Andorran literature

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Andorran literature comprises the literature of authors from the Pyrenees state of Andorra , whose texts have so far been written exclusively in Catalan . To a certain extent, the term Andorran literature is also used to describe non-tourist travel literature about Andorra, the authors of which are neither from Andorra nor have Andorran citizenship.

The beginnings

Andorra is a small country in the Pyrenees, which historically also had a low population. Before the 18th century, the only written evidence in Catalan consisted of legal documents connected with the local political activities of the Andorran parishes and the very early installed parliament, the General Council . As in the rest of Europe, a large number of official documents, including the Pareatges of 1278/1288, which were important for Andorra , were recorded in Latin.

In 1748, the General Council commissioned the patrician and lawyer Antoni Fiter i Rossell to write a work that presented the customs and traditions of Andorra, but also describes the history of the country and contains a collection of explanatory maxims .

The Manual Digest

The full title of the book by Antoni Fiter i Rossell is Manual Digest de las Valls neutras de Andorra, en lo qual se tracta de sa Antiguitat, Govern y Religio, de sos Privilegis, Usos, Preheminencias y Prerrogativas (Clear manual on the neutral valleys of Andorra, which discusses its ancient history, government and religion, its privileges, customs, customs and privileges) . The book is considered one of the most important works of the 18th century in the Catalan language. For over three centuries it was considered a reference work and guide for the rulers of Andorra and every single inhabitant of the Pyrenean valleys. The book was kept in the Casa de la Vall , the seat of the General Council . In 1987 the General Council issued a reprint and in 2000 the Manual Digest was published in paperback transcription.

Other historical and institutional works

In 1763 the Politar Andorrà was published by Antoni Pug, pastor of Les Escaldes . In essence, this work reproduces the contents of the Manual Digest , but it also had a great influence on Andorran society.

This tradition of historical and institutional descriptions continued into the 19th century. Mention should be made of Relació sobre la vall de Andorra (Report on the Valley of Andorra) from 1838 by the Dominican priest Fra Tomàs Junoy and the initially anonymously published volume Història de Nostra Senyora de Meritxell (History of Our Virgin of Meritxell) from 1984 by the Jesuit Lluís Ignasi Fiter Cava.

Travel literature

At the end of the 18th century a literature emerged that is known in Andorran literary history as travel literature . Typically, the works of this literary section were not written by Andorrans, but by foreign travelers, most of whom came from France , Catalonia , Spain or the United States of America . Àlvar Valls Oliva divides the authors of travel literature into three categories: 1. Officials from neighboring countries, 2. Romantic travelers or utopians and 3. Catalan wanderers.

Spanish lawyers and civil servants were Francisco de Zamora, who in his report Diario de los viajes hechos en Cataluña (Diary of the journeys in Catalonia) gives a lot of space to the tiny state of Andorra , and Pascual Madoz, who in Diccionario geográfico, estadístico e histórico de España y sus posesiones de ultramar (geographical, statistical and historical dictionary of Spain and its overseas possessions) also provides a chronicle of Andorra.

The Spanish officer Antoni Valls published in Barcelona in 1820 Memoria acerca de la soberanía que corresponde a la Nación española (Memorandum on the sovereignty due to the Spanish nation) , in which, however, he recommended the annexation of Andorra by Spain. The political answer came three years later by the French monarchist Pierre-Roch Roussillou through the book De l'Andorre (About Andorra) , which is also the first complete monograph on the Pyrenees state.

For romantic travelers and the North American and French utopians, Andorra was considered a remote, exotic and sometimes bizarre country. The French Victorin Vidal wrote L'Andorre in 1866 and Marcel Chevalier created the first accurate map of the Andorran valleys. Gaston Vuillier published Le val d'Andorre (The Valley of Andorra) in 1888 . Among the Americans, Bayard Taylor with The Republic of the Pyrenees from 1867 and The Hidden Republic from 1911 and Lee Meriwether with Seeing Europe by automobile , also from 1911, are to be highlighted. In 1933 Les vallées d'Andorre (The Valleys of Andorra) by the French Gaston Combarnous and in 1937 On foot through Andorra by Imogene Warder appeared.

In the accounts of Catalan hikers around the turn of the century, cultural interests are similar. Joseph Aladern published Cartes andorranes (Andorran Letters) in 1892 . Other authors are Valentí Almirall, Salvador Arnet, Artur Osana and Jacint Verdaguer, who is important for Catalan literature .

In the 20th century, Andorra became the subject of several novels, particularly French and Catalan literature . The essayistic books on the Pyrenees state include Llibre d'Andorra (Book on Andorra) by Lluís Capdevila 1958, Glossari andorrà (Andorran Glossary) by Josep Fontbernat in 1966 and the essays by the important Catalan Josep Pla , published in 1943, 1959 and 1973 .

In the series L'Andorra dels viatgers (The Andorra of Travelers) some of the old travel texts are re-published by contemporary authors such as Albert Villaró . Nowadays, when Andorra is easily accessible via the transport network and the international media, books about the country by foreign visitors are rare. An example of this is Klaus Ebner's essay From Legend to Modernity , published in the literary journal Literatur und Critique . On the other hand, the writer Joan Peruga made Andorran travel literature, especially of the 19th century, the central theme of his novel La república invisible (The Invisible Republic), published in 2004 .

present

The modern or contemporary literature actually begins in the 1980s and experiences a significant intensification with the independence of the country in 1993. The General Council , that is the Parliament of Andorra, and the government that came into being with independence, specifically promote the establishment of Andorran literature with literary competitions, prizes and appropriate school programs. At the 2007 Frankfurt Book Fair, seven authors represented the condominium , some of whom are already well known in Catalan countries , such as Antoni Morell , Albert Salvadó , Albert Villaró and Teresa Colom . The La Puça bookstore in Andorra la Vella is considered to be the communications hub for Andorra's authors.

Historical novel

Most prose writers also wrote historical novels during their literary careers, usually dealing with the history of Andorra. Albert Salvadó is an exception , who almost exclusively writes historical novels and, on the other hand, rarely uses material from the Andorran past. His works include the novels L'ombra d'Alí Bei (The Shadow of Ali Bei) , which takes place in the world of the Islamic Orient, La gran concubina d'Amon (Amun's great concubine) , which leads to ancient Egypt, Els ulls d'Anníbal (Hannibal's eyes) on the traces of the Roman-Carthaginian conflict and El relat de Gunter Psarris (The report by Gunter Psarris) , whose topic is the National Socialist concentration camps.

Andorran fabrics were mainly processed by Antoni Morell in Set lletanies de mort (Seven Litanies of Death) and Borís I, rei d'Andorra (Boris I, King of Andorra) , Albert Villaró in L'any dels francs (The year of the Franks) , Joan Peruga with Últim estiu a Ordino (Last summer in Ordino) and Josep Enric Dallerès in Frontera endins (The border within) .

Poetry

Thanks to the promotion of literature in Andorra, as well as in the Catalan countries in general , a small poetry scene emerged in the Pyrenees. While Manuel Anglada i Ferran primarily published poetry in addition to academic works , names such as Manel Gibert , Sícoris , Robert Pastor and Marta Repullo represent the poetic part of Andorran literature.

Until recently, Josep Dallerès, who also worked in various political offices, only published volumes of poetry; until his first novel came out in 2007. The volumes of poetry include Amic (Freund) 1987, Ulls d'aigua (Water Eyes) 1988 and Illalba 1995. Teresa Colom originally came from banking . She left her original profession around 2004 and became a freelance writer. She published the volumes of poetry Com mesos de juny (Wie Junimonate) 2001, La temperatura d'uns llavis (The temperature of lips) 2002 and Elegies del final conegut (Elegies of the known end) 2005.

Literary prizes

In the Catalan countries , competitions, literary prizes and other awards represent an important part of the literary business . Against the background of the minority situation of the Catalan language and a strong cultural awareness, the literary prizes aim on the one hand to discover new talents and on the other hand to give authors a certain degree To create time in which they can devote themselves exclusively to writing. The latter applies above all to large, renowned literary prizes, which are usually highly endowed, such as the Premi Carlemany novel prize with 36,000 euros.

The majority of Andorran's authoritative authors today have already been awarded literary prizes. Antoni Morell , for example, received the Sant Miquel d'Engolasters essay prize and the Premi Carlemany in 1999, Albert Salvadó twice, namely in 1998 and 2005, the Premi Nèstor Luján for historical novels , the Premi Fiter i Rossell in 1999 and also the Premi Carlemany 2002, Albert Villaró the Premi Memorial Anna Dodas 1993, the Premi Nèstor Luján 2003 and the Premi Carlemany 2006 and Teresa Colom the Premi del concurs de Poesia de la Biblioteca Pública del Govern d'Andorra 2000.

Andorran authors (list)

Professional representation and publishers

The Andorran writers' association is the Associació d'Escriptors del Principat d'Andorra (AEPA) , whose president has been the author Antoni Morell Mora since it was founded in 1995 . AEPA maintains close relationships with the Catalan writers' association Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana and the Catalan PEN Club .

After the end of the Second World War , an intensive publishing activity arose in Andorra . The publishers , however, supplied in the first decades almost exclusively neighboring countries France and Spain . At first it was primarily French and then Spanish books, with a clear emphasis on religious works. Production of Catalan books began in the 1960s and intensified over the decade that followed, and especially after Franco's death in Spain. The first modern Catalan Bible was also published and printed in Andorra on behalf of the Benedictine monks of Montserrat .

Towards the end of the 1970s, the production of the Andorran publishers switched to covering domestic demand. As a result, almost exclusively Catalan books, but also tourist literature in other languages, were published.

Of the more than one hundred publishers (including authors' and self-publishers) founded after the World War, only three exist today. These primarily bring out literature, official works and books for tourism. Most of the literary books by Andorran authors are now published by Catalan publishers.

Web links

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Books

  • Miquela Valls: Andorra cap a la literatura. Editorial Maià, Andorra la Vella 1992, ISBN 978-9992051047 .
  • Àlvar Valls Oliva: Diccionari Enciclopèdic d'Andorra. Fundació Crèdit Andorrà, Andorra la Vella 2006, ISBN 978-99920-1-629-9 .
  • Pere-Miquel Fonolleda Pérez: Editorials i societat a Andorra 1945–1994. Biblioteca d'Andorra, Andorra la Vella 2006, ISBN 99920-53-27-5 .
  • Joan Peruga: La república invisible. Novel. Proa, Barcelona 2004, ISBN 84-8437-685-0 .
  • Literary Andorra. Edited by the Andorran government, Coord. Inés Sánchez. Andorra la Vella 2007, ISBN 978-99920-0-465-4 .
  • Glòria Bordons, Jaume Subirana: Literatura catalana contemporània. EDIUOC, Barcelona 1999, ISBN 978-8495131157 .

items

  • Fragments escollits / Morceaux choisis. In: Casa Andorra Internacional , Andorra la Vella 2001, pp. 60-61.
  • Pere-Miquel Fonolleda Pérez : Post scriptum. In: Casa Andorra Internacional , Andorra la Vella 2001, pp. 56-58