The Reception of Tirant lo Blanch in Valencia in the 19th and 20th Centuries

During the second half of the 19th century Valencian intellectuals showed a remarkable interest in the major works of the 15th century among which we find Tirant lo Blanch, a novel which was not published in Catalan during the Modern Age until 1873, and therefore was only accessible to librarians and scholars. This article reviews the efforts, with the invaluable help of the Majorcan Marià Aguiló, made by Valencian writers between 1866 and 1928 to approach, reveal and study the matter. These authors’ aim, related to the Renaixença movement, was to value and demand a reappraisal of Joanot Martorell’s work; and so, they took the first step in a long process of cultural recovery which stretched on for the whole of the 20th century.