Spanish Literature: 1927 to Late 20th Century
Generation of ’27
The Generation of ’27 was characterized by taking on the “isms” of prior art, incorporating issues of modern times, integrating different art forms, and shocking the public. These “isms” included:
- Cubism
- Futurism
- Dadaism
- Expressionism
- Surrealism
These movements involved a long revolution, changing human life and exploring the subconscious to release repressed impulses.
Creationism and Ultraism
Avant-garde movements.
Influence of Surrealism: By 1930, Surrealist influence began. Lorca, Alberti, Cernuda, and Aleixandre incorporated into their poetry the irrational, the ironic, and the subconscious.
Spanish Theater
Valle-Inclán
His early works are linked to searches for Modernism, but he soon moved to the Bohemian lights of theater. With Valle-Inclán began a genre of his own creation, the esperpento. Through the distortion of reality and caricature, the esperpento offers a tragicomic vision of Spanish reality.
Features of Esperpento:
- Grotesque elements
- Distortion of reality
- Different language registers
- Formal complexity
García Lorca
The main topic in the works of Lorca is the confrontation between the individual and authority. The protagonists, dominated by the desire for love, want to attain happiness. Their desire for freedom collides with moral and social standards.
Lorca’s most important works belong to his last stage and form the rural trilogy:
- Blood Wedding (1932)
- Yerma (1934)
- The House of Bernarda Alba (1936)
Common traits: They are set in the Andalusian countryside, the protagonists are all women, and there is a tragic denouement.
Poetry of the Civil War
During the years of the Second Republic, intellectuals and writers lived a very important period. This Silver Age was tragically cut short by the Civil War.
1940s
Rooted Poetry
Poets aligned with the ideology and aesthetics of the winners of the war.
Unrooted Poetry
Poets who remained silent in “internal exile,” waiting for more conducive times to shout their pain and rebellion. Two influential books: Shadow of Paradise by Vicente Aleixandre and Children of Wrath by Dámaso Alonso.
1950s: Social Poetry
For the poets who cultivated it, poetry should be a tool to change society. The poems should not focus on their individual problems but deal with matters of the majority. Common themes include complaints of dehumanization, alienation, poverty, testimony of the situation of man, and the craving for peace. Key work: I Ask for Peace and the Word. Authors: Blas de Otero and Gabriel Celaya.
1960s: Poetry of Experience
This group of writers’ careers take them to intimacy and toward the expression of individual experience. Authors: Ángel González and José Agustín Goytisolo.
1970s
The issues in these poets’ plays display their culture, including the mass media. They reject realism and introduce experiments taken from avant-garde styles or modernism: a taste for the exotic, rhythm, and careful lexicon. Authors: Pere Gimferrer and Leopoldo María Panero.
Recent Years
Since 1975, a change has been noted. Culturalist excesses are curbed and move towards a more personal and intimate poetry. Authors: Blanca Andreu and Luis García Montero.