Masculinity and Catalan modernist literature: Dandyism in Alfons Maseras’s Edmon (1908)

Abstract:

Edmon (1908), an epistolary novel written by Alfons Maseras (1884–1939), tells the story of an impossible love between the protagonist (Edmon) and Irene, a foreign well-off young lady who settles in Barcelona with her mother and brother. Although Irene falls for the young man, she has to reject him to uphold his honor because she was once abused by a man. Despite this sentimental narrative pattern (Maseras explores the destructive effects of passion in the protagonist), the aim of this essay is to analyze how Edmon embodies one of the most well-known literary archetypes of the 19th century: the dandy. Specifically, several topics are discussed: one the one hand, the ways in which Edmon, as a dandy, prefigures some aspects of the consumer and spectacular society of the 20th century; on the other hand, his criticism of the Catalan social backwardness, as well as his disapproval of middle-class values (chiefly, utilitarianism and industriousness); finally, his melodramatic, stilted feelings as a hyperromantic male character. To sum up, Edmon provides a remarkable example of the decadent hero, an epitome of the art for art’s sake ideal which, along with vitalism, emerges as the main trend of Catalan modernist literature.