19th and Early 20th Century Spanish Literary Movements
Romanticism: 19th Century Cultural Movement
Romanticism, a cultural movement characteristic of the first half of the 19th century, is the result of the profound crisis of a rapidly changing world.
Features of Romanticism
- Irrationalism
- Subjectivism
- Idealism
- Individualism
- Creative genius
- Betrayal
- Escape
- Solitude
- Dynamic nature
- New sensitivity
Realism: 19th Century Literary Movement
Realism is the cultural movement characteristic of 19th-century bourgeois society, which no longer favored fantasy and romantic idealism.
Read MoreSpanish Literature: Modernism and the Generation of ’98
Rubén Darío
Work
- Azul…: Poems are characterized by elegance and sensuality.
- Prosas Profanas: Represents the fullness of Parnassian Modernism. Surprises for the musicality of the verse, which shows the metric range of motion. Poetry is a precious, exotic, sophisticated fantasy. The poet, who said “I hate life and the time I happened to be born”, takes refuge in an ivory tower (a symbol of aristocratic exterior insulation).
- Cantos de Vida y Esperanza: There is a crisis of earlier aestheticism. Now
Much Ado About Nothing: Plot Summary & Analysis
Much Ado About Nothing: A Delicate Balance Between Comedy and Tragedy
Although the crisis ends quickly, Much Ado About Nothing sometimes seems only steps away from becoming a tragedy. Indeed, the line between tragedy and comedy is sometimes fuzzy. Many critics have noted that the plot of Much Ado About Nothing shares significant elements with that of Romeo and Juliet. Much Ado About Nothing also shares many features with Shakespeare’s late play, The Winter’s Tale, which most critics assign to
Read MoreCommunication, Literature, and Theater in the Early 20th Century
The Languages of Communication
Within society, there are different social realities that determine diverse linguistic realities. We are referring to the varieties of different strata of society: the diastratic varieties. We often identify, in a particular social stratum, different linguistic levels:
- Cultivated: Those who use this should not exclude the following two.
- Popular: Characterized by subjectivity.
- Vulgar: Those who do not follow the rules of the language, and beyond that, they show flaws in
Spanish Post-War Literature: Cela and Delibes
Camilo José Cela: A Controversial Literary Figure
Camilo José Cela (1916-2002) was a controversial figure in Spanish literature. His narrative work often included profanity, which led some to question his ability as a novelist. However, his book The Family of Pascual Duarte (1942) was a surprising success in the context of the mediocrity of the time. Following this success, Cela wrote other novels, highlighting his efforts to find new formal models. He wrote a novel about a community of patients
Read MoreHarlem Renaissance: Literature, Art, and the New Negro
Harlem Renaissance
Literature and Art Movement of African Americans in the 20th Century
The Harlem Renaissance was a significant literary and artistic movement among African Americans in the 20th century. Langston Hughes’s most famous book, *Simple Speaks His Mind*, exemplifies the spirit of the movement. The movement expressed a fascination with energy and machines. Artistic movements were centered in New York or England. Demonstrations and riots were quite frequent. Popular music included jazz.
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