Rural spaces/narratives in flux: an emerging literature?

Abstract

This article aims to study the phenomenon of the appearance of a large number of rural-themed literary works in recent Catalan literature. This phenomenon will be approached from two perspectives. First, I critically review the notion of "emergence," a concept that can be applied to identify literary works that are not recognized from the point of view of a hegemonic conception of literature. Second, I relate the publication of these new forms of representation of rurality to the transformations introduced in a significant part of contemporary Catalan narrative, where nonfiction has gained recognition. The study focuses on Mercè Ibarz's Tríptic de la terra (2020), Francesc Serés's La pell de la frontera (2014) and Julià Guillamon's Les hores noves(2022), which are based on autobiography and information from the world of journalism.