of the century, the theories of the Italian physician Cesare Lombroso spread throughout Europe. These theories identified a link between heredity and disorder, associating genius with degeneration.

The Intersection of Medicine, Crime, and Literature

By the end of the century, three seemingly different fields became interrelated:

• Medicine
• Crime
• Literature

The novel reflects this interest and the popularity of the topic of mental illness in two ways: by creating characters with characteristics derived from medical research, or by using fiction to explore the limits of madness.

Narcís Oller and the Novel 'La Bogeria'

La Bogeria (Madness) was written in three or four weeks during the summer of 1898 in Puigcerdà. Initially, the author thought of titling the work The Madman, but he decided to change it to Madness in order to focus the theme on the disease and its causes rather than on the individual. However, Oller had already contemplated mental illness in his story Where are the Inmates?, published in 1893. La Bogeria was published in early 1899 with the subtitle "A Novel of Manners of Our Time," and it constitutes one of the author's attempts to find solutions to the crisis in which the naturalistic narrative was immersed.

The Indirect Procedure: Narrative Perspective

The indirect procedure is the narrative perspective used by Narcís Oller in this novel. It has been considered a groundbreaking technique, representing one of the most original contributions to modern European fiction of the era. The author neglects the overall omniscience characteristic of his previous works, allowing the narrative to achieve greater realistic and naturalistic verisimilitude while introducing subjective elements. The story reaches readers through a narrator-witness involved in the plot.

This narrator collects information supplied by his friends, Armengol and Prosper Giberga, and primarily utilizes crucial dialogue. Through this procedure, the novel achieves three different attitudes toward the phenomenon of mental illness:

• That of Giberga
• That of Armengol
• That of the author himself

The story is told by the narrator some time after the events occurred; therefore, he reflects on past events from a position of maturity, imbuing the narrative with a strong sense of guilt.