The UB hosts the 1st International Conference on Catalan Literature of Postmodernity (1968-2023)
The 1st International Conference Catalan Literature of Postmodernity (1968-2023) will be held at the University of Barcelona and the Institut del Teatre from 28 November to 1 December 2023. The aim is to deepen our knowledge of Catalan literature from the end of the 1960s to the present day, in order to establish a general narrative capable of integrating the main transformative processes and the great diversity of phenomena that have shaped it.
The 1st International Conference Catalan Literature of Postmodernity (1968-2023) will be held at the University of Barcelona and the Institut del Teatre from 28 November to 1 December 2023. The aim is to deepen our knowledge of Catalan literature from the end of the 1960s to the present day, in order to establish a general narrative capable of integrating the main transformative processes and the great diversity of phenomena that have shaped it.
The opening ceremony will take place on Tuesday 28th at 8:30 a.m. in the Aula Magna of the UB's Historic Building, with the participation of representatives of the various organizing bodies: the Dean of the Faculty of Philology and Communication, Javier Velaza; the Director of the Institution of Catalan Letters, Izaskun Arretxe; the Head of the Department of Catalan Philology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Teresa Cabré; the President of PEN Català, Laura Huerga; Víctor Martínez-Gil, professor of Catalan Philology at the UAB; Ramon Pinyol, president of the Historical-Archaeological Section of the Institute for Catalan Studies; Sebastià Portell, president of the Association of Catalan Language Writers; and Mariona Taulé, director of the Department of Catalan Philology and General Linguistics at the UB.
This will be followed by the inaugural conference "La literatura del nostre temps" (The literature of our times), given by three writers with a long career linked to all literary genres from the sixties and seventies to the present day: Jordi Coca, who has been very active in the world of theatre, experimental literature and narrative; Francesc Parcerisas, poet, translator, critic and memoirist, and Carme Riera, storyteller and scholar. Each of them will give their personal vision of Catalan narrative and poetry from the 1970s to the present day. The opening talk, "Cos, cànon, autoria, autenticitat: problemàtiques identitàries a la literatura catalana de la postmodernitat", will be given by Louise Johnson, lecturer at the University of Sheffield.
Also the roundtable "La narrativa del meu temps" will take place in the Aula Magna, at 1.15 p.m., with the writers Núria Cadenes, Víctor García Tur, Empar Moliner and Jordi Puntí, presented and moderated by Víctor Martínez-Gil.
The following day, Wednesday 29 November, the Aula Magna will host, at 12.45 p.m., the round table "La crítica literària del meu temps", with the participation of the critics Àlex Broch, Jaume Coll Mariné, Dolors Oller and Marina Porras, presented and chaired by Josep Murgades.
On Thursday 30 November, the conference will move to the Institut del Teatre, with the talk "El teatre del meu temps", by Sergi Belbel, at the Estudi Theatre, at 9:00 a.m.. With the same title, a round table will be held at 1.15 p.m., with the participation of Joan Cavallé, Josep R. Cerdà, Mercè Sarrias and Victoria Szpunberg, presented and chaired by Núria Santamaria.
The day will end with two round tables: "Literatura i mass media en el meu temps", at 6.00 p.m., with Maria Jaén, Carlos Mallol, David Plana and Esteve Plantada, moderated by Víctor Martínez-Gil, and "La traducció en el meu temps", at 7.00 p.m., with Miquel Desclot, Marta Pera Cucurell, Joan Sellent and Dolors Udina, chaired by Joaquim Sala-Sanahuja.
Moreover, the final session includes the roundtable dedicated to publishing, with the participation of Eugenia Broggi, Laura Huerga, Aniol Rafel and Jordi Rourera, chaired by Mireia Sopena.
The programme reflects an ambition of global scope, as acknowledged by Professor Jordi Marrugat, member of the organizing committee and author, among other works, of Narrativa catalana de la postmodernitat. Històries, formes i motius (2014): "Our intention is that the general lines of force of Catalan literature of all these decades should be studied. It is such a rich, productive and complex period that we know that not all the authors and works will be studied, but we want the main general processes of production and transformation of postmodern Catalan literature to be established". "Many things will be noted that will require development in the search for the coming decades", he remarks.
The conference proceedings are to be published as well. Marrugat explains: "We are going to publish a two-volume book that will take a global look at the entire Catalan literature of postmodernity. It will be two very extensive, complete and coherent volumes. A third volume will bring together all the contributions of the writers and we believe that it will give the same global overview of Catalan literature of postmodernity from the point of view of those who have participated most actively as creators".
The conference was organised by the UB, "which has been very committed to this project from the beginning", in Marrugat's words, and the research project Uses and Transformations of Paraliterary Genres in Postmodern Catalan Literature (1968-2021), of the Ministry of Science and Innovation, which is being developed in collaboration between the UB and the UAB. The Association of Catalan Language Writers, the Institute for Catalan Studies, the Institution of Catalan Letters, the Theatre Institute and the Catalan PEN Club have also actively collaborated. In addition, a link has been established with the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona and the Ateneu Barcelonès. "This is an organisational success of the Catalan literary and academic guilds, a collective success that we should all congratulate ourselves on. Let's hope that this kind of broad and ambitious collaboration will become more and more frequent," said Jordi Marrugat.