Narcís Oller
1846–1930
Biography
Narcís Oller i de Moragas (1846–1930) was a Catalan novelist who trained as a lawyer. He was born in Valls, in the province of Tarragona,, and he wrote in Catalan at a time when the language was recovering its place in literature after a long decline. He is counted among the leading Catalan novelists of the nineteenth century, and his prose helped give the language a modern style for the novel.
Oller began in the manner of literary realism and naturalism, observing social life with a close and often critical eye. Later his style moved towards Modernisme, the Catalan form of Art Nouveau, though his attention to the details of ordinary life never left him. Among his best-known novels are La papallona (The Butterfly), which had a foreword by Émile Zola in its French translation, L'Escanyapobres (The Usurer), often regarded as his masterpiece, and La febre d'or (Gold Fever), which follows the property speculation that gripped Barcelona. He also translated works by Tolstoy and Dumas into Catalan.
His novel Vilaniu carries the subtitle Novela de costums del nostre temps, which means a novel of the customs of our own time, and it is listed on this site under its Catalan title. It shows the realist interest in contemporary society that runs through his fiction, and it is a good place to see how Oller turned the manners of his own world into literature. Readers who want a window on the Catalan literary revival will find him a key figure in it.
This biography was written by a language model. The sources below are where to check it; treat details with care.
Books
Vilaniu: Novela de costums del nostre temps
by Narcís Oller
A large novel of the small town of Vilaniu, which on the eve of its great festival fills with strangers, giants and a dragon in the streets and gossip behind every balcony. Narcis Oller follows the town's families and ambitions across two parts and twenty-one chapters.
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.