Modern Art Movements: Futurism, Cubism, Expressionism, and More
Futurism
Futurism was founded by the Italian Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, who published his first manifesto in Paris in 1909. It represented a total rupture with the past, expressing admiration for the mechanical civilization and technical progress: machines, speed, and great inventions like the train and the airplane. A consequence of this was the disregard for human subjects and fundamentals. To achieve the ideal of free words, Futurists did not punctuate the text and deleted adjectives.
Cubism
Cubism
Read MoreLiterary Terms, Devices, and Vocabulary: A Quick Reference
Literary and Rhetorical Terms
DEFINE:
- Argumentative Writing: Speech or writing that expresses a position on an issue or problem and supports it with reasons or evidence.
- Informative Essay: An essay that educates about a certain topic.
- Narrative Writing: Any kind of writing that tells a story (it can be imaginary, fiction, etc.).
- Foundational Text: Text that serves as the foundation or basis of a thought, idea, or movement.
- Flashback: Technique in which a writer interrupts a story to go back and relive
Spanish Literature: Narrative, Generation of ’98, and Avant-Garde
Narrative in Spanish Literature
In this literary genre, we find:
- A shift towards realism, with experimental narratives like those of Joyce and Prussian, exploring desire and critical realism.
- Narratives steeped in religiosity, seeking God as an answer or negation, as seen in the works of Papini, Giovanni, or the abandonment of God as portrayed by Graham Greene. This also includes existentialism.
- The development of social or narrative literature, with roots in the 16th-century picaresque novel and further
Bohemian Lights: Plot and Structure Analysis
Bohemian Lights: Argument and Structure
Luces de Bohemia (Bohemian Lights), initially published in the journal “España” in 1920 and later revised as a book in 1924, introduces a groundbreaking genre in theater and literature. It presents a nocturnal odyssey across 15 scenes, exploring themes of frustration, death, and the burial of a blind Bohemian poet, Max Estrella, described as “a brilliant and hungry Madrid absurdity.” The play reflects the chronic political chaos and debauchery of the post-
Read MoreSpanish 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.