Spanish Literature: Generation of ’98 and Modernism
Generation of ’98
The Generation of ’98, comprised of figures like Baroja, Maeztu, Azorín, and Unamuno, focused on Spain’s national decay. They aimed to regenerate the country and renew Spanish literature in the early 20th century. There are two viewpoints on whether the group belongs to Modernism (Cernuda and Gullón) or not (Salinas). They meet Petersen’s characteristics: no more than 15 years between them, the same formative events, and a shared historical event. Nietzsche served as a guide.
Characteristics:
- Searches for truth.
- Conceptual and literary problems.
- Commitment to Spain.
Chronology: Late 19th century to 1914.
Context: Political, social, Christian, and colonial economic crises.
Background:
- Regenerationism: Inherited consciousness of decline and eagerness for regeneration.
- Krausism: Inherited progress, faith in science, and idealism.
- Irrationalism: Inherited existential problems and pessimism from the edge.
- Larra: Inherited his critique of society.
Stages:
Rebellion (1894-1897):
A spirit of protest and rebellion, youth of ’98. Unamuno (1894-1897) belonged to the Socialist Party. Baroja was close to anarchism.
Regenerationist:
The Generation of ’98, known as the “Group of Three,” aimed to generate a new social state in Spain. They failed. Youthful radicalism transitioned to conservative idealism. Intensification with European irrationalist flows. Existential concerns gained special attention. Spain was the subject, approached with a subjective attitude. The error was seeking abstract and philosophical responses to Spain’s concrete problems in the first quarter of the 20th century.
Authors:
- Baroja: Novels: Zalacaín the Adventurer (1900), The Path of Perfection (1902), *The Quest *(1904), The Tree of Knowledge.
- Azorín: The Villages (1911), Roads and Don Quixote (1905), Castile (1912). Novels: The Will (1902), Antonio Azorín (1903), Confessions of a Little Philosopher (1904).
- Maeztu: Essays: Towards Another Spain.
- Unamuno: Novels: Love and Pedagogy (1902), Mist (1914), Aunt Tula (1921). Essays: En torno al casticismo (1895), Life of Don Quixote and Sancho (1905).
Modernism (1885-1915)
A movement that manifested primarily in Hispanic poetry, rooted in Rubén Darío. It represented a new mentality, a search in thought and art, an aesthetic and political rebellion, and a desire for renewal.
Characteristics:
- Search for beauty.
- Social and political rebellion, rejecting church politics, conservatism, and vulgarity.
- Defended moral decadence, irrationalism, subjectivity, beauty, and elitism.
- Diffusion: This art was called “Modernism” around 1990.
Chronology: Hispanic Modernism: Initiators José Martí and M. Gutiérrez Nájera (1875-1882). Rubén Darío published *Azul* in 1888. Cosmopolitan Modernism develops.
Features of Modernism:
- Syncretism: Mixture of heterogeneous elements.
- Creative Freedom: Originality and worship of polymetric poetry.
Influences:
France: Victor Hugo.
Parnassianism (1866-86):
Search for formal perfection and beauty. Characteristics: Poetry addressed to the senses, objective, descriptive, and formalist poetry, using metaphors and adjectives. Topics: Greek myths, Eastern exoticism, and the biblical world.
Symbolism (1886-98):
Reflected the world, discovered hidden meanings, and the mission was to intuit through poetic symbols. Two methods: Symbol (a sign relating to the hidden world) and Synesthesia (giving a sensation to a sense that doesn’t correspond to it). Themes: Seeking an exotic world.
Language and Meter:
Worship of words for beauty and also to search for suggestion. Meter: Recovery of Alexandrian verses, new metric schemes, and verses of different lengths.
Modernism in Spain:
Precursors before Darío’s *Azul*: An “autochthonous” Modernism, less foreign, developed in Spain. Forerunners: Manuel Reina and Salvador Rueda, who used some Parnassian characteristics, chromaticism, and plasticity. Authors: Paco Villaespesa, Ricardo Gil, Eduardo Marquina, and Manuel Machado.
Authors who surpassed Modernism:
- Machado: 1st: *Soledades, Galerías*. 2nd: *Campos de Castilla* (1917).
- Valle-Inclán: 1st: *Sonatas*. 2nd: *Luces de Bohemia* (1920).
- Juan Ramón Jiménez: 1st: *Ninfeas, Almas de violeta*. 2nd: *Diario de un poeta reciencasado* (1912).
Valuation: The best of Spanish Modernism was rooted in Symbolism.