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Solitud
'Solitud' was an immediate success with readers and was translated into various languages. One hundred years after its publication, this modern, startling novel is still just as relevant today. Considered one of the greatest works of Catalan literature ever written, 'Solitud' tells of the spiritual journey of a woman, Mila, who lives in the countryside. Juxtaposing life in the valleys with the realism high up in the mountains, the protagonist sets off on a journey of self-awareness that will lead her to find, in solitude, the strength she needs to break with the conventions of her daily life. Mila's drama helps us to understand that we are alone in the world, and thus keeps us company and gives us the courage to keep going, like she does, in spite of it all.
The panel considered Solitude to be one of the highlights of this edition, describing it as “wonderful”, “very atmospheric”, “ready for rediscovery”, and comparing it to a more modern Madam Bovary.
Solitud by Víctor Català (the pseudonym of Caterina Albert, 1869-1966) was first published in installments in the magazine Juventut in 1904-05; an immediate success, it was translated into several languages and became a classic of contemporary Catalan fiction (…)
Català's novel is a linguistic tour-de-force: colloquial dialogue, exquisite, lyrical descriptions of landscapes and the forceful state of mind of the heroine are shot through with realistic detail of the hardships of fin-de-siècle rural life. Her Flaubertian mastery of the mot juste in a range of registers is complimented by warmth of colour and feeling, rather than cold irony (…)
The power of the narrative derives from the description of a remote rural community and landscape in Catalunya from the perspective of Mila, a young woman, whom we meet in the first chapter on her way to her new home in the mountains with Matías, the man she has just married. As she struggles to climb the mountain path from the village of Rodorta, Mila wonders at the apparent freedom of the country women on the plain, is alive to the sensuous smells from herbs, trees and bushes and spectacular sights of the rock formations, and wonders what awaits her in her new life. (…)
Solitude is a brooding, sensuous novel with colours that veer from stained glass and Breughel to the Impressionists. There is a need for a re-translation at a time when there is a renewed interest in twentieth-century modernist Catalan literature and its strong tradition of writing by women (…)(From the reader report by Peter Bush)