Catalonia and Democracy: The Circle of Víctor Balaguer, 1857-1860

Abstract

Víctor Balaguer, in 1866, distinguished two schools in the Catalan literature of the time based on their respective use of the country’s history: one he depicted “as a holy relic for the blessed contemplation of its devotees”, while the other he portrayed as “a field of discussion”. Balaguer encapsulated this second school, forged in the years 1857-1860, as one in which Catalan literature began to treat the issue of relations between Catalonia and Spain as a major theme. It did so by means of a repertoire of historical examples that sought to show a Catalan history in defence of democracy, battling against absolutism and despotism.