Valencian Language Policy and Mercè Rodoreda Novels

The Current Sociolinguistic Situation

The Constitution envisages Spanish as the co-official language of the autonomous communities. In 1982 the Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community was adopted, which envisaged passing laws to facilitate a language standardization regime that would enshrine Valencian and Spanish as co-official languages. This law was passed in 1983 in Alicante as the Act on the Use and Teaching of Valencian.

Mercè Rodoreda (Barcelona, 1908 – Girona, 1983)

Rodoreda published the 1937 psychological novel Aloma. After the war she went into exile in southern France and Switzerland. She resumed literary production well into the 1950s with the publication of Twenty-two Stories. The novel that has given her the most prestige is The Diamond Square, narrated in the first person. The novel tells the story of Natalia over three historical periods:

1. Pre-war: the main character marries Quimet.
2. War: the protagonist suffers the death of her husband in front of her and the economic difficulties that prevent her from feeding her children.
3. Post-war: Natalia stabilizes her life and marries Antonio.

In the 1970s she finally returned from exile and published her later works, including Broken Mirror (1974). Broken Mirror is a novel full of symbolism that tells the story of a family over three generations:

1. Teresa Goday, from a lower-class couple, is the creator of the mythical Valldaura family universe.
2. Sofia Valldaura is the daughter of Teresa.
3. Maria is the natural daughter of Farriols (Eladi), the husband of Sofia. Ramon, the son of Sofia and Eladi, renounces his family and the possession of the mythical universe.

Features of Broken Mirror

Broken Mirror is often considered Rodoreda's best novel. Its features include:

1. All the female characters are dominant; the male characters are weak, easily influenced, unbalanced, and frustrated.
2. Each character inhabits their own world, producing a fragmentary structure.
3. The novel includes melodramatic elements characteristic of the serial or feuilleton style.
4. The language has a strong poetic quality.

Narrative

The storytellers from the 1970s share many characteristics, arranged as follows:

1. Intimacy and lyricism: the narrative often implies a search within the narrator himself or herself.
2. Cosmopolitanism: there is a desire to escape parochial vision by situating atmosphere in other countries, seeking modernity and tolerance; the journey is often a quest for self.
3. Reflection of modernity and the spirit of rebellion: the novels frequently adopt a daring attitude.

They also worked with the detective novel. The authors that influenced this generation of South American writers were varied.

Quim Assistants

These authors reflect everyday life in a world dominated by modernity. Deformation and absurd caricature reveal the contradictions of modern life. Highlights include Fie Said He and The Magnitude of the Tragedy. Recently he has published short stories collected in the volume Eighty-eight Stories.