Pío Baroja, Miguel de Unamuno, and Azorín: Exploring the Generation of ’98
Pío Baroja: Life, Ideology, and Literary Style
Early Life and Disillusionment
Pío Baroja was born in San Sebastián in 1872. His father’s constant work instilled a sense of rootlessness in him. He began a medical career without a true vocation, working as a rural doctor in Gipuzkoa. However, he resigned because he found the world unappealing. A fatalistic mood and a rejection of religious consolation shaped his worldview. His family moved to Madrid, where he managed a bakery and encountered the socialist-leaning bourgeoisie. He published his first stories and novels, including Camino de Perfección.
Political Involvement and Exile
Baroja briefly engaged in politics, running unsuccessfully for the Republican party. During the Spanish Civil War, he was arrested by Nationalist troops but later released and exiled to France. He returned to Spain after the German occupation and died in Madrid in 1956.
Character and Ideology
Baroja displayed a sensitivity to violence and a fear of intimate relationships. He showed both rejection of and fascination with violence, particularly in his characters. His works often reflect the social environment, subjective experiences, and a conscious reflection of life’s lack of permanence. He was skeptical and often adopted nihilistic views. Politically, he identified as anti-establishment, anti-militarist, and anti-clerical. He was a liberal, nationalist, and secularist but not a democrat. His skepticism extended to the belief that laws should allow the weak to do as they please.
Literary Career and Genres
Baroja’s literary output was vast, including several trilogies of novels and 22 volumes of historical novels titled Memorias de un hombre de acción, focusing on his ancestor, Eugenio Avinareta. He also wrote articles and essays. His prose demonstrates stylistic skill and autobiographical elements. He projected his experiences into his books, blending reality and irony.
Novelistic Techniques and Style
Baroja’s early readings included adventure novels by authors like Jules Verne, Alexandre Dumas, and Victor Hugo, which influenced his understanding of readership. He also read philosophers like Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, and classical authors like Shakespeare, Cervantes, and Molière. Among his contemporaries, he preferred Ortega y Gasset and Azorín but felt less connected to Unamuno and Valle-Inclán.
Baroja was drawn to popular culture and its vulgarity and picturesqueness, evident in his colloquial language. He was concerned with the purpose and audience of his writing, reflected in his prologues and epilogues. He aimed to entertain, distract, and connect with readers. His novels are open-ended, often beginning in medias res and concluding inconclusively. The dynamic mix of characters, environments, and themes creates engaging works for a broad audience.
Character Types and Dialogue
Baroja’s characters fall into two main types: pessimistic, antisocial individuals critical of the world (often reflecting bourgeois intellectuals), and adventurous, action-oriented characters (projecting Nietzsche’s vitalist thesis and Baroja’s own aspirations). Both types are characterized by their individuality and lack of direction. Dialogues are either philosophical or familial, effectively characterizing the characters.
The Tree of Knowledge
The Tree of Knowledge, part of the Race trilogy, is a representative work showcasing Baroja’s personality and the concerns of the Generation of ’98. It portrays Spain’s decline after the Disaster of ’98, depicting a chaotic and irresponsible country. The novel draws on Baroja’s experiences as a student and doctor, revealing his negative attitude towards society.
Like other ’98 authors, Baroja explores the Castilian landscape, but with a pessimistic lens. This negativity extends to his analysis of the inhabitants of Alcolea. He distrusts humans, and his characters are often social outcasts. His anti-clericalism and lack of religiosity are evident. The protagonist, Andrés Hurtado (a reflection of Baroja himself), is skeptical of revolution and offers no solutions for societal transformation. He is a skeptic, indifferent to political parties.
Miguel de Unamuno: Life, Ideas, and Novelistic Style
Early Life and Religious Crisis
Miguel de Unamuno was born in Bilbao in 1864 to a wealthy bourgeois family. He expressed strong religious beliefs as a child, but his study of the arts and rationalist readings led to a religious crisis. He joined the Socialist Party and began publishing books, primarily focused on practical matters and journalism. He collected his essays in En torno al casticismo, exploring the essence of the Spanish people.
Unamuno’s View of History and Literature
Unamuno distinguished between two types of history: the history of great men and political events (the surface), and the history of anonymous people (the conscience of the people). He believed that the fear of death caused anxiety, and humans sought two ways out: biological and spiritual survival (through their work). Literature, for Unamuno, was a means of achieving this spiritual survival.
Unamuno’s Ideas about the Novel
Unamuno viewed the novel as a form of intuitive knowledge, focusing on the inner world rather than the external. He believed that each individual had four personalities: the real personality (known only to God), the personality each person believes themselves to be, the personality others perceive, and the personality each person aspires to be (the creative identity). He considered the novel to be autobiographical, with characters representing the author’s opponents or alter egos.
Unamuno saw literature as a way to capture time and achieve lasting survival. He believed that the novelist died in their antagonist (the protagonist of the novel). He emphasized the reader’s role, as reading becomes an act of co-creation. Literature, for him, was a shared adventure in which the reader also dies at the end of the novel.
Oviparous and Viviparous Novels
Unamuno distinguished between two types of novels: oviparous (carefully planned and structured) and viviparous (written spontaneously, without a predetermined scheme). He preferred the latter, seeing the novel as an open expression of living thought. His novels often explore existential issues and personality conflicts, reflecting the intimate dramas of his characters.
Character Development and Style
Unamuno’s characters are passionate and driven by their past experiences. They are not described in detail, but their passions are vividly portrayed. His novels use symbols, images, and distorted realities. His style is characterized by a tendency towards violence and the use of symbolic imagery. He focuses on the essential aspects of inner life, ignoring detailed descriptions of time and space. His novels often begin in medias res, focusing on the protagonist’s essence rather than their actions.
Open Endings and Narrative Techniques
Unamuno’s novels often have open endings, leaving questions unanswered. He presents the struggles and agonies of his characters without providing solutions. These open endings were innovative for their time. His novels feature multiple perspectives, juxtaposing the viewpoints of characters and the narrator. Dialogue, monologue, and interior monologue are important elements.
Structure and Style
Unamuno’s plots can be seen as fragmented and lacking in unity of action. He uses interpolated stories and conversations that disrupt the main narrative. His characters often experience a divided self, questioning their existence and feeling insignificant. He frequently blends fiction and reality. His style has been described as “comic-tragic,” mixing caricature, humor, and exasperation. He uses both abstract and colloquial language, employing short sentences, interjections, repetitions, and even vulgar expressions.
José Martínez Ruiz “Azorín”: Life, Literary Evolution, and Style
Early Life and Anarchist Phase
Azorín was born in Alicante to a conservative lawyer. He was a shy and introverted child, as depicted in his autobiographical novel Confessions of a Little Philosopher. He studied law in Valencia at his father’s behest, but his true interests lay elsewhere. He entered intellectual circles in Valencia, discovering his passion for literature and journalism. He began writing articles for various newspapers and magazines, covering literature and politics. He started his political career as a conservative MP and later became a member of the Royal Academy.
Influenced by progressive circles and his readings, Azorín became an anarchist. He criticized institutions like the state, church, and marriage, believing they disregarded the individual. His rebellious and radical views appeared in his articles. He experienced a personal and professional crisis, moving to Madrid to pursue a literary career. He faced hardship due to his lack of money and high ambitions. He worked for the newspaper El País but was dismissed for an article criticizing marriage.
Disillusionment and Pessimism
Azorín lost faith in revolutionary ideas and his radicalism hindered his career. This led to pessimism. He read Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, adopting a pessimistic philosophy. His first novel, Diary of a Sick Man, is a first-person account of a writer’s crisis in the frenetic life of Madrid, intertwined with a melodramatic love story. The protagonist, a projection of Azorín himself, reflects the author’s personal conflicts.
Contemplative Phase and Autobiographical Novels
Azorín transitioned from anarchism and pessimism to a more contemplative phase. He became an analyst of Spanish history, literature, and politics, writing essays and articles that were later compiled into books. He also wrote three novels inspired by Spanish myths and literary characters: Don Juan, Doña Inés, and La Voluntad. These works offer a nuanced portrayal of Spanish reality, focusing on the positive aspects of characters while subtly suggesting their flaws.
Azorín’s autobiographical novels, La Voluntad, Antonio Azorín, and Confessions of a Little Philosopher, feature an intellectual Levantine character representing different stages of his life. These novels are heterogeneous, with minimal action, open endings, and detailed descriptions reminiscent of naturalism. They blend elements of storytelling, essay, and lyricism.
Narrative Techniques and Style
Azorín employs an omniscient narrator who delves into the characters’ inner lives. He uses the present tense, creating a blend of objectivity and mystery. He describes reality with precision and detail, focusing on visible and tangible objects. At the same time, he conveys a subjective perception of things, exploring themes of time’s fleeting nature and life’s ephemerality. His style is characterized by carefully chosen adjectives, particularly those related to sound, used to capture the nuances of things.
Surrealist Experimentation
Azorín was also fascinated by surrealism, writing three experimental novels in this style. His surrealism is not only psychological and aesthetic but also reflects moral and ethical concerns. He uses the narrative present, short juxtaposed sentences, and often omits verbs.
Post-Civil War Period
Azorín went to Paris during the Spanish Civil War and returned to Spain afterward. This proved to be a mistake, as he faced indifference and hostility from the Franco regime. He initially struggled to publish but eventually regained favor with the authorities, writing a self-justifying novel and returning to the newspaper ABC. He later wrote romantic novels and works on aesthetics.