The topic of the passante: humorous treatment in contemporary Catalan poetry

Abstract

This article analyses the literary topic of the passante—the fleeting encounter with an unknown woman in the urban space—from its origins in the 19th century to contemporary Catalan poetry, with particular attention to its humorous treatment. It begins with the archetypal configuration in French poetry, where the passante is idealised through a romantic, melancholic gaze linked to the figure of the flâneur, and shows how this model soon generated parodies that exposed its stereotypical nature. From the 20th century onward, the topic evolves toward more playful, realistic, and reflective forms that temper its emotional excess. In Catalan poetry, the theme gains prominence during Noucentisme, which profoundly reformulates it: the passante becomes orderly, vitalistic, collective, bourgeois and locally rooted, in the service of a cultural and civic project, while also giving rise to an anti-Romantic line that uses humour to discredit overly passionate models, with Josep Carner as a key figure. Finally, the study shows how this humorous and de-idealising approach endures beyond Noucentisme in later authors, confirming the continuing vitality and adaptability of a topic that remains alive in modern poetry.