This study, charting the construction of a Catalan identity from the nineteenth-century cultural renaissance until the present day, explores the interaction of language, culture and identity in contemporary Catalonia.
Drawing on postcolonial and multicultural literary theories, it argues that Castilian- and Catalan-language narratives are expressions of the same culture. Through detailed analyses of texts by Terenci Moix, Francisco Candel, Ignasi Riera, Montserrat Roig, Juan Marsé, Ramon Pallicé, and Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, among others, the author demonstrates that such writers share similar preoccupations and points of view and also engage in a complex literary and cultural dialogue that cuts across the established linguistic divisions that characterise cultural politics in Catalonia. The Catalan literary establishment's exclusion of Castilian as a language capable of expressing 'Catalan-ness' is challenged and the author proposes redefining traditional understandings of Catalan literature to take into account texts produced by all members of Catalan society.

Stewart King is a lecturer in Hispanic Studies at Monash University, Australia.