Spanish Modernism and the Generation of ’98
Modernism
It is a 20th-century art movement that evolved from the concern for beauty in social and existential matters. The realism of the previous century no longer expressed the new sensibility of the 20th century. This break is a new conception of reality.
Features of Modernism
Its philosophy is art for art’s sake, incorporating Parnassian elements. Key features include:
- Sophistication
- Escape from reality
- Symbolism: Use of symbols and images evoked through language.
Modernists care for beauty, and social
Read MoreValencia’s Renaixença: Stages, Writers, and Legacy
The Stages of Valencia’s Renaixença
The Beginning (1830-1859)
Some writers began to use our language in various poems: Peyrolon, Escorigüela, Villaroya, etc. Slowly, they incorporated new European literature, especially Romanticism, spread by a group of liberal intellectuals. Among them was the historian Vicenç Boix, author of History of the Kingdom of Valencia. His historical novels of the medieval period, despite being written in Spanish, helped the birth of the Renaixença feeling.
Consolidation
Read MoreJuan Ramón Jiménez and Antonio Machado: Works and Style
Juan Ramón Jiménez: Works and Style
Juan Ramón Jiménez himself proposed two classifications of his work:
In Eternidades, production is divided into four stages:
- Pure poetry
- Modernist stage
- Stage of progressive simplification
- Naked poetry
Subsequently, he classified his work into three stages, although Juan Ramón’s production is characterized by a distinct unit, the result of a non-revisionist approach:
Sensitive Stage (until 1916)
This stage is further divided into two periods:
- First books: Works influenced
Meet the Hilarious Characters of the Artwork Play
Main Characters:
MARIANA: A girl who, considering her family, isn’t very rare. She’s dreamy and always wants to know everything. Very impulsive, she doesn’t think things through.
CLOTILDE: A woman who likes to laugh at people and make jokes about everything she sees or hears. She always says the first thing that comes to mind and, like Mariana, is very impulsive. She thinks everything around her is crazy, not realizing she’s the one causing it.
MICAELA: The most obsessive and insane of all, she has
Read MoreMercè Rodoreda: Life, Work, and the Broken Mirror
Mercè Rodoreda: Life and Work
Born in 1908 in Barcelona, Sant Gervasi, Mercè Rodoreda was an only child, greatly influenced by her grandfather, who encouraged her to read books in Catalan. She only attended school for three years, being mostly self-taught. Until the age of 32, she did not publish any work, stating, “I am an honest woman.” In 1934, she published A Day in the Life of a Man. (She would later reject these early works.) She began to engage in cultural activities, with her consolidation
Read MoreLiterary Devices, Verse Forms, and Genres Explained
Semantic Resources
Allegory: A succession of metaphors (e.g., “Poor barquilla mía entre peñascos rota sin velas, y a las ondas entregada sola.”)
Comparison: Relationship, by a link of a real object and an object image (e.g., “The sun shines through the palms like a pan of fire.”)
Periphrasis: A roundabout expression that avoids the direct term (e.g., “Scarce had the ruddy Apollo spread over the face of the broad spacious earth the golden strands of her beautiful hair…”)
Metonymy: Designation of
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