Spanish Literary Genres and Narrative Techniques
Spanish Literary Genres
Sentimental Novel
Draws on topics of courtly love in the analysis of the psychological states of being in love. Example: Jail of Love by Diego de San Pedro.
Chivalric Novel
Reached its maximum spread in the 16th century. These works represented the idealized image of human existence and successfully popularized fantastic adventures of knights errant. Example: Amadis of Gaul by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo.
Picaresque Novel
A genre that observes human nature and the moral life of society, while reflecting a social environment to reject the nobility and clergy.
Novels by Cervantes
- La Galatea (1585)
- The Works of Persiles and Sigismunda
Don Quixote
The argument has a linear development. The first part describes the first two outings of Don Quixote. In the second part comes the third exit, his return home, and his death. The three outings follow the same pattern:
- Approach
- Preparation for departure
- Nudo (Climax/Complication)
- Adventure series
- Outcome failures and return
Realism
Emerged from French writers with a new interest in traditional history: the romantic manners (Mesonero Romanos and Larra) and the realist novels of the 16th and 17th centuries (Cervantes). This new trend was a reaction against romantic subjectivism, rejecting all fantastic elements and showing an objective aesthetic representation of the social reality of the era, detailing characters, settings, and behavior.
First Generation Realism
Characterized by a gentle and conservative approach when representing reality in their works. Examples: Juan Valera, Fernán Caballero.
Second Generation Realism
Discuss reality from a broader, critical, and progressive standpoint. Examples: Clarín, Benito Pérez Galdós.
Naturalism
Another aspect of Realism, influenced by its great predecessor Émile Zola. This movement attempts to present reality with pure objectivity in all its aspects.
Notable Works and Authors
The Judge’s Wife (La Regenta)
Work by Clarín, considered one of the best in Spanish literature. Clarín applied much originality, technical skill, and descriptive analysis to the figures. Clarín writes about provincial life and mediocre people in a city like Oviedo.
Benito Pérez Galdós
Wrote 77 novels, encompassing all trends and literary forms of the time (Realism, Naturalism, thesis novels, etc.). In his great work, The Rosalia, he presents a novel about life in the environment of a rich neighborhood of the 19th century. It is not only a novel of appearances but a statement that discovers and reveals the true engine of social behavior of the people of the Restoration.
Principal Uses of Spanish Grammar
Principal Uses of ‘b’
- Words that begin with bi-, bis-, and biz-.
- Words ending in -bility.
- The endings of the imperfect indicative of first conjugation verbs.
- Forms of the verb ‘ir’ (to go) in the imperfect indicative.
Principal Uses of ‘v’
- The present indicative, imperative, and subjunctive forms of the verb ‘ir’.
- Words beginning with vice-, viz-, or vi-.
- Words that begin with eva-, eve-, evo-, except ‘ébano’.
Principal Uses of ‘g’
- Words that begin with gest-.
- Words that start with geo-.
- Words containing the syllable ‘gen’.
Principal Uses of ‘j’
- Words derived from others containing -ja-, -jo-, -ju-.
- Words ending in -aje, -eje, and -jería.
- Verb forms whose infinitive ends in -jar and -jear.
Narrative Techniques
Omniscient Narrator
Prepares their speech, watching events from a privileged external view that allows them to know absolutely everything about the protagonists, even their most intimate feelings.
Narrator-Character
Adopts a limited insight into the role played by a character who has been or bears witness to the facts but does not participate in them. Can only narrate (using 3rd-person pronouns) what characters do or say.
Linguistic Features of Narrative
- Use of connectors.
- Abundance of action verbs.
- Predominance of predicative syntactic structures.
- Presence of descriptive textual sequences.
- Presence of dialogues.
- Expression of place and time circumstances.