Renaixença

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the Renaixença movement, that is, the revival of Catalan language and literature in the second half of the 19th century. For a better understanding of the linguistic, cultural and socio-political changes associated with the movement, this article also describes the conditions in the early 19th century in terms of break and continuity. This includes the “roofing” of a mainly monolingual Catalan society by Spanish, the prestigious but foreign language, more closely linked with formal and written usage. The construction of the modern Spanish state and its ongoing centralisation are documented through the series of laws restricting the use of Catalan. This chapter’s main focus is the recovery of the language for literary use through the Jocs Florals poetry competition which was reinstated in 1859. The second focus regards the use of Catalan in the press. The late 19th century also saw the emergence of political Catalanism, a key ideological component of which became the nurturing of a separate language. As references to a common writing tradition had been lost over the previous centuries, the reintroduction of Catalan for most written uses triggered a debate over which model should be adopted for standardisation: one concerned with the past or one that took as its reference point the use of spoken Catalan at the time.