Spanish Literature: 18th and 19th Century Authors and Movements
Spanish Literature: 18th and 19th Centuries
Key Authors and Their Works
This overview covers prominent authors and literary movements in Spain during the 18th and 19th centuries.
- Moratín: (Theater) El sí de las niñas, La comedia nueva o El café.
- Cadalso: (Prose) Cartas marruecas, Noches lúgubres.
- Espronceda: (Poetry) Canción del pirata, El estudiante de Salamanca, El diablo mundo.
- Duque de Rivas: (Drama) Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino.
- Zorrilla: (Theater) Don Juan Tenorio.
- Larra: (Prose) Artículos
Medieval Literature: Clergy, Lyrics, Prose, and Syntax
Mester of Clergy
The Mester of Clergy was a school of writers who succeeded the Mester of Minstrelsy. The word “clergyman” was appointed to every man of letters. The works of the clergy were intended to persuade and educate the public on the doctrines of the church, imparting knowledge and Christian values. The school emerged in the twelfth century, and its main features are:
- Subjects: Writing on religious matters and romance, usually texts inspired by Latin authors.
- Starring: Historical personages
Henry: Literary Contributions and Valencian Heritage
The literary value of Henry lies in two major contributions: his five novels and his short stories. He employs an omniscient and subjective narrator, achieving greater precision, thoroughness, and accuracy in detail. His great proficiency is evident in his use of oral folk tradition and a well-balanced literary language.
The tales are drawn from a core source of oral narrative, profoundly transforming and reformulating the stories, often focusing on cults. The short stories are notable for their
Read More19th 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
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