Nature and animality in recent Catalan fiction

"Alcarràs" by Carla Simón and "Distòcia" by Pilar Codony

Abstract

This article examines some discussion on nature and animals in recent Catalan fiction, focusing on Pilar Codony’s novel Distòcia (2022) and the film Alcarràs (2022) by Carla Simón, two works that are narrated from a rural context. These problematize the
boundary between dichotomous conceptions, question concepts such as nature and animality, and approach the postulates of critical currents such as animal studies, ecocriticism and posthumanism, while they manifest the tensions surrounding these theorizations. Unlike other narratives that simulate non-human voices, such as Ànima de gos (2010) by Antònia Vicens and Canto jo i la muntanya balla (2019) by Irene Solà, the works of Codony and Simón avoid anthropomorphism and choose to present animals and vegetables as subjects with their singularities