Spanish Literary Movements: Realism, Naturalism, and Avant-Garde
Realism
Realism is the cultural movement of bourgeois society in the nineteenth century, which rejected fantasy and romantic idealism. General features of realism are: observation and accurate description of reality, focus on facts, common purpose of social criticism, a concise and sober style, predilection for the novel, individual characters, omniscient narrator, didacticism, linear structure, meticulous descriptions, and approximation of colloquial language.
Naturalism
Naturalism is a literary current
Read MoreAusiàs March and Tirant lo Blanc: Key Works
Ausiàs March: A Unique Voice in Poetry
Ausiàs March stands as an isolated case in literary history. He rejects the extreme rhetoric of courtly love, recognizing a lack of eloquence and artifice in his own work. He does not boast, but rather presents himself as a poet of genuine love, the only true lover. Ausiàs opposes the troubadours, and critics have noted that he alone knows the truth, departing from the troubadour style, which, for warmth, often trespasses truth.
He primarily uses pure Catalan,
Read MoreLeopoldo Alas Clarín: Life, Works, and Literary Criticism
Leopoldo Alas Clarín: Life and Works
Born in Zamora in 1852, Leopoldo Alas, known as “Clarín,” spent most of his life in Oviedo, first as a student and then as a professor of law. He died in the Asturian capital in 1901.
Clarín, one of the most well-read intellectuals of his time, was well known for his work. As a literary critic, he was feared, blamed for mercilessly criticizing bad writers. Despite its brevity, the narrative quality of his work makes him a very important writer.
He wrote two novels,
Read MoreVocabulary Mastery: Definitions for Enhanced Understanding
Vocabulary Definitions
Sublime – Such excellence or beauty as to inspire great admiration.
Potentate – A person who possesses great power as a ruler.
Requisition – An authoritative or formal demand.
Adjuration – An earnest request; an oath or promise.
Cessation – A temporary or complete stopping.
Supplicatory – Asking humbly and earnestly.
Implacable – Relentless; unstoppable.
Admonitory – Cautioning of something; warning.
Obstinacy – Stubbornness.
Aphorism – A pithy observation that contains a general truth.
Read MoreBaroque Poetry and Language Varieties: An Analysis
The Baroque: Poetry
Historical and social characteristics of the Baroque (seventeenth century)
Period of political decline and economic crisis, atmosphere of insecurity and disappointment. New world view: deformation of the ideal Renaissance and new mysticism. Imbalance that is manifested in the artistic and literary expressions:
- Evolution of Renaissance forms and content, emptying them of meaning. Moral stance against decay.
- Complicated and aspiration to art for art.
Search the new and difficult. Ease
Read MoreSlavery Representation in Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko
Representation of Slavery in Oroonoko
During the 17th century, as England became one of the most powerful nations, it began creating a vast empire. The English colony in Suriname, where Oroonoko’s story is primarily set, was founded in 1650 and soon began importing slaves to supplement the low number of indentured servants coming from England to work the sugar plantations. Aphra Behn’s account of the lives of slaves through Oroonoko opened a claim for the abolition of slavery. Thus, this essay
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