Spanish Novelists: Baroja, Unamuno, Azorín, Valle-Inclán
Pío Baroja’s Novelistic Vision
Pío Baroja, a prominent novelist before the Spanish Civil War, championed a novel open to all possibilities and proclaimed absolute freedom for the writer’s design. For Baroja, the novel is a genre that accommodates everything from philosophical reflection and criticism to adventure and humor. All these elements are reflected in his novels, though he has a particular preference for characters often involved in adventure.
Characteristics of Baroja’s Novels
- His misfit characters often fail in their vital struggles.
- They are characterized by what they do and say.
- Pessimistic and often hopeless, they are endowed with a powerful drive that, in most cases, becomes idle, failing to overcome the world.
- Baroja includes a multitude of characters in the central action who appear briefly and then disappear.
- Women, rarely more than conversational figures, are mere circumstantial characters.
- Dialogue forms the substance of many of his works, with characters defending their views through simple conversations.
Major Works by Pío Baroja
Baroja’s novelistic production can be divided into two main stages:
- Works until 1912: This period features a variety of themes and includes some of Baroja’s best works, such as Camino de Perfección (Path of Perfection) and El Árbol de la Ciencia (The Tree of Knowledge).
- Later Works: These works often feature diverse and exotic settings, including the series Memorias de un Hombre de Acción (Memoirs of a Man of Action) and El Cura de Monleón (The Priest of Monleón).
Camino de Perfección (Path of Perfection)
Its structure, centered on protagonist Fernando Ossorio, oscillates between periods of suffering, varied moods, and mystical obsessions. Overwhelmed, he flees his environment, a journey that conditions his psychological development.
La Busca (The Search)
This trilogy offers a faithful reflection of early 20th-century Madrid society and recounts the struggle for social mobility. La Busca is the most representative example of Baroja’s synthetic observation, presented without commentary. It focuses on the protagonist’s descent into the world of delinquency. This fall occurs in three stages:
- His work in the shoe factory.
- The closure of the factory.
- The death of his mother.
Memorias de un Hombre de Acción (Memoirs of a Man of Action)
This historical narrative series, composed of 22 works, achieves its unity through the biography of the fictional adventurer Eugenio de Aviraneta.
Miguel de Unamuno’s Philosophical Novels
In his novelistic production, Miguel de Unamuno expresses the themes that obsessed him: the assertion of personality, the fighting instinct, the desire for power, and death. Unamuno began his narrative career with Paz en la Guerra (Peace in War), later publishing Amor y Pedagogía (Love and Pedagogy), Niebla (Fog), Abel Sánchez, La Tía Tula, and San Manuel Bueno, Mártir (San Manuel Bueno, Martyr).
Key Themes and Works
Niebla (Fog)
Niebla presents the fight against determinism through the confrontation between the protagonist and his creator.
Abel Sánchez and La Tía Tula
Abel Sánchez and La Tía Tula offer a study of a paranoid personality and an inquiry into existence.
San Manuel Bueno, Mártir (San Manuel Bueno, Martyr)
This novel explores the loss of faith experienced by Don Manuel Bueno.
Azorín’s Impressionistic Novels
In Azorín’s novels, movement and time are often suspended, allowing for a thorough analysis of the soul’s perception. One notes a rebellion against established values, a social awareness related to anarchism, and a critique of all subjective concerns.
Key Characteristics and Themes
His principal ‘spiritual novels’ include:
La Voluntad (The Will)
It is an impressionistic novel that includes fragments of life and separate feelings. The passive protagonist is pessimistic and lacks willpower.
Antonio Azorín
In this work, the author uses both first and third-person narration and includes letters.
Doña Inés
This work incorporates detailed descriptions of the environment and highlights the sensitivity of the characters to the few events that occur. The conflict focuses on the protagonists’ personalities.
Ramón del Valle-Inclán: From Modernism to Esperpento
Ramón del Valle-Inclán began his narrative career with Modernism, gradually introducing technical innovations into his novels, culminating in the creation of the Esperpento, his signature literary style.
Major Novelistic Works
Las Sonatas (The Sonatas)
Written in the form of memoirs, these novels represent an allegory of human life and parody decadentist situations and attitudes.
La Guerra Carlista (The Carlist War)
This series is composed of 3 novels. Valle-Inclán believed that liberalism was the source of Spain’s ills. The protagonists belong to different social strata: the clergy, the landed aristocracy, and the common people.
Tirano Banderas (Tyrant Flags)
A historical novel that narrates the fall of dictator Santos Banderas, a caricature of Hispano-American rulers.
El Ruedo Ibérico (The Iberian Circle)
This series of novels was intended to cover the period from the late reign of Queen Isabella II to the Cuban War. The series was designed as a novel about the Spanish sensibility of that era.