Spanish Theater Before and After 1936: A Historical Overview
Spanish Theater Before 1936
Early 20th Century Trends
Commercial Theater
Specific circumstances shaped early 20th-century Spanish theater:
- Plays were conceived for stage representation, with many never published or having little impact.
- Commercial success depended on factors beyond artistic merit, such as the support of influential figures.
- Audiovisual performances reached wider audiences, but faced increased censorship under dictatorships.
Spanish theater in the first third of the century was unique.
Read MoreGeneration of ’27 & Spanish Literary Renewal
Generation of ’27
: Gongora poets honored at Seville in 27.-Topics: Existentialist (try the man’s existential complexity of his time: love, death, anxiety, pain, universe, God, freedom, margunación, injusticia.Poetas:
-Pdro Salinas (eager to capture the ultimate reality of things, looking at the pure love +)-Jrge Guillen (Esperanza, jubilant song to life) Gerardo Diego (pluraldad subject) – V. Aleixandre (BSC the human lber, love destruction-life vs. death)-L.Cernuda: desire and reality struggle
16th & 17th Century Spanish Literature: Prose, Poetry, and Theater
16th and 17th Century Spanish Literature
Prose
Didactic Prose
Juan de Valdés’ Diálogo de la lengua is a key example of 16th-century didactic prose. Alfonso de Valdés’ Diálogo de Mercurio y Caron also stands out. Teresa de Jesús’s mystical writings, such as Libro de la Vida and Las Moradas, offer spiritual guidance.
Fiction
Pastoral: Jorge de Montemayor’s Los siete libros de la Diana (1559) idealizes love and nature with elegant language.
Moorish: El Abencerraje represents the blending of Christian
Read MoreSpanish Grammar: Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, and Determiners
Determiners
Determiners are a closed class of words that accompany nouns. They cannot be created. They differ from adjectives.
Types of Determiners:
- Articles:
- Definite: (el, la, los, las) accompany known nouns.
- Indefinite: (un/una, unos/unas) accompany unknown nouns.
- Demonstratives: (este/esta/estos/estas; ese/esa/esos/esas; aquel/aquella/aquellos/aquellas) indicate proximity, middle distance, or distance.
- Possessives: (mi, mío/mía, tu, tuyo/tuya, su, suyo/suya…) show belonging.
- Numerals: Quantify
Catalan Literature: A Journey Through Medieval & Renaissance
Humanism (14th-16th Centuries)
Influences: Greco-Latin language and culture.Key Figures: Bernat Metge (1340-1414) known for his skeptical attitude.
Curial e Güelfa (15th Century)
Author: Joanot Martorell
Characteristics: Verisimilitude, humor, sensuality. The protagonist is a knight.
Themes: Chivalry, courtly love, social ascension.
The Song of Gestes (12th-15th Centuries)
Evolution from the First Chansons de Geste:
- Characters: Shift from real heroes to fantastical ones.
- Setting: From real locations to
Medieval Literary Thought: From Antiquity to the 12th Century
The Absence of Empirical-Rationalist Theories
While the Middle Ages lacked empirical-rationalist literary theories, it fostered significant reflections on beauty and interpretation that profoundly impacted Western culture, especially literary thought.
The Shift in Ideologies
Several factors shaped the medieval approach to literature: the decline of humanist culture in the Roman Empire, the rise of ideologies influenced by Plato and spiritualism, and the fusion of Greek myths and Judeo-Christian thought.
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