Spanish Literature: Theater, Poetry, and Postwar Trends

Posted on Feb 1, 2025 in Latin

Spanish Theater and Poetry: 1940s to 1970s

The Drama of Escape in the 1940s

There was no renewal of theater. The theater scene was dominated by the regime’s propaganda and evasion. It was not until 1949, with Historia de una escalera by Antonio Buero Vallejo, that a more engaged and critical theater emerged.

The Burgtheater

Constructed works well with brilliant dialogue, tangles, and entertaining games. The leading author was Jacinto Benavente (1866-1954).

Theater of Humor in the 1940s

The restoration of the theater of humor was conducted by Enrique Jardiel Poncela and Miguel Mihura. They believed that humor in the theater is not an end in itself but an instrument to give a worldview, mostly by a different critical society. They believed that humor should not be made with easy jokes or familiar characters, making fun of the culture or the best-known political works. Some works by Enrique J.P. (1901-1952) are Eloisa is Beneath an Almond Tree and The Inhabitants of the Deserted House. Miguel Mihura (1905-1977) is the author of Three Hats.

The Theater of the Absurd

This European mainstream conveys the idea that, despite order, logic, and language, life is intrinsically absurd. Loneliness, isolation, and the fear of death are its characteristic themes.

Committed Theater (1949-1975)

Existential Theater: This drama opposes the current theater of escape because it expresses discontent and angst, without inquiring into the social or political causes that generate such disorder. Historia de una escalera by Antonio Buero Vallejo and Squad to the Death by Alfonso Sastre are some examples.
Social Theater: This chimes with the current so-called socialist realism.

Antonio Buero Vallejo

Born in Guadalajara in 1916 and died in Madrid in 2000, he was one of the most important playwrights of the 20th century in Spain. In 1949, he was awarded the Lope de Vega Prize for Historia de una escalera, the first renewal play of the postwar period.

Poetry of the War

An unfavorable cultural environment.

The Restoration of Poetry in the 1940s

In 1944, the renovation came from the hands of Dámaso Alonso, a poet of the Generation of ’27 who had remained in Spain after the Civil War. He published Hijos de la ira, a work that begins with uprooted poetry. Rehumanization is a poem focusing on feeling and the height of the difficult circumstances that lived in the country.

Trends in the Poetry of the 1940s

Rooted Poetry – Themes: Motherland, love, family, landscapes, religious feeling. Authors: Ridruejo, José García Nieto, Luis Rosales.
Uprooted Poetry – Themes: Existential angst, the subject of God. Authors: Dámaso Alonso, Blas de Otero.

Social Poetry of the 1950s

Concept: Influenced by socialist realism, it reflects the social and political commitment of the author against the capitalist dictatorship of Franco. The poet believes that poetry is a weapon of political struggle.

Authors and Works: Pido la paz y la palabra by Blas de Otero, Cantos Iberos by Gabriel Celaya, Quinta del 42 by José Hierro.

The Poetic Renovation of the 1960s

The poets of the 1960s concluded that poetry had not achieved its social and political objectives.

Literary Features:

Mixed linguistic registers: language combines worship and metaphorical expressions.
Conversational tone.
Metrics: free verse and traditional stanzas.
Focus on issues: intimate and ironic.

Poetry of the 1970s: The Very New

In 1970, an anthology called Nueve novísimos poetas españoles was published. A new concept of poetry arrived that was more interested in the form than the content.

Pere Gimferrer

One of the most representative poets of the generation of 1968, with a prominent stylistic search for formal beauty through cultism and issues that require cultural preparation from the reader.