Spanish Modernism and the Generation of ’98: A Literary Analysis
The Rejection of Reality in Modernist Literature
The rejection of reality led the authors to show their intimate feelings. Poets of melancholy and sadness, they turned to exotic worlds and distant times, to idealized worlds. Their literary language led to a revolution: the lexicon is very rich, with sound sensory adjectives (appealing to all senses) and a cult of metrics. Phonic resources and internal rhythms, as well as parallels and anaphora, favor the musicality of the texts. Synesthesia (attributing qualities of one sense to another) is frequently used, creating very sensorial symbols that vaguely suggest meaning. The renovation occurred in verse (incorporating the dodecasyllable and the Alexandrine of 14 syllables), in prose, and in theater.
Rubén Darío (1867-1916)
From a very young age, Rubén Darío wrote poetry and worked as a travel journalist in Hispanic America. In 1892, he came to Spain, where he befriended several writers. He published his writing very young (Epistles and Poems, 1885). In 1888, Azul (Blue), a collection of prose and verse, showcased elements and exaltation of Modernism in the face of what he considered the roots of Spanish America. Profane Prose (1896) moved away from Modernist aesthetics and reality. “I detest life and time, never to be born, never to die.” Life and Songs of Hope (1905) marked a continuous evasion of reality. Later, he recovered his Spanish poetic and literary roots, which historically opposed North American imperialism. His later works reflect on personal and intimate human themes.
The Generation of ’98
Towards the end of the 19th century, writers joined the Modernist movement. The dominant characteristics of the Generation of ’98 and the Modernists coincided in a series of features. They were of similar ages: 11 years of difference between the oldest (Unamuno) and the youngest (Antonio Machado). Their intellectual backgrounds were diverse; some were anarchists in their youth, while others were socialites. They were friends and engaged in conversations in the newspapers and magazines where they wrote. They participated in common acts, such as tributes to Baroja or Larra. They felt the effects of the crisis of the end of the century and the disaster of ’98, on which subjects they wrote. They broke with the realist language of the 19th century and renovated the literary language using Modernist proposals.
Martínez Ruiz (Azorín) (1873-1967)
Azorín’s style is characterized by numerous literary essays and critiques. Spanish Readings (1912) focused on the classics. Marginalia (1915) explored his past beliefs. Castilla (1912) focused on its landscape. With the passage of time, he showed a melancholic recovery of the past and morality. In his novels, such as La Voluntad (1902) and Antonio (1903), he used an autobiographical pseudonym. There is little action; he attempts to overcome 19th-century realism with poetic descriptions and a clear, straightforward style. He aimed for precious, juxtaposed, coordinated phrases and recreates the landscape in brief stories with variations, focusing on small details in Castilla.
Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936)
Unamuno’s work is a conflict of philosophical and religious ideas. His biography is filled with crises of religious faith. His existential novels, such as Peace in War and Tula, move away from realism. In Fog (1914), he mixes the genres of nivola and novel. Saint Manuel Bueno, Martyr (1931) is a spiritual crisis novel full of symbolism (the names of the characters, Manuel, etc.). In 1933, he wrote Lázaro. “I have the consciousness that I will have put all my tragic everyday feeling… all religions are real in that they make people live spiritually. The prophet who consoles us for having been born to die, and for each village, religion is the truest one.”
Pío Baroja (1872-1956)
Baroja led a bohemian and solitary literary life. He criticized society with sincerity and independence. His readings of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche led to a disappointment with life. His novel theory is a manifesto of disdain for narrative techniques. He believed that a writer is someone who learns the skill; there is no need to be born with it. He directly copies reality without planning. A novel is like a sack, and the judge’s criterion is the capacity to entertain the reader. His style is fun and easy. His novels often work in trilogies, such as La Busca (1904), which belongs to the trilogy The Dislocated, Zalacaín the Adventurer (1909), and The Tree of Science (1911). He is a master in the creation of environments and diverse characters. He critiques from the perspective of reality. Andrés Hurtado, the skeptic in The Tree of Science, is a product of the century. He also wrote adventurous series, such as Memoirs of a Man of Action.