Narcís Oller

Narcís Oller i de Moragas (Catalan pronunciation: [nəɾˈsiz uˈʎe]; 10 August 1846 – 26 July 1930) was a Catalan lawyer and novelist who initially wrote in the traditions of literary realism and naturalism, later adapting his style to the Modernisme movement, the Catalan equivalent of Art Nouveau. Despite his stylistic evolution, he is considered one of the leading Catalan authors of the 19th century. He is best known for his novels La papallona (The Butterfly), which featured a foreword by Émile Zola in the French translation; L'Escanyapobres (The Usurer), regarded as his masterpiece; and La febre d'or (Gold Fever), set in Barcelona during the speculative real estate boom known as promoterism. His novel La bogeria (The Madness) was translated into English by Douglas Suttle and published by Fum d'Estampa Press in 2020. Oller also translated works by Leo Tolstoy and Alexandre Dumas, père into Catalan. His contribution was instrumental in the Catalan literary renaissance known as the Renaixença, and he helped pioneer a modern Catalan prose style.