19th Century Spanish Literature: Romanticism, Realism, and Naturalism

Posted on Sep 22, 2024 in Music

1. European Social and Historical Context

Politics

The 19th century began with liberal ideals advocating popular sovereignty and individual freedom of thought and expression. However, the latter half of the century saw a rise in more authoritarian governments supported by the bourgeoisie to protect their privileges.

Society

The estate-based society transitioned into a class-based society, with the bourgeoisie replacing the nobility in power. This era marked the rise of mechanization and the beginnings of capitalism. Population growth led to poor working conditions and a clash between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.

Thought

Rationalism faced a crisis, giving way to new concepts of culture and schools of thought. Following Kant’s death, philosophy shifted towards Hegel’s idealistic theory. Experience became the new foundation of knowledge. Science progressed, particularly in physics, medicine, and biology, accompanied by a growing interest in social sciences. Alongside liberal political theory, utopian socialism emerged, condemning the abuses of capitalism and proposing an egalitarian society model.

2. The Nineteenth Century in Spain

Political Turmoil

The War of Independence against Napoleon’s invasion ignited a resurgence of patriotism. Fernando VII initiated an absolutist period that lasted until his death, followed by the Liberal Triennium. This period witnessed cultural and social decline, with intellectuals exiled and censorship suppressing free expression. The Carlist Wars erupted between supporters of Isabel II and followers of Carlos, a division reflected in the literature of the time. After Isabel II ascended the throne, a popular revolution eventually dethroned her and established a constitution. Years later, a republic was proclaimed, and the Restoration began with Alfonso XII.

Social Tensions

The 19th century in Spain was a time of immense tension and conflict. Technological and industrial advancements were delayed until the latter half of the century.

Culture

Spain lagged behind European developments. Intellectuals faced confrontation, and an ideological division between the “Two Spains” emerged: the Elizabethan and Carlist absolutists versus the liberals, progressives, and moderates.

Literature

Three major European and Spanish movements dominated the literary landscape: Romanticism, Realism, and Naturalism.

3. Romanticism

Meaning

The crisis of absolutism and the decline of the Ancien Régime set the stage for the Romantic aesthetic revolution. The Romantic character was defined by protest against the bourgeois world, dissatisfaction with established values, and the grave political and social problems of the time.

Precursors

Romantic sensibilities emerged in Germany and England in the late 18th century (Young and Goethe). Goethe rebelled against neoclassical rules. The onset of Romanticism is often associated with his novel Werther, in which the protagonist commits suicide due to a failed love affair.

Connections to Other Periods

Romanticism maintained connections with previous movements: the Enlightenment provided the foundation for its growth; the Baroque influenced its taste for national literature, the blending of genres, and the rejection of artistic rules; and the Renaissance resonated in its use of landscape to reflect the character’s mood.

Characteristics of Romanticism

Romanticism represented a new way of life and creation, grappling with the problems of humanity and society. Its key features include:

• Individualism: Individuals prioritize their own goals. Artists express their emotions with self-centeredness.
• Freedom of Expression: Individuals assert their right to speak, emphasizing individual rights over societal norms and challenging gender roles. Social and artistic rules are rejected. However, a profound sense of emptiness and loneliness leads to Romantic pessimism and dissatisfaction, defining the “mal du siècle.”
• Rebellion and Contradictions: The Romantic’s inner world seeks an elusive happiness that clashes with the external bourgeois reality. Escape becomes a Romantic necessity, leading to journeys to unknown lands or engagement with problems that sometimes culminate in suicide.
• Nationalism: Political nationalism is championed against political universalism. Each country, region, or locality celebrates its traditional customs and values.

Types of Romanticism

Romanticism was not a homogenous movement, encompassing two distinct ideological attitudes:

• Conservative Romanticism: This branch sought to restore traditional, patriotic, and religious values (e.g., Schlegel, Scott, Chateaubriand, Zorrilla, and the Duke of Rivas).
• Liberal Romanticism: This branch embodied the progressive and revolutionary values of the time (e.g., Lord Byron, Victor Hugo, Dumas, Larra, and Espronceda).

3.1 Romanticism in Spain

Romanticism in Spain involved a clash between liberals and conservatives.

Routes of Entry

Romanticism arrived late in Spain and enjoyed a relatively short period of dominance. Its main avenues of introduction were:

• Journalism: Articles criticizing neoclassical rules were published, and journals were established to challenge neoclassical rigidity on behalf of early Romantics.
• Return of Spanish Liberals: The return of exiled liberals, such as de la Rosa, Espronceda, and the Duke of Rivas, who had encountered European Romantic trends, further facilitated the introduction of Romanticism.

The peak of Romanticism coincided with the premiere of a play by the Duke of Rivas, and its decline was marked by the publication of Fernán Caballero’s work.

3.2 Romantic Literature

Literature served as a tool for Romantics to transform society. Writers engaged in politics and social conflicts, utilizing journalism to reach the masses.

Themes

• Historical Themes: National or regional history became a significant source of inspiration.
• Feelings: Romantic individualism and egotism translated into literature saturated with subjective emotions and feelings, such as:
  • Love: A quintessential Romantic phenomenon, love took two forms: romantic love (characterized by a dreamy and melancholic attitude) and passionate love (transgressing boundaries and sometimes leading to disappointment and frustration).
  • Women: In the context of love, women assumed two roles: the angel of love (sweet, innocent, beautiful, and victimized) or the femme fatale (vengeful and destructive).
  • Life: In pursuit of their impossible dreams, men embarked on dangerous adventures, fueled by heroic aspirations.
  • Rebellion Against the World: Romantic discontent, the yearning for freedom, and grand illusions often led to disappointment and, in some cases, literary suicide.
  • Social Conflicts: Artists reflected the social and political conflicts of the century, portraying marginalized yet free characters.

Aesthetics

Romanticism introduced new expressive techniques and procedures, fostering artistic renewal based on the rejection of established rules. Key elements include:

• Setting: Nature became a confidante for the hero, mirroring their mood.
• Fantasy: The boundaries of reality were blurred, with a penchant for the supernatural and mystery permeating works.
• Drama: Distorted forms were employed, creating an aesthetic based on emotional intensity. The aim was to evoke in the viewer the same emotions the artist intended to convey.
• Creative Freedom: Opposition to rules was a hallmark of the Romantic style. Subjectivity blended various elements.
• Language: An emphatic and exaggerated language, replete with question marks and exclamations, comparisons, metaphors, and various rhetorical figures. A lexicon designed for effect, with an abundance of adjectives, proparoxytones, and complex sentences. Strong advocates for linguistic purity and the use of regional dialects in certain genre scenes.
• Genres: Romanticism dissolved the boundaries between epic, lyric, and dramatic forms, as well as between prose and verse. Different tones and styles were interwoven within the same work, enriching genres in the spirit of creative freedom, which served as their motto.

3.3 Poetry

Poetry was the genre that best expressed the Romantic attitude towards life. The poet became the intermediary between the world of art and the world of others. True Romantic poetry gained prominence in the 1830s. Romantic poets created a poetry centered on the individual, their emotions, feelings, and aspirations.

Themes

• The poet’s feelings, particularly love.
• Exotic themes drawn from Eastern legends and traditions.
• Recreation of historical settings.
• The theme of death.
• Satanic and supernatural elements.
• Freedom.

Form

• Inspiration and spontaneity.
• Rehabilitation of the romance form.
• A strong sense of musicality.
• Alternating stanzas, meters, and rhythms.
• Refined language, rhetoric, and grandiloquence.

Trends and Poetic Genres

• Narrative Poetry: Characterized by an epic and heroic tone, narrative poetry drew inspiration from legendary, historical, and exotic sources. It employed varied meter, rhetorical language, and an abundance of epithets and proparoxytones. The most representative author is José de Espronceda, whose two most important poems are El estudiante de Salamanca and El diablo mundo.
• Lyric Poetry: Its themes revolved around love, hopes and disappointments, society, and morality. Lyrical ballads, elegies, songs, and romances flourished. Two stages can be distinguished:
  • Early Romantic Stage: This stage marked the triumph and peak of the movement. Espronceda’s Poesías stands out, along with La canción del pirata, a hymn celebrating freedom outside societal constraints.
  • Post-Romantic Stage: This stage saw a departure from the rhetorical tone and narrative excesses of the earlier phase, moving away from legendary themes and offering a more subjective poetry. Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer and Rosalía de Castro are prominent figures.
    • Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer: Considered the first modern Spanish poet, Bécquer became a model for later poets. His poetry is primarily contained in Rimas, published posthumously. This collection reflects two aspects:
      • The fusion of poetry and the individual, with a strong personal involvement of the poet. For Bécquer, poetry, like love, was inexplicable.
      • In addition to inspiration, he believed in the formal development of poems, characterized by intimacy, brevity, and simplicity.
    • Rosalía de Castro: Primarily writing in Galician, Rosalía de Castro’s work exhibits a richer thematic scope than Bécquer’s and displays a greater sensitivity to nature. She is credited with the renaissance of Galician poetry.

3.5 Prose

Three main prose genres emerged during the Romantic period:

• The Novel

  Due to absolutism, culture and the novel experienced a period of stagnation. By 1830, a distinct Romantic novel had emerged:

  • Historical Novel: Reflecting a Romantic attitude through a nostalgic lens focused on the past, the historical novel began with Chateaubriand and Walter Scott. Its subjects often depicted events from the medieval period. Two variants existed:
    • Liberal Historical Novel: This variant adapted themes from Spanish history with an anti-traditionalist perspective. Larra and Espronceda are notable figures.
    • Moderate Historical Novel: This variant recreated a historical and legendary universe that extolled traditional values. Gil y Carrasco is a prominent author.
      • Social Novel: A subgenre of the historical novel, the social novel featured melodramatic popular stories that sought the well-being of marginalized groups and aimed to dismantle privileges. Ayguals de Izco is a key figure.

        • Costumbrismo

          Building on the Romantic tradition, a new genre emerged: costumbrismo, which was closely linked to journalism and provided an objective description of reality. Its characteristics include:

          • Short length.
          • Pleasant and graceful style and language.
          • Focus on contemporary issues.

          Two types can be distinguished:

          • Scenes: These described events and customs. Mesonero Romanos and Estébanez Calderón are notable authors.
          • Types: These depicted typical social and regional characters.

            • Journalism

              The rise of the bourgeoisie and technological advancements led to the rapid proliferation of newspapers and magazines, giving birth to a new genre: the article. Journalistic prose originated in the Cortes of Cádiz in 1812. Romantic writers and thinkers utilized newspapers to disseminate their ideas of progress. The most prominent figure of this era is Mariano José de Larra, a man committed to the realities of his time who addressed Spain’s plight with clarity. He began as a satirist and critic at the age of 19, and his disappointments in love and political frustrations led him to suicide at 28. He believed in freedom of expression and the concept of useful literature. He championed progress and modernity, attacking outdated customs and entrenched vices. His style was clear, direct, ironic, and sarcastic. His articles can be categorized into three groups:

              • Articles of Manners: These offered social critiques, describing episodes of everyday life with an ironic and sarcastic tone.
              • Articles of Political Criticism: Larra’s sharpest critiques were directed at the Carlists and moderate liberals.
              • Literary Criticism: For Larra, literature was an expression of society, and the writer had a responsibility to engage with it. He primarily focused on theatrical criticism.

3.6 Theater

Drama triumphed in the theater, but comedy continued to develop.

• Romantic Drama

  Originating in Germany, Romantic drama appeared in Spain in 1834 with Martínez de la Rosa. Its central theme was love, with lovers aspiring to the perfect marriage, an impossible dream. Among the characters, the hero stands out, typically of unknown origin, a lover of freedom, seeking happiness, but always facing a melancholic end to their dreams. The heroine is innocent, sweet, and deeply passionate. Dramatic scenery plays a crucial role. Romantic drama rejects all rules, blending the tragic and the comic, prose and verse, and breaking the unities of time and place. Its purpose is to move the audience.

  The first work considered to be fully Romantic is La conjuración de Venecia by Martínez de la Rosa, whose main theme is the struggle for freedom. The Duke of Rivas is the most important author, and the premiere of Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino in 1835 marked the triumph of Romanticism in Spain. The central theme is the inevitability that haunts Don Álvaro, leading to his complete destruction. It disregards dramatic unities and utilizes both prose and verse.

  José Zorrilla wrote the highly successful Romantic drama Don Juan Tenorio, whose character reflects Romantic tastes. Other notable Romantic works include El trovador by García Gutiérrez and Los amantes de Teruel by Hartzenbusch.

• Comedy

  Comedy during this period manifested as a comedy of manners, incorporating light and magical elements.

4. Realism and Naturalism

Bourgeois values prevailed, and artists adopted a critical approach to analyze and describe reality. Realism marked the beginning of this shift.

4.1 Realism

The term “Realism” originated in France, inspired by the work of Gustave Courbet, a painter of reality. Realism was not entirely opposed to Romanticism but rather stemmed from its evolution, responding to the changing tastes of the bourgeois public. Grandiosity was now rejected. On the one hand, Realism developed certain Romantic elements, such as costumbrismo. On the other hand, it eliminated subjectivity, the excessive use of imagination, and the reliance on the legendary past. Realism was influenced by Comte’s positivism, Darwin’s evolutionism, and the social and political ideas of the time.

Characteristics of Literary Realism

• Strict observation of reality.
• Use of an objective technique.
• Social intent of the writers.
• Elimination of bombastic rhetoric.

The main themes stemmed from the bourgeois mentality: money, power, etc. Characters reflected the changes and social tensions of the time. The publication of Madame Bovary by Flaubert in 1857 marked the triumph of Realism in Europe. Other notable figures include Dickens and Wilde in England, and Dostoevsky and Tolstoy in Russia.

4.2 Naturalism

In the late 19th century, Realism drifted towards Naturalism, a movement initiated by Zola, who based his doctrines on the philosophical and scientific theories of the time. Key aspects include:

• Biological and Social Determinism: Humans are not free; their actions are determined by their biological inheritance and social conditions.
• Experimentalism: The novelist should experiment with their characters, explaining their actions.
• Socialism: Naturalism was anti-bourgeois.

The themes of literary Naturalism aimed to denounce misery and corruption, highlighting the most unpleasant aspects of society. Zola and Maupassant were prominent defenders of Naturalism.

4.3 Realism and Naturalism in Spain

The development of Realism in Spain mirrored the evolution of society. Three factors influenced its rise:

• The success of costumbrismo articles.
• The serial novel in Spain.
• Translations of foreign authors.

Realism thrived in Spain because Spanish literature had a strong realist tradition. The regional novel dominated, with authors such as Pereda, Clarín, and Galdós. A distinct Spanish Naturalism did not fully emerge.

4.4 Prose: The Realistic Novel

The labor press reflected the social tensions of the time.

Characteristics of the Realistic Novel

The novelist became the spokesperson of the collective consciousness. Readers sought to recognize themselves in the characters, creating a perfect symbiosis between the writer and society. Its salient features include:

• Themes: The conflict between the individual and society.
• Focus: The character. New techniques for exploring the human psyche, such as the interior monologue, were employed.
• Depiction of Settings: The novels displayed a great diversity of settings, often with a focus on local color.
• Narrator: An omniscient narrator was used, but there was a tendency for the narrator to recede into the background, allowing the characters to act and thus enhancing objectivity.
• Style: Simplicity was sought, with flexibility in dialogue and depth in the characters’ reflections.

Periods and Authors

• Pre-Realism

  Novelists drew inspiration from costumbrismo and created a richer novelistic form: pre-Realism, characterized by:

  • An attempt to reproduce reality in motion.
  • The development of characters’ personalities conditioned by their social environment.
  • A moral, political, and religious dualism.

  Notable pre-Realist authors include Fernán Caballero and Pedro Antonio de Alarcón.

• Realism

  Thesis novels became vehicles for conveying a particular conception of reality. Two trends emerged:

  • Conservative: This trend rejected certain themes and settings, opting for a degree of idealization. José María de Pereda, who championed idyllic rural life against urban progress, is a prominent figure.
  • Progressive: This trend advocated for radical social change and attacked religious intolerance. Galdós’s Doña Perfecta is a prime example.

    • Maturity of Realism

      In the 1890s, works gained in objectivity and quality. The vision of reality became more open, with a less pronounced ideological bias.

      Benito Pérez Galdós was the most prominent author of Spanish Realism, a man open to progress and with a critical view of patriotism. His most important works include Miau, Fortunata y Jacinta, and the Episodios Nacionales, a series of 46 novels featuring fictional characters living through historical events. Galdós’s style encompasses three key elements:

      • Acute powers of observation.
      • Mastery of portraiture techniques.
      • Use of interior monologue.

      His anti-rhetorical prose is simple yet highly expressive, characterized by a use of irony reminiscent of Cervantes’s realism.

      Juan Valera was a diplomat, writer, and man of the world. In his novels, he addressed problems from a moderate liberal perspective in politics and a skeptical stance in religion. He was concerned with the theory and aesthetics of the novel in general and rejected thesis novels. His style is characterized by correctness, carefulness, and irony, but he sometimes tends towards idealization and pays close attention to the psychology of his characters (particularly female characters).

      Clarín was a novelist, university professor, journalist, philosopher, and literary critic. He advocated for engaged literature from a progressive standpoint. His most important short stories are La pipa de kif and Adiós, Cordera! His novels include La Regenta and Su único hijo.

      • La Regenta: This novel depicts the seduction of a lonely woman by a typical Don Juan figure, on whom her spiritual confessor exerts a powerful influence. Adultery and the ambiguity of the priest and the Regent are central themes. It portrays provincial society during the Restoration period. The novel is divided into two parts of 15 chapters each, with a slow pace in the first part and a more dynamic one in the second. The omniscient narrator allows the characters to act. It is considered one of the best works of the century and the most universal Spanish novel after Don Quixote.

        • Naturalist Tendencies in the Novel

          Spanish Naturalism is limited to a few elements, notably found in La Regenta (Clarín) and Lo prohibido (Galdós).