Post-War Spanish Literature: A Comprehensive Overview
Post-War Spanish Literature
Jaime Gil de Biedma (1929-1990)
In his later years, he sought new ways of free verse in Moral Poems (1968) and While People Go and Come Back (1970). A poet of the School of Barcelona, Jaime Gil de Biedma is a clear representative of the poetic renewal that occurred in early 1960s poetry. His work focuses on the exploration of personal experiences to develop, from the anecdotal, moral, or intimate reflection, and offers a disenchanted picture of the bourgeois world to which he belonged. His poetry is characterized by a cordial tone that oscillates between irony and skepticism.
Gil de Biedma deals with themes such as:
- Nostalgia for childhood and adolescence
- Love and eroticism
- Friendship and the passage of time
- Ethical and social issues
His style demonstrates a deliberate effort toward an anti-rhetorical, conversational tone, which follows the line of the poet Luis Cernuda of the Generation of ’27. Gil de Biedma’s work has had a significant influence on later poets of the 1970s and 1980s. His poetry is collected in the volume Compañeros de Viaje (1958-1968).
The Novel From the Post-War Period to the Present
1940s
The 1940s saw the publication of two novels that began the resurgence of realism from an existential perspective:
- The Family of Pascual Duarte (1942) by Camilo José Cela
- Nada (1945) by Carmen Laforet
These novels utilize innovative narrative techniques to bear witness to the daily, rough, intimate, and painful realities of post-war Spain.
1950s
The Generation of ’50 emerged, proposing a highly critical view of society through social realism. This novelistic movement addressed social issues such as:
- The harshness of rural life and work environments
- The urban bourgeoisie
- Memories of the Civil War
Their language is simple, and they use narrative techniques that sometimes employ objectivism, as in the case of El Jarama (1956) by Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio.
1960s
The 1960s witnessed the so-called boom of Latin American narrative. A number of authors emerged, breaking with tradition and mixing the real with the fantastic. They renewed narrative techniques and experimented with the possibilities of language. Some of the most prominent figures of this movement include:
- Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia)
- Julio Cortázar (Argentina)
1970s
The 1970s were a highly experimental period in Spanish literature. Writers drew inspiration from early twentieth-century authors such as James Joyce, as well as from contemporary Hispanic narrators. The innovations of this period mainly consisted of a very creative treatment of narrative techniques, including:
- Multiple points of view
- Interior monologue
- Complex structure
- Non-linear time and space
- A mixture of genres and linguistic registers
- Lack of punctuation
1980s
The 1980s presented a wide variety of trends in Spanish narrative, including crime fiction, historical novels, thrillers, experimental literature, and lyrical prose. Some notable authors from this period include:
- Antonio Muñoz Molina (The Polish Rider, 1991; Full Moon, 1997)
Miguel Delibes (1920-2010)
Born in 1920, Miguel Delibes is a narrator whose trajectory reflects the various phases that the Spanish novel went through from the Civil War onward. Delibes consistently maintained his social criticism and humanistic approach. With his love of nature, he portrayed rural environments and the bourgeois world with great expressive skill. The Shadow of the Cypress is Long, which won the Premio Nadal in 1947, brought him recognition. This work, along with The Road (1950), presents a more Christian worldview. One of his most important novels is Rats (1962), which offers a stark testimony to the harsh social realities and poverty of rural Spain.
The Theater From the Post-War Period to the Present
The situation of theater after the war was particularly constrained due to censorship and the commercial interests of producers who catered to the demands of a bourgeois audience. The innovative theater that existed prior to 1936 disappeared, and many writers were exiled. Additionally, theater faced competition from film.
1940s
Traditional bourgeois theater, which aimed solely to entertain, triumphed in the 1940s. However, two other, more innovative trends emerged in parallel:
- Comic theater, characterized by its improbable, absurd, or ludicrous humor. This type of theater played with the possibilities of language while providing a critical and unconventional view of society. Key authors include Enrique Jardiel Poncela and Miguel Mihura.
- Ideological theater, a more serious and unconventional trend that followed in the line of existentialist concerns.
1950s
This critical theater evolved into social realism in the 1950s, addressing both social and ethical issues, and sometimes taking on a more directly political stance. This trend continued into the early 1960s. While maintaining its social criticism, it incorporated new aesthetic forms, such as symbolic or grotesque farce.
1970s
New authors and theater groups emerged in the 1970s with a clear experimental and avant-garde approach, marking a break from commercial European trends. They drew inspiration from European theater and sought new formulas, such as theater-spectacle and the mixing of genres. New symbolic languages, accompanied by special scenographic effects, also characterized this period. One of the most prominent playwrights of this era is Francisco Nieva (The Raft).