The best dystopian fiction ever written in Catalan

Andrea Víctrix presents a dystopian vision of Palma, Mallorca, now named ‘Turclub’, in the year 2050. The
unnamed narrator, who bears a certain resemblance to the author, had placed himself in voluntary cryo-stasis
in 1965, fatigued by modern ‘civilization’ and morality, only to reawaken 85 years later with the physique of a
30-year old. Villalonga sets up an intriguing interplay between the narrator and the eponymous, androgynous
Andrea Víctrix, so-called Director of Pleasure, in a satirical, sometimes self-ironizing exploration of contemporary
issues such as gender and sexuality, consumerism, environmental disaster and the politics of big business.
Both of its time and startlingly prescient, Andrea Víctrix merits a place amongst the greats of European
dystopian fiction.