Spanish Novelists of the Early 20th Century
Early 20th Century Spanish Novelists
The lyrical, romantic innovations of the early twentieth century resulted from a pessimistic view of Western culture at the time, where individuals struggled to find meaning in existence. The message was one of frustration and despair. The main innovations in the novel included:
- Missed Calls: Attention to the problem of history.
- Centralization in the hero.
- Momentariness and fragmentation of major players.
- Dramatization.
Pío Baroja
Pío Baroja defended the novel as
Read MoreLiterary Genres and Common Themes
Literary Genres
Item 2: Literary genres are structural models that we use to create, sort, and group different literary texts.
Lyric Genre
The author expresses their ideas and feelings subjectively.
Features:
- Use of poetic figures of style
- Expressive, evocative, and suggestive value
- Concentration and brevity
- Low presence of narrative elements; often no plot
- Rhythm and musicality
- Variety of themes and forms
Poetic Forms:
- Elegy: The author expresses grief over the death of a loved one.
- Eclogue: Expresses loving
Literary Texts: Characteristics and Genres
Characteristics of Literary Texts
Literary communication involves distinct elements. The issuer is the author of an original, unpublished work. The receiver is the reader, who interprets the work. The message is the work itself. The context differs for the author and the reader. Finally, the code is the common language, modified for aesthetic and expressive purposes.
Creative Language in Literary Works
Writers manipulate language to create a unique and innovative result. Key features include:
- Connotative
Literary Genres: Lyric and Drama Characteristics
Lyric Genre: An In-Depth Look
The lyric genre encompasses a broad and varied range of literary forms, themes, and attitudes. It is based on the intensive use of poetic language, far exceeding that found in narrative and drama. It is characterized by the presence of emotive function, manifested in the expression of feelings, imaginations, and emotions of the author.
Common elements to poetic texts are:
- Concentration and brevity, a product of life experiences and internalization, stripped of accessories
The Rise and Evolution of the Novel
The Novel as a Literary Genre
Historians have often assumed that the words fiction and novel are synonymous and interchangeable, which is not true. Ever since human beings have told stories, there has been fiction – verse or prose – and only in this sense, any work of fiction written before the 1600s in England is somehow an ancestor of the novel.
The concept “novel” comes from “novela” and “nouvelle”. It has its origin in “novellus” from Latin and has the meaning of something
Read MoreUnderstanding Figures of Speech
Understanding Literary Devices
Synecdoche: Using a part to represent the whole, or vice versa. For example, referring to someone as “the Apostle” or a cruel person as “a Nero.”
Allegory: A story or image in which the characters and events represent abstract ideas or moral qualities. Example: Cupid’s band and wings.
Hyperbole: Exaggeration used for emphasis or effect.
Irony: Expressing the opposite of what is literally said, often for humorous or emphatic effect.
Metaphor
A trope that transfers the literal
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