Fantasy, History, and Politics: Jaume Fuster’s Trilogy, or the Undone Catalan Nation

Abstract

The present article analyzes the function of ideology, history, and genre conventions in Jaume Fuster’s “mythical novel”, that is to say, the trilogy composed of the following works: L’Illa de les Tres Taronges (1983), L’Anell de Ferro (1985) i El Jardí de les Palmeres (1993). Attention will be paid to Fuster’s double condition of writer and activist, which proves to be inseparable in his identity of a Catalan intellectual, as well as to the construction of an original narrative mode by means of fantasy elements. It will be argued that the trilogy employs a Tolkien-like basis of medievalizing marvelous in order to build an innovative literary work according to postmodern parameters and that Catalan secessionism and left-wing ideology are paramount in Fuster’s narrative strategy.