Ressenya

Caterina Albert was a novelist, storyteller, playwright and poet. In her work, she continues the Catalan literary tradition written by women, although like many other European female writers at the time, she hid behind the male pen-name "Víctor Català". She intended to become a playwright, but she wrote mostly short stories and novels; she soon obtained recognition for her works, which have decisively marked the evolution of 20th-century Catalan narrative.  
 

Justificacions

• Her monologue "La infanticida" (The child killer) originated a great scandal after it was know that such a poignant text had been written by a woman. After that, Caterina Albert used the pen name "Victor Català".
• She was a poet, storyteller, novelist, playwright, folklorist, painter and amateur archaeologist. She is considered, therefore, a complete artist.
• She tackled topics such as the expression of feminine desire, the criticism to the institution of marriage, relationships between women, maternity, loneliness, and the old age.
• The narrative subgenre of "rural drama" was coined after one of her novels.
• She was the first woman to access the Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona in 1923.
• She was a literary contributor in the modernist magazine Joventut (1900-1906).
• She was president of the Floral Games of Barcelona in 1917.

Biografia

She was daughter of a land-owner family; her father was the one who encouraged her artistic interests. However, she got this lifelong passion from her grandmother, Caterina Farrés, who passed on much of her knowledge and a great cultural heritage based on popular wisdom. She soon started to paint and to write. She joined the magazine La Reinaixença, where she published "Parricidi" (Parricide) — a text included in her Drames rurals (Rural dramas) — when she was fourteen. 

She became known for her theatrical drama La infanticida (The child killer), awarded at Olot's Floral Games in 1898, a fact that caused a public outrage because of the topic it tackles: extramarital relationships, household violence, or the harsh conditions of women in rural areas.

 In 1902, she published Drames rurals (Rural dramas), already within the context of Modernism. It was a collection of stories illustrated by the author herself and the first book she published in Catalan. It became so popular that, in the following years, "rural drama" became a genre in itself which tackled rural issues and violence. Ombrívoles (1904) and Caires vius (1907) came after.
Her novel Solitud (1905), considered a masterpiece, searches for individuality and the possibility for women to achieve an independent, free existence. It became a classic of Catalan prose writing and has been translated into seven languages; there is even a theatrical adaptation (1954) and two cinema adaptations.

Even if she finally found her true identity, Caterina Albert always tried to separate her personal life from her literary life. The pen name "Víctor Català" helped her keep her privacy. Two other great 19th-century European writers did the same: Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin (George Sand) and Cecilia Bohl de Faber (Fernán Caballero). 

From the beginning, the recurring theme around women and rural exudes a bitter vision of individuals and society, far from bucolic idealisations. She combines a naturalist determinism with a symbolic perception of fatalism, which comprehends and dominates the meaning of human life. La infanticida, which already tackled this topics, is considered a precedent of  Solitud.  

Throughout her work, Caterina Albert references the situation of women and, in particular, her discrimination for being one. In that sense, the topics that she inaugurates are: the expression of feminine desire, the criticism to the institution of marriage, relationships between women, maternity, loneliness, and the old age. She is completely aware of her intentions and this fact, together with the prologues of her collections, creates the idea of a sharp, independent, and groundbreaking author. 
 

Obres

Català

• La infanticida

Bibliografia

Albert, Lluís (2012). Víctor Català. Una biografia insòlita. Figueres: Brau.

Arteaga Iriarte, M. Elisa (1995). Estudio de la narrativa de Grazia Deledda. Aproximación comparativa a las obras de Emilia Pardo Bazán y Víctor Català [Doctoral thesis]. Madrid: Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Associació Cultura Vibrant,  https://historiavibrant.cat/caterina-albert-i-victor-catala/ (retrieved on 18-03-2022).  

Bartrina, Francesca (2001). Caterina Albert/Víctor Català. La voluptuositat de l’escriptura. Vic: Eumo Editorial. 

Casacuberta, Margarida; Rius, Lluís (1988). Els Jocs Florals d'Olot (1890-1921). Olot: Editora de Batet.

Casacuberta, Margarida (2019). Víctor Català, l’escriptora emmascarada. Barcelona: L'Avenç, 2019.

Castellanos, Jordi (1977). "Dotze cartes de Víctor Català a Tomàs Roig i Llop", Els Marges, núm. 11, pp. 73-89.

Càtedra Víctor Català d'estudis sobre el Modernisme, https://www.udg.edu/ca/catedres/victor-catala (retrieved on 18-03-2022). 

Caterina Albert al portal de l'AELC,   https://www.escriptors.cat/autors/albertc  

Caterina Albert a l’enciclopèdia catalana,  https://www.enciclopedia.cat/ec-gec-0001810.xml (retrieved on 18-03-2022). 

Ciurana, Montserrat (1972). Aportacions a l'estudi de Víctor Català, Unes cartes inèdites [licentiate thesis]. Universitat de Barcelona.

Muñoz i Pairet, Irene (ed.) (2005). Epistolari de Víctor Català. Girona: CCG Edicions.

Enfocament Didàctic

She can be included in Valencian language and literature in: 

- 4th of ESO, in the block of literary education.

- 1st and 2nd of ESO, to learn about her poetry and drama production.

She can also be included in music, because she brings back the contrapàs, a musical genre preceding the sardana; and she also collected around one hundred popular songs. 
She can be included in visual and plastic arts as well. The picture in this sheet is a self-portrait of the author.

Documents