This volume examines the cultural policy of the Catalan Autonomous Government under the leadership of Jordi Pujol and his party, Convergencia I Unio, who were in power from the post-Franco transitional period through Pujol's retirement in 2003. Examining issues of national identity and cultural nationalism in the context of globalization, multiculturalism, and the commodifications of culture, this book looks at how Pujol's government tackled these challenges. In addition, Kathryn Crameri analyzes the impact of devolved government on the promotion and preservation of minority cultures and the contradictions inherent in a world where national boundaries are supposedly diminishing.

Kathryn Crameri reveals some of the complex responses of writers and literary critics to the new possibilities for the expression of Catalan identities which resulted from Spain's transition from dictatorship to democracy. The study begins by considering the cultural and political context of the Catalan novel from the 'Renaixenca' to the present day, and then offers a detailed analysis of novels by four very different writers - Montserrat Roig, Manuel de Pedrolo, Juan Marse (who writes in Spanish) and Biel Mesquida - all of whom seem to share an underlying thematic preoccupation with both individual and national 'transitions' and the intricate relationship between language and identity. These writers challenge institutionalised visions of the link between Catalanism, the Catalan language and Catalan literature, and offer a more pluralistic and personalised version of what it is to call oneself Catalan. (Legenda 2000)