The Generation of ’27: A Deep Dive into Spanish Avant-Garde Poetry
The Generation of ’27: Avant-Garde Poetry in Spain
The year 1927 marked a significant gathering at the Ateneo de Sevilla, commemorating the tercentenary of Góngora’s death. This meeting brought together a group of authors who admired Góngora for his innovative use of poetic language. This date, 1927, became synonymous with this group, known as the Generation of ’27.
Intellectual Background and Relationships
The members of this group shared a strong intellectual bond, with many being university professors.
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16th Century Spanish Literature
Fray Luis de León
Life and Personality
Born around 1527 in Belmonte, Fray Luis de León became a monk at the convent of Salamanca and a professor at the university from 1561. Imprisoned due to strife and intrigue, his time in jail influenced his work, fostering a desire for seclusion and serenity.
His Work
Prose
Fray Luis de León wrote four major works in Castilian prose:
- Translation of the Song of Songs
- Exposition of the Book of Job
- In the Names of Christ
- The Perfect Wife
In
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Types of Novels
Byzantine Novels
The Byzantine novel, a subgenre discovered with Heliodorus’s “Ethiopian Story,” features a couple whose love is challenged by fate but ultimately reunited. Popular fifty years before the discovery of America, these novels are set on journeys filled with obstacles like pirates, storms, and captivity.
Byzantine novels incorporated narrative techniques such as in medias res (beginning in the middle of the story) and the interpolation of stories (to maintain suspense, add
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The Evolution of the Spanish Novel in the 20th Century
The early 20th century saw a shift in Spanish literature, moving away from the realism and naturalism that characterized the works of the previous century, such as those by disciples of Galdós, Pardo Bazán, and Clarín. While authors like Vicente Blasco Ibáñez continued to explore social realism, a new wave of writers emerged with distinct artistic visions.
The Rise of Subjectivity: The Generation of 98
The Generation of 98, spearheaded by
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The Lyrics from the Civil War
Principal Poetic Guidelines
In the 1930s, a style of poetry developed that centered on the human social situation, injustices, and pain. Miguel Hernández is a prominent figure from this period. During the Civil War, poetry was marked by ideological exaltation and combat. In the postwar decades, the lyrical landscape was shaped by the conflict and cultural politics of the Franco regime.
The Forties
After a period of exaltation of the empire, neoclassicism and existentialism
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PRIOR TO THE SPANISH NARRATIVE 1936
The Prose of the Century
In the field of prose, a progressive crisis of realism is observed, giving way to innovative trends. Prose increasingly becomes the vehicle of narrative, moving away from the classic sense. The characteristic is an impressionistic prose dominated by suggestion, imprecision, a taste for vagueness and symbolism, quick brushstrokes, and a trend toward the unfinished and fragmentary.
Common themes of these early-century writings are:
- Voluntarism