Spanish Literature of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Posted on Sep 30, 2024 in Latin

The Realist Novel

The genre most suitable for observing, representing, and explaining social reality. Features:

  • Maintains a critical stance with the intention to withdraw from daily life problems.
  • Develops issues and topics of the middle class.
  • Creates an atmosphere for credible and objective environments that reflect the environment in which the middle class lives.
  • Describes characters equally.

Techniques and narrative forms:

  • Observation of reality and an almost scientific field to extract information accurately.
  • Describes the environment and nature of the characters to give credence to the history.
  • Objective narration in the third person with an omniscient narrator.
  • Use of austere language and style without difficulty for the reader, similar to the speech of different social groups.

The Naturalistic Novel

Since 1883, Zola’s works are read in Spain with success when published by Emilia Pardo Bazán under the title of the issue, and some pounding authors are influenced by the shapes and naturalistic approaches (Galdós, Clarín, and Bazán).

5.1.1 – Emilia Pardo Bazán

Aristocrat and striking example of an intellectual woman of her time, she dared to publicly defend Naturalism (which has no religious ideas). She wrote such works as The Tribune or Los Pazos de Ulloa and Mother Nature.

5.1.2 – Vicente Blasco Ibáñez

His ideology makes him the only Spanish naturalist. His allegiance to the movement is due to the clash of social classes in his novels and medium pressure on the characters. His works include The Cabin and Reeds and Mud.

The Poetry of the 2nd Half of the 20th Century

We miss the subjectivism, imagination, and the historical past as poetic themes (except for the production of Bécquer and Rosalía de Castro who keep Romanticism). The poets used his compositions as a means of social and personal brilliance. It shows two trends:

  • The prosaic: Ramón de Campoamor and his work Humoradas. Poetry with conceptual, brief, and didactic purposes.
  • The rhetoricity: Gaspar Núñez de Arce and his poetry, declamatory (pronounce text) and grandiose (expressively speaking), based on civic issues and politics. Rallying Cry.

Romantic Poetry

With great popular projection, poetic themes are freedom of feelings (love), the satanic, death… In the formal aspects, a clear intention of renewal is perceived, with new rhythms and accents. The language is religious and rhetorical. Two types of poetry:

  • Narrative or epic poetry: With a heroic tone, it collects themes of tradition, history, or legend, and rehabilitates the romance. José Zorrilla stands out with his work Don Juan Tenorio. The Duke of Rivas also stands out with his novel The Moor Foundling.
  • Lyric poetry: Focuses on the poet’s inner conflicts. Outstanding poets include Espronceda, Bécquer, and Rosalía Castro.

3.3.1 – José de Espronceda (1808-1842)

This is the Spanish Romantic poet par excellence. Two trends:

  • Narrative Poetry: El Estudiante de Salamanca, with a historical and mysterious atmosphere and night setting. In it, we find all the features of the time in terms of ambiance and formal aspects.
  • Lyric Poetry: The Song of the Pirate, The Beggar, and The Prisoner of Death. Main theme: disillusionment.

3.3.2 – Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836-1870)

The first modern poet and summit of Spanish poetry. When he was born, the Romantic movement was in decline in Europe. Of his prose production, his Legends stand out. His poetry is reduced to Rhymes, whose universe consists of two fundamental aspects: poetry and man.

3.3.3 – Rosalía de Castro (1837-1885)

She stands out for her simple and intimate lyrical production. Among her works, written in Galician, are Galego Follas Novas and Cantares Gallegos. In Castilian, she wrote On the Banks of the Sar.

The Spanish Realism: Beginning

Beginning in 1868, the year of the “La Gloriosa” (year of the bourgeois revolution against Elizabeth), in 1870 Galdós published The Gold Fountain. There are two phases in its evolution:

  • Pre-realism: It combines Romantic aspects (customs and idealization) with other highly realistic ones (defined arguments and further characterization of characters); moral and political dualism (fight between good and bad). Fernán Caballero stands out with La Gaviota and Pedro Antonio de Alarcón with The Three-Cornered Hat.
  • Realism: It reaches its peak in 1870. At first, it was too ideological, but in 1881 it becomes more objective. There are two distinct groups of novelists according to their ideology:
  1. Conservatives or traditionalists:
    • José María Pereda: Author of great ability to describe nature, idealizing the rural and attacking urban progress. Peñas Arriba, Sotileza, and The Flavor of Tierruca.
    • Armando Palacios Valdés: Sister of St. Sulpice and The Lost Village. Similar to Pereda.
    • Father Luis Coloma: Best-selling author. Pequeñeces.
  2. Liberals: Defending an urban society and the progress of the middle class. Attacking religious and political fanaticism.

Juan Valera (1824-1905)

He was a EU ambassador in various countries. A champion of art for art’s sake. In his novels, he presents a style of well-done work, with special interest in the psychological account, toleration, and the conscious elimination of the sordid environment of Realism. Pepita Jiménez, Juanita la Larga, and Doña Luz.

One of the most learned men, he also wrote stories, poetry, and articles.

Benito Pérez Galdós (1843-1920)

He was the great figure of Spanish Realism. His monumental works are a testament to tolerance and a critic of life and the conflicts of his time. In his narrative, we should make two sections:

  • The National Episodes: A set of 46 novels grouped in five series that cover the history of 19th-century Spain from the Battle of Trafalgar to the Restoration.
  • The novels are divided into three periods:
    • Novels of the first period (1870): They have a thesis-driven character. They combat bigotry and despotism in the villages, with the Liberals presented as heroes. Doña Perfecta and The Family of León Roch.
    • Contemporary Novels (1880): Here belong the great titles of the writer: The Disinherited, Fortunata and Jacinta, Miau, and Torment. Objective novels in which the author examines the lives of the people.
    • Spiritual and symbolic novels (1890): They focus on the inner lives of the characters, on moral values and ideals. They are innovative, introduce interior monologue, and include fantastic elements. Mercy and Torquemada.

He was also a playwright. Electra and Grandfather. He was an innovator of the Spanish stage in terms of language and the subject matter treated.

Leopoldo Alas “Clarín” (1852-1901)

He defended a combative literature, denouncing political corruption, despotism, and superstition. He boasts a collection of articles under the name: Solos de Clarín and Paliques. Tales and short stories: Pipa, Adiós Cordera, and Doña Berta. Novels: La Regenta, which is one of the greatest works of Spanish literature. It is a story of adultery, developed in Vetusta, depicting its fanaticism, moral poverty, and suffocating environment. The topics covered are the influence of the Church, envy, power, ambition, and social mediocrity. First, we analyzed the social and other aspects, a mixture of realistic and naturalistic elements, and narrative renovations such as the use of flashbacks or free indirect style.