Literature in Aragonese

Page Liber regum.

The Aragonese language -also called Navarro-Aragonese in its medieval period- has not enjoyed, throughout its history, the literary prestige enjoyed by the other Romance languages of the Iberian Peninsula.

The Glosas Emilianenses (10th century) are the first written evidence of the Aragonese language. This affirmation, which opposes the one that considers these glosses as Castilian, is supported by linguistic analysis, in which many of the features appear clearly Aragonese. This is the case of -it- resulting from -ct- (muito, feito), from the diphthongization before yod (uellos, tieno), or from certain verbal forms, such as those of the verb to be, and lexical.

But it was not until the 12th and 13th centuries that Aragonese began to have a greater presence in written documents. Of note from this period are Liber Regum —the first general history with extensive narrative development in a peninsular Romance language—, Ten Commandments —doctrinal treatise for confessors— and the Vidal Mayor, legal work where the charters of Aragon are compiled. Texts such as Razón feita d'amor, the Libre dels tres reyes d'orient or the Vida de Santa María Egipciaca also present clear Aragonese traits.

Juan Fernández de Heredia, represented in an initial miniature of his Chronic grant from Spain.

Already in the fourteenth century, the personality of Juan Fernández de Heredia, humanist, historian and author of the Grant Crónica d'Espanya and the Crónica de los Conquiridores, among other works. He was also the one who was in charge of translating classical works of Antiquity into Aragonese, such as Plutarch's Parallel Lives . However, the Aragonese used in these works already presents a clear polymorphism, in which Castilianisms, Catalanisms and cultisms appear.

More Aragonese is the Crónica de San Juan de la Peña, from the same century, which includes the prosified verses of a deed song, the Cantar de la Campana de Huesca, which would date from the late twelfth or early thirteenth century. Other translations were also carried out at this time, such as the Book of the Wonders of the World, John Mandeville's travel book.

From the 15th century, with the entry of the Castilian dynasties in Aragon, the Aragonese language suffered a progressive social discredit that would affect its literature. The verses of Eiximén Aznáriz will be the highlights of a century in which Aragonese writers will adopt, for the most part, the new language of the court and upper classes, Castilian. In this way, the 16th century will already see Aragonese writers in the Spanish language, in which it will have authors of the stature of Baltasar Gracián or the brothers Lupercio and Bartolomé Leonardo de Argensola. However, these centuries will continue to see an important presence of Aragonese in aljamiada literature (written with Arabic script), as can be seen in the Poema de Yuçuf, studied by Menéndez Pidal and in many manuscripts and fragments of works like The Thousand and One Nights.

Cover of the Comedia Vidriana.

Renaissance theater in Aragon is cultivated by Jaime de Huete, who wrote his comedies in the first half of the XVI century century Tesorina and Vidriana, which included dialogues from popular speech with abundant Aragonese words.

The Aragonese language, becoming more and more a language of rural and familiar areas, will adopt a markedly popular character in the following centuries. The seventeenth century will have isolated writers who, aware of the differences between the speech of the people (Aragonese) and the one adopted by the writers, will try to imitate that one to give their works greater realism. This will be the case of the abbess Ana Abarca de Bolea, author of the poem Albada al Nacimiento, and also of the "pastoradas" since the 18th century, in which the "repatán" is often expressed in Aragonese. Joaquín Costa in March 1879 published in the Boletín de la Institución Libre de Enseñanza a curious formula of Ribagorzana pastorate: "Every day of the festival, they menchan lo disná. — In Mon de Roda donuts, don't go home.- The chaplains used to wear their hats in the procession...".

The 19th and 20th centuries will see a certain revival of Aragonese literature, although its status as a minority language and lacking a serious standard reference will make writers treat their themes, often local, in their own dialectal variety of Aragonese. Thus, in 1844 the novel Life of Pedro Saputo, by Braulio Foz, appeared in Aragonese by Almudévar. Already in the XX century, the following stand out: in cheso, the costumbrista comedies of Domingo Miral and the poetry of Veremundo Méndez; in Grausino, the popular writings of Tonón de Baldomera; in Estadillano, the verses of Cleto Torrodellas Español and the writings, in verse and prose, of Cleto José Torrodellas Mur; In Somontanés, the costumbrist stories by Pedro Arnal Cavero, as well as the popular novel by Juana Coscujuela, A Lueca, istoria d'una mozeta d'o Semontano.

The years after the dictatorship represent a revitalization of Aragonese literature, which now pursues a more standardized or supradialectal model. Numerous philological studies on the various Aragonese languages will help to adopt a joint vision of the language. 1977 will be the year of the first written Aragonese grammar, by Francho Nagore, who had already published the book of poetry Sospiros de l'aire (1971). A year later, Ánchel Conte published the collection of poems Don't let my voice die and Eduardo Vicente de Vera published Garba y augua (1976) and Do s'amorta l'alba (1977). From the first years, the number of authors in what will be called literary or common Aragonese grows (Francho Rodés, Chusé Inazio Nabarro, Óscar Latas Alegre, Francho Nagore, Chusé Raul Usón, María Pilar Benítez Marco, Ferrán Marín Ramos, Chusé Antón Santamaría Loriente, Ánchel Conte, Rafel Vidaller Tricas, Jesús de Jaime, etc.) as opposed to the local or dialectal Aragonese, which also continues to be cultivated in works such as those by Nieus Luzía Dueso in the dialect of Gistaín or " chistabín", José María Satué in Sobrepuerto, Máximo Palacio and Ricardo Mur Saura in Alto Gállego, Emilio Gastón in cheso, or those of Ana Tena and Toni Collada in Ribagorzano. Likewise, the number of literary prizes that promote literary creativity will grow in these years, such as the Villa de Siétamo Literary Prize, the "Luis del Val" or the Arnal Cavero Award.