19th-Century Spanish Realism and Naturalism: Authors and Characteristics
Realism: Origins and Evolution
Realism arose in France in the first half of the 19th century, immersed in Romanticism. It even started with authors such as Balzac and Stendhal. It developed as an independent movement with Flaubert in the context of an urban, industrial society, with the bourgeois class established.
In Spain, the realist movement began around 1870, after the “Glorious Revolution,” and had its heyday in the 1880s. It was influenced by Romantic genres, such as the historical novel and especially *costumbrismo*, along with aesthetic works and reflections of foreign novelists like Dickens or Tolstoy.
Realism and Naturalism
Naturalism was born from the impulse of Émile Zola, who, in his book *The Experimental Novel*, influenced by scientific breakthroughs, proposed applying the scientific method to literature. This was to describe and analyze the human being, determined by the environment, biological heritage, and historical moment.
In Spain, the context was different: there was a flourishing real capitalism. Writers rejected biological determinism and claimed free will and humor, but incorporated elements of Naturalism. This favored a new way of writing novels in the 1880s.
Features of 19th-Century Spanish Realism
Detailed and Documented Descriptions
Realist writers make use of observation and documentation to reflect reality. Descriptions of places, people, and objects are explanatory and functional, characterizing and justifying behaviors of characters.
Language
Authors used realistic vocabulary, expressions, and a variety of geographical, social, and situational contexts to reflect the narrated world. Language became an essential resource for characterizing environments, and above all, the characters, who are distinguished through their language use, according to geographical origin, sociocultural level, and communicative situation.
Themes, Plot, and Characters
The conflict between the individual and society is a very common motif in realistic narrative and is related to the opposition between society and nature, which appears exalted. The individual, a misfit, is facing a community and is occasionally defeated by the world around them.
Historical events are alluded to in the story and in the characters’ talks, or serve to place familiar facts, to draw parallels with attitudes and actions of the protagonists. Urban and rural places become important in these novels, like Madrid in Galdós’s works or the Galician *Pazos* in Emilia Pardo Bazán’s.
The narrative generally respects chronological temporality, presenting a succession of events. Material and simultaneity are usually organized through narrative contrasts, precluding visions of the world. The characters, which are usually numerous, represent a particular social group. They also show individual personalities, fighting, and revealing themselves. Protagonists are confirmed and evolve throughout history, and many appear in other novels published by the same author.
Galdós
An author of extensive literary output, Benito Pérez Galdós’s work evolved, enriching itself with several contributions. As a novelist, he is especially noted for character creation and his ability to integrate the history of the country into the lives of those beings.
His narrative work begins with *La Fontana de Oro*, a historical novel with *costumbrista* elements from 1873.
*Episodios Nacionales*
The *Episodios Nacionales* are 46 stories, written between 1873 and 1912 and distributed in five series, each with ten episodes (except the last, which has six). They are short narratives of the most important historical events in 19th-century Spain. Framed as historical novels, they constitute chronicles of the immediate past; thus, their title refers to historical events. In relation to them, they recount episodes of everyday life of fictional characters whose lives are confirmed in the plot. Minor characters act as witnesses to relevant facts. Galdós uses both the first and third person in these narratives.