Spanish Modernism & Generation of ’98 Literary Movements
Modernism and the Generation of ’98 in Spanish Literature
In the early twentieth century, as realism fell into disrepute, aligning with the crisis of positivism and reason, many young writers confronted nineteenth-century literature. They shared common features with Romanticism and expressed dissatisfaction with their contemporary world.
Modernist writers, who sought refuge in aesthetics as a rejection of the world, and those like Unamuno, Baroja, and Azorín, who adopted a critical stance toward reality, advocated for change and sometimes embraced social and political commitment. These latter writers were collectively known as the Generation of ’98. However, these two perspectives are not considered distinct literary movements.
These new writers adopted a rebellious attitude against bourgeois values, decadence, and Impressionism. In rejection of the industrial gigantism of capitalist society, these young artists embraced diverse aesthetic and ideological positions.
Poetic language aimed to suggest through words the sensations other arts achieved through light, color, and music. Sound effects, such as alliteration, and references to musical instruments were very common. A sense of refined aromas from flowers and plants was also frequently suggested. The garden became a symbol of isolation from cities. Synesthesia abounded, along with exotic words, cultisms, and the accumulation of proparoxytones to attract attention. Typical environments, rich in symbolic and evocative value, included distant gardens, elegant animals, and real or imaginary elements charged with eroticism.
The prominent poets of this period include Miguel de Unamuno, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Antonio Machado, and Manuel Machado.
Key Characteristics of the Period
Writers of this era shared common features with Romanticism. Disliking the society in which they lived, they often sought refuge in a decadent past.
- Decadence: Dull complacency and ruinous themes are common, alongside human misery, disease, and death. This relates to the Romantic taste for ruins, which served as a refuge from the disliked new society.
- Ennui (Weariness of Life): Characterized by fatigue, skepticism, pessimism, dissatisfaction, discouragement, distrust, and sadness.
- Eroticism
- Attraction to the Marginal: Including prostitutes, drinkers, and criminals.
- Taste for the Exotic
- Spiritualism: A reaction to previous positivism, marked by anxieties and doubts about the meaning of life after a perceived liberation from traditional religion.
- Aestheticism: An almost religious cult of beauty.
- Frequent use of Symbols: Employed to transcend the apparent and delve into deeper meanings.
The authors of this current were influenced by Spanish American writers (e.g., Rubén Darío), French Symbolists (e.g., Mallarmé, Verlaine, Baudelaire, Rimbaud), and the pre-Symbolist influence of Bécquer.
Antonio Machado
His book Soledades appeared during the heyday of the Modernist movement. Melancholy and a sorrowful tone predominate in his poems; narrative plot is virtually nonexistent. Themes are typical of post-Romantic intimacy: love, time, loneliness, and lost childhood dreams. He uses symbols to delve into the mystery of the hidden. In the second edition, Soledades. Galerías. Otros Poemas (1907), more superficially modernist poems were removed, and many new ones were added. This edition emphasizes intimate themes and constantly evokes a lost past.
His poems are often characterized by brevity, simplicity, and symbolism.
From 1912, Machado adopted a new style, distinct from Soledades, with books such as Campos de Castilla, which aligns with the Novecentismo movement. Machado’s poetry in Nuevas Canciones continued in that Novecentista vein.
Juan Ramón Jiménez
His poetry is divided into three stages: the Sensitive Period (Modernism), the Intellectual Period (Novecentismo), and the True or Sufficient Period.
The first stage, or Sensitive Period, lasted until 1915. His books, Ninfeas and Almas de violeta, show a decadent and neo-Romantic tone. Rimas reveals the Bécquerian influence and that of the French Symbolists.
Arias Tristes and Jardines Lejanos place Juan Ramón’s poetry within the orbit of intimate and Symbolist Modernism.
In many of his works, he still reiterates modernist motifs from his previous books, and even emphasizes ornamental modernist adjectives, brilliant Alexandrine verses, emphatic language, and bold synesthesia. These elements represent an attempt to transcend Modernism towards a more personal poetry. Estío is a clear example of this change.