Gott im Exil - alttestamentarische Metaphorik im Werk von Joan Oliver [i.e. Pere Quart]

Abstract

This article analyzes Joan Oliver’s use of images, stories and symbols from the Old Testament to describe Catalan society under the Franco regime. Characters from the Judeo-Christian tradition, such as Noah or Job, appear in the poem collections Terra de naufragis (1956) and Vacances pagades (1960), with the function of denouncing the dictatorship as a "cosmic catastrophe" for Catalonia and Catalan culture, and also as an expression of the author’s deep roots in this culture. In his 1963 novel Biografia de Lot, Oliver uses the biblical character of Lot to show, and also to ironize, the anti-heroic pragmatism of the post-war Catalan bourgeoisie; a pragmatism that guarantees the permanence of Catalan culture and language. Transposed into a Catalan context and in colloquial language, the story of Lot and Abraham thus becomes a genuinely Catalan story.