20th-Century Spanish Novel: Trends, Authors, and Styles
The Spanish Novel in the 20th Century
The Novel in the 40s
The first publication that breaks the triumphalist and friendly trend imposed after the Civil War to hide the physical and moral misery of the Spanish people is The Family of Pascual Duarte by Camilo José Cela. The thematic and aesthetic renovation that resulted from this novel was confirmed by the appearance of others in which, with the same pessimistic tone, detailed personal reflections about their own existence were presented. Among these novels, Nada by Carmen Laforet stands out, where the protagonist, a college student in postwar Barcelona, tries to guide her life through the human and economic misery that surrounds her.
The Novel in the 50s
Back in the 50s, after the publication of The Way by Miguel Delibes, The Hive by Camilo José Cela, and Ferris Wheel by Luis Romero, it appears that the narrators are abandoning the treatment of personal concerns to move on to the collective. Thus begins in Spain social realism, a movement that brings together the most important works of these years: Jarama by Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, Between Curtains by Carmen Martín Gaite, Small Theater by Ana María Matute, Glare and Blood by Ignacio Aldecoa, etc., and that is influenced by American novelists and Italian Neorealism.
The themes of these novels revolve around Spanish society, narrating its various aspects with the intention of exposing the different problems that occur therein. The style is of great simplicity, and the expressive point of view is sometimes subjective, as the author inserts his views on the events, and other times objective, as it merely reproduces reality without reflecting on it.
The Novel in the 60s
The publication in 1962 of the novel Time of Silence by Luis Martín-Santos began a revival in the style of Spanish writers, who from now on employ non-traditional narrative techniques like interior monologue or a combination of various points of view on the same story.
In general, there is a desire to give more importance to the novel’s form than its content. This is due in large part to the influence of foreign authors such as James Joyce, Franz Kafka, and Marcel Proust and the recovery of the work of storytellers and narrators who were in exile and whose works show a more fluid relationship with the literary avant-garde.
Some of the most representative works of this period, called experimental, are Marks of Identity by Juan Goytisolo, Last Evening with Teresa by Juan Marsé, Five Hours with Mario by Miguel Delibes, San Camilo 1936 by Camilo José Cela; The Saga/Escape of J.B. by Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, The String by Carmen Martín Gaite, etc.
The Novel from the 70s to the Present
Gradually, narrative experimentation is no longer the concern of novelists, and the play The Truth about the Savolta Case by Eduardo Mendoza, in 1975, marks the return to traditional forms. However, at present, the overview of the Spanish narrative presents a variety of themes and styles: detective fiction (Manuel Vázquez Montalbán), fantasy novels (Ana María Matute), historical novels (Eduardo Mendoza), experimental novels (Juan José Millás), etc.
Also, the short story has many representatives, from the early postwar years (Ignacio Aldecoa, Ana María Matute, Jesús Fernández Santos, etc.) to the present (Antonio Muñoz Molina, José María Merino, Álvaro Pombo, etc.).
Key Authors
Camilo José Cela
This writer, who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1989, has cultivated various genres, but it is in narrative where he achieved his greatest successes. His novels, besides showing off his lexical wealth, his characteristic black humor, and his precision in portraying characters, exemplify the themes and techniques used to express the different moments that have occurred in the Spanish novel: existentialism, social realism, and experimentalism.
The most representative novel by Camilo José Cela is The Hive and is located in the social realist period. This is a novel without a plot in which there is an extensive gallery of characters who move in postwar Madrid and give us a general overview of the time. The narrator maintains an objective attitude, although he does not always succeed and ends up giving opinions or further information about what he sees around him.
Miguel Delibes
The main characteristic of this author’s style is simplicity and clarity of expression.
In his works, rural environments and characters without resources dominate, whose actions go unnoticed in a society that values success, false appearances, and false progress. For Delibes, the elderly and children represent true wisdom, and he often puts into the mouths of these people his opinions about what he does not like about the world.
Miguel Delibes has gone through various stages of the Spanish novel. The Way is located in social realism, Five Hours with Mario in experimentalism, and The Heretic, his last publication, is a historical novel. Other titles by this author are Rats, Holy Innocents, The Dethroned Prince, etc.
Finally, it is important to remember that both film and theater have successfully adapted several works by this author, demonstrating their attractive thematic appeal.