Perception and Interiorisation of the Landscape and Literary Construction. A Geographical Reading of Els sots feréstecs, by Raimon Casellas (1901)

Abstract

This study undertakes a geographical reading of the novel Els sots feréstecs (translated into English as Dark Vales) by Raimon Casellas and published in 1901. The book enjoyed great success, being described by critics as a ground-breaking, innovative work in many ways, with some even claiming it to be paradigmatic of the “modernist novel”. One striking aspect of the novel is the importance given to the landscape — understood here as the environment or physical setting in which the plot unfolds. It is this specific facet that constitutes the central core of the present article, which seeks to contextualize the landscape described, so that any appraisal of the novel is not simply limited to its literary qualities but also takes into account the original focus given by the author to the book’s spatial and geographical qualities.