ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that El amante bilingue is in many ways more representative of the Transition in Catalonia than other novels which were written during the changes themselves. It narrates a personal transition which moves in parallel with political changes, and these changes themselves have a direct bearing on the personal life of the protagonist. In El amante bilingue Juan Marse takes carefully aimed pot-shots at the Catalan cultural establishment. Marse himself insists that the novel is primarily about the dual personality of the protagonist, Juan Mares, and not an all-out attack on the Catalan intelligentsia. Many factors have influenced John Edwards's conclusions, but one basic factor is the dual function of language itself, since it is both communicative and symbolic. Where a communicative ethnic language is lost, however, other factors, such as a strong sense of 'groupness', must compensate for it if a separate identity is to be maintained.
