Modernism and Realism in 19th Century Spanish Literature

Posted on Sep 30, 2024 in Arts and Humanities

Modernism

Definition:

A range of motion. More than a fad, it is a vital position in Spain and recognizable in Hispanoamérica.

Origins:

Modernism appeared in Latin America in reaction to the commercialism of the bourgeois cultural revolution. After the wars of independence, some countries had achieved economic prosperity and increased contact with Europe, as the European style seemed more refined. While this change in literary taste occurred, modernism claimed the need for a new, decolonized society. The blend of art, literary bohemian life, and the ideas of artists produced a movement of renovation and renewal of formal sensitivity. These sources included French symbolism and Parnassianism.

Features:

  • Constant renewal of literary language: Avoidance, exoticism, cosmopolitanism.
  • Recreated the past (medieval, Renaissance, eighteenth century) and the distant lands and exoticism of the Hispano-World.
  • The exoticism of particular aesthetic desires and ideals forbidden by reality.
  • Hispanic roots against the threat of the United States.
  • Renovation of poetic language: enriched the language with foreign words and Americanisms, archaisms, neologisms, and conversational style.
  • Also searched for the impressionistic effect of synesthesia, chromaticism, and musicality.

Metrics:

  • Recovered old forms of classical literature.
  • Used agile Alexandrian hemistiches, breaking through with new meters and trying englobamiento.
  • Created freedom in metrical poems in prose and free verse.

19th Century Realism (1868-1888)

1. Historical Context:

Sociopolitical Aspects:
  • Revolution of 1868.
  • Labor and fiscal reforms.
  • Failure of the First Republic: restoration of the Monarchy.
  • Caciquismo (political bossism).
  • Economic and bourgeois triumph.
  • Workers’ organizations.
  • Professionalization of the writer.
Ideological and Cultural Aspects:
  • Krausismo (19th century): Ideology based on the reform process of the country within liberal thought.
  • Positivism: experimentation, denies the absolute principles of reason.
  • Development of the press.

2. Realism:

An artistic current proposed to represent reality as closely as possible and with the greatest degree of verisimilitude.

Origins and Evolution:
  • Arose in France (early 19th century).
  • Reached maximum development in Spain in 1880.
  • Influences: Historical novels, articles of customs, discussions of foreign novelists.
Realism and Naturalism:
  • Naturalism: The experimental novel, Emile Zola 1880 (France). Discovering and analyzing the human being through the scientific method.
  • In Spain, it was carried out to the fullest. For French writers, humans are determined by the environment, the historical moment, and biological inheritance. Spanish writers reject this and claim free will and humor.

3. Features of the Realistic Novel:

  • Detailed and documented descriptions.
  • Language: Expressions of geographical, social, and situational varieties as a resource for better characterization of environments and characters.
  • Themes, plot, and characters: Conflict between the individual and society: Opposition between nature and society. The man is a misfit who feels defeated by the world around him. Allusions to historical events. Urban and rural locations. Chronological time. Contrasts, worldviews. Numerous characters, individual characters.

4. Narrative Work of Benito Pérez Galdós:

National Episodes (1873-1912):
  • “Trafalgar”, “Mendizabal”, and “Spain Tragic”: 5 series of 46 short stories about historical events of Spain in the 19th century.
  • “Historical Chronicles”: Narrate events of everyday life with fictional characters. Educational and civic purpose: Proposes to help spread the history of Spain.
Novels of the First Period:
  • “Doña Perfecta” (1876), “Marianela” (1878).
  • Novels that expose conflicts.
  • Themes underlying the author’s ideas: freedom, tolerance, progress. The characters are mouthpieces for the author’s ideas. Moral intent of the author. Irony, symbolism. Narrative techniques.
Contemporary Novels (1881-1890):
  • “Torment”, “The Locket”, “Fortunata and Jacinta”, “La de Bringas”, “The Disinherited”.
  • Dominion of narrative art: the fictional world reflects the reality of Madrid (characters of a very complex natural and socio-historical nature).
  • Narrative techniques: omniscient and chronicler narrator. The dialogues provide different perspectives on reality and characterize the characters. The interior monologue presents the style indirect libre (theater mode). Humor, irony, and parody are also used.
Spiritual Novels (1890-1897):
  • “Angel Guerra” (1897), “Mercy” (1897), “Nazarín” (1895).
  • Gospel values prevail (love, Christian charity).
  • Dissolution of ideological failure of the bourgeoisie. Lost ideals put into the development of bourgeois society, returns to the principles of Christianity.
  • Follows the current of Russian spiritualist Tolstoy (humble characters, sense of duty, slums).
Latest Novels (1905-1915):
  • “Casandra” (1905): A mixture of realism with fantastic elements.
  • “Education is the means to transform the country.”
“Fortunata and Jacinta” (1886-1887):
  • Love triangle: near the conflict is also loving society.
  • Reflects the social, religious, political, and economic era.
  • Recreation of the female world: Fortunata represents nature, the people, rebellion against the rules, social transgression, authenticity, and passion. Jacinta symbolizes bourgeois society, respect for the law. Delicate, weak, frail, etc.
  • A multitude of secondary characters that shows various frameworks of society.
  • Space and time: Madrid (urban environment). History: December 1869 to Fortunata’s death in 1876, linear time with flashbacks.
  • Narrator: At first, a witness (makes comments and is ironic), then becomes omniscient.

5. Pereda: Realism and Regionalism:

  • Region (patriarchal, pure world).
  • Evolution from everyday realism to realism.
  • Exaltation of traditional values: social classicism.
  • “Pedro Sánchez” (1883), “Sotileza”, “Peñas Arriba”, “Pepita Jiménez” (1874).

6. Clarín’s Narrative Work:

  • Production of criticism in newspapers and magazines. Satirical, political, and literary texts.
  • Narrative work: Influences: Naturalism and Spiritualism.
  • “Stories”: Predominantly literature and critical derision.
  • “La Regenta”: Search for ideal love in a hostile environment. Love triangle theme (Fermín de Pas, Álvaro Mesía, Ana Ozores). Topics: adultery and literature (poems, newspapers, etc.). Structure: In media res: 3 days, presentation of characters, environments disappear. It is divided into two parts. Narrative techniques: natural elements, detail, thematic opposition, realistic techniques, free indirect style, irony of the narrator.

7. Pardo Bazán and Blasco Ibáñez:

Emilia Pardo Bazán:
  • Natural elements (descriptions, Galician environmental influences, etc.).
  • “Los Pazos de Ulloa” and “Mother Nature” (description of Galicia, confrontation between town and country). Regional novels.
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez:
  • “Reeds and Mud”, “La Barraca”, “Arroz y Tartana”: Realism and adventures. Sentimentality. Exoticism.