Spanish Neoclassical Literature: Reason, Rules & Key Authors
Neoclassicism: Reason and Rules in Literature
Neoclassicism considered Greek and Latin writers as role models. It represented a return to Greco-Roman classics, which is the origin of the term ‘neo-classicism’. Neoclassicism gave preference to reason over feelings and imposed rules to which literary works must conform. As a result, lyrical production was largely abandoned. It rejected the imaginative and fantastic, as writing was intended not to educate, but to entertain. Neoclassical literature has a strong critical, didactic, and moralistic tone.
The Didactic Fable: Iriarte and Samaniego
The fable was also cultivated in the 18th century to provide the reader with advice and moral teachings, often put into the mouths of animals. Notable fabulists were Iriarte and Samaniego.
Tomás de Iriarte
Tomás de Iriarte was born in La Orotava (Tenerife) in 1750 and died in Madrid in 1791. He was a translator for the First Secretary of State and archivist of the Supreme Council of War. In addition to fables, he wrote many other literary works and made many translations from French. He was also a composer. He used his fables to demonstrate rules for achieving a good literary style.
Félix María Samaniego
Félix María Samaniego was born in Laguardia (Álava) in 1745 and died in the same town in 1801. He studied at Valladolid and traveled in France, whose influence is evident in the primary work for which he is known: Fábulas morales (Moral Fables), 157 fables in 9 books, written for the students of the Seminary of Vergara. Samaniego ridiculed human flaws in his fables, imitating the great fabulists Phaedrus, Aesop, and La Fontaine. While Samaniego’s fables are written in verse, their character is often prosaic, given the issues they address and their didactic purpose.
Key Prose Writers of Spanish Neoclassicism
During the second half of the eighteenth century, writers fully adopted neoclassical models, and literature was subject to the rule of reason. This stage covers the period from the mid-century until its final decades.
José Cadalso
José Cadalso was born in Cádiz in 1741, where he began his early studies. He later studied at the Seminary of Nobles in Madrid. At 21, he returned to Spain and began his military career, reaching the rank of Colonel in the Spanish Army. He died during the Great Siege of Gibraltar in 1782.
Cadalso was an intelligent and cultivated man, endowed with a fine critical spirit. He maintained friendly relations with all the important writers of his time and was interested in all genres, but excelled primarily in his prose works: Los Eruditos a la Violeta (The Pseudo-Intellectuals), Noches Lúgubres (Mournful Nights), and Cartas Marruecas (Moroccan Letters). Today, he is remembered primarily for his Cartas Marruecas, an epistolary essay published several years after his death.
Benito Jerónimo Feijoo
Fray Benito Jerónimo Feijoo was born in Ourense in 1676 and lived mostly in Oviedo. His work is primarily educational. His style is clear, sober, and precise, aiming for comprehensibility. He prioritized accuracy over aesthetic beauty. His most representative works are:
- Teatro Crítico Universal (Universal Critical Theatre): Written in essay form, this work consists of eight volumes in which the author criticizes superstitions and false beliefs, marking the boundary between the natural and the supernatural.
- Cartas Eruditas y Curiosas (Scholarly and Curious Letters): Also written in essay form, these five volumes explore various philosophical, literary, and moral problems.
Neoclassical Theatre: Rules and Didacticism
Like other genres, theatre was subjected to the rigid rules of Classicism, adopting the rule of the three unities, which Lope de Vega had largely disregarded during the Baroque period. Imaginative and fantastical elements disappeared, as did the mixing of tragedy and comedy. Theatre became exclusively didactic.
The Rule of Three Unities
- Unity of Action: The play should have only one main plot or action. (Previous theatre often had parallel actions, e.g., involving lords and servants).
- Unity of Time: The action must occur within a maximum timeframe of one day.
- Unity of Place: The entire work must be set in the same location.
Leandro Fernández de Moratín
Leandro Fernández de Moratín, born in 1760, was shy, gentle, intelligent, and cultured. He felt genuine admiration for France and its culture, which led him to accept cultural positions under Joseph Bonaparte (Napoleon’s brother) during his reign. When the French were expelled, he had to go into exile. He lived for some time in Barcelona and Bordeaux, and died in Paris in 1828.
All his plays were written following neoclassical rules, making the author one of the best, albeit few, playwrights of that century.
The Consent of the Maidens (El sí de las niñas)
In this work, he strongly criticizes families who force their daughters into marriages regardless of their feelings.
The New Comedy or The Café (La comedia nueva o El café)
It severely criticizes uneducated and ignorant poets who dared to write plays.