Spanish Literature Evolution: 1939 to Present
Spanish Literature Since 1939
- The 1940s: Writers broke continuity with the recent past, finding new literary paths amidst discomfort and distress. Creative writing was marked by rootlessness and an existentialist tone.
- The 1950s: Social realism emerged, characterized by a critical attitude towards a hostile environment, denouncing oppression and injustice, and a desire for a better world.
- The 1960s and 1970s: Tired of social realism, writers searched for new forms of expression and experimented with language, incorporating new genres and narrative forms.
- Late 20th Century to Present: Narrative experienced an extraordinary boom. It’s difficult to define specific trends, given the large number of published titles and the growing presence of women novelists.
The Novel of Exile
Memories of Spain, the causes and consequences of the Civil War, and references to places and environments in their adopted countries were common themes for writers who had experienced exile. Among the exiled writers are some of the most important novelists of the post-war period.
- Ramón J. Sender (1901-1982) wrote, among many others, a series of novels under the general title of Chronicle of the Dawn, recreating his childhood and youth.
- Rosa Chacel (1898-1994), characterized by aesthetic concerns in her writing, produced significant titles like Memoirs of Leticia Valle (1946) and Barrio de Maravillas (1976).
- Max Aub (1903-1972) moved from traditional realism (Good Intentions, La Calle de Valverde) to the avant-garde (Card Game). His most important work is The Magic Labyrinth, a narrative cycle about the Spanish Civil War, published between 1943 and 1968.
- Francisco Ayala (1906), short story writer, has addressed the issue of corruption of power and dictatorship in some novels.
The Forties: The Existential Novel
Although some novels were published that told of the war’s triumphalism from the perspective of the victors, anxiety and uprooting were the dominant themes in the literature of the time. Two novels featuring characters far removed from traditional heroes reveal a new way of facing reality:
- The Family of Pascual Duarte (1942), by Camilo José Cela, stars a peasant from Extremadura sentenced to death for a series of murders, reflecting a world of violence and misery.
- Nada (1945), by Carmen Laforet, in which a young woman who arrives in Barcelona to begin her college education experiences loneliness, dissatisfaction, and the bitterness of life.
The Fifties: Social Realism
Social realism, or critical realism, is represented by the so-called mid-century generation, which includes, among others, Ignacio Aldecoa, Carmen Martín Gaite, Jesús Fernández Santos, Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, Ana María Matute, Juan Goytisolo, Juan García Hortelano, and José Manuel Caballero Bonald.
Realism and the pursuit of objectivity are imposed: the author simply tells a reality already quite significant, and aesthetic concerns are usually relegated to the background. Spanish society becomes the narrative theme, and the collective protagonist replaces the individual hero.
Titles like The Hive, by Camilo José Cela, and El Jarama, by Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, are quite revealing:
- Set in Madrid after the war, more than three hundred characters parade through the pages of The Hive (1951). The novel consists of a succession of scenes showing how all of them are struggling to survive in a world of hardship and scarcity.
- In El Jarama (1956), the conversations of a group of young people who spend a day trip along the river reflect the routine and boredom of society.