The Avant-Garde Movement in Europe and its Influence on Catalan Literature

Posted on Aug 5, 2024 in Latin

The Avant-Garde Movement in Europe (1909-1940)

The avant-garde movement represented a radical shift in art and literature, challenging traditional forms and embracing new ideas. This movement flourished in Europe between 1909 and 1940, marked by two distinct periods:

First Period (1909-1929)

This period coincided with financial crises, particularly the one that began on the New York Stock Exchange in 1929, which significantly impacted the European economy. Key movements during this time included:

  • Futurism
  • Cubism
  • Dadaism

Second Period (1929-1940)

This period saw the rise of Surrealism and was marked by the Nazi invasion of Paris in 1940. It was characterized by:

  • Intellectualization of the avant-garde
  • Increased political and social commitment

All these movements emerged as a response to modernity, each with its unique characteristics and expressions.

Key Avant-Garde Movements

Futurism (1909-1920)

The term “Futurism” was coined by Catalan poet Gabriel Alomar in 1905. However, the movement’s founder was F.T. Marinetti, who laid its foundation with his “Manifesto of Futurism” in 1909.

Futurism advocated for:

  • A complete break from the past
  • Glorification of technology and speed
  • Worship of the self

Technical Writing in Futurism:

  • Destruction of traditional syntax: using the infinitive verb form predominantly, eliminating adjectives and adverbs
  • Abolition of punctuation and capitalization
  • Use of mathematical and musical symbols
  • Freedom in word usage

Cubism (1907-1914)

Cubism emerged as an art movement in Paris, with its first exhibition featuring Picasso’s groundbreaking painting “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” (1907). The movement had two main phases: analytical and synthetic. Cubism encouraged intellectual engagement from the viewer and extended its influence to literature and poetry, with Guillaume Apollinaire as a prominent figure.

Technical Writing in Cubism:

  • Collage techniques in literature, incorporating diverse print materials
  • Use of calligrams
  • Disruption of logical sentence structure

Dadaism (1915-1920)

Dadaism was a radical and rebellious avant-garde movement that emerged at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich. The name “Dada” itself reflects the movement’s embrace of nonsense and absurdity, chosen randomly from a dictionary.

Key figures in Dadaism included Tristan Tzara, author of the Dadaist manifestos, and painter Francis Picabia. The movement embraced:

  • Anarchist ideology
  • Exaltation of the self
  • Rejection of rationality
  • Spontaneity, chance, madness, and absurdity

Technical Writing in Dadaism:

  • Influences from Cubism and Futurism
  • Invention of automatic writing, emphasizing spontaneous expression

Surrealism (1917-1940)

Surrealism is considered the culmination of the avant-garde movement, inheriting elements from Dadaism and Cubism. It aimed to explore the realm of the subconscious, or “surreality.” Dreams, influenced by psychoanalysis, and automatic writing were key techniques to access this hidden reality.

André Breton, author of the Surrealist manifestos in 1924 and 1930, was a leading figure. Surrealism had two main periods:

  1. Literary and artistic focus
  2. Exploration of morality and the relationship between Surrealism, psychoanalysis (Freud), and Marxism

Notable Surrealist artists included Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel, who joined the movement in 1929. Surrealism declined in the late 1930s and early 1940s, eventually giving way to existentialism as a dominant cultural and literary force.

Technical Writing in Surrealism:

  • Automatic association of words and images
  • Distortion of reality
  • Exploration of dreamlike objects, environments, and experiences
  • Use of metaphors, similes, and anaphora
  • Expression through contrasting polarities of human psychology (life-death, past-future, reality-fiction)

Avant-Garde Influences in Catalonia

Catalan artists closely followed the developments of the European avant-garde. Barcelona, for a period, became a European cultural hub.

However, the reception of avant-garde ideas in Catalonia presented a paradox. It coincided with the rise of Noucentisme, a conservative cultural movement advocating for order and tradition. This resulted in a unique coexistence of opposing ideologies, making the Catalan avant-garde experience distinct and individualistic.

Due to the dominance of Noucentisme, the Catalan avant-garde remained relatively moderate in its expression.

Catalan Society and Literature in the Early 20th Century

The first quarter of the 20th century in Catalonia was marked by significant social and political changes:

  • The Bourbon Restoration in Spain
  • The regency of Maria Cristina
  • A two-party system in the Spanish Courts (liberal and conservative)
  • In Catalonia, Enric Prat de la Riba served as president, aiming to establish the Catalan bourgeoisie’s social and political dominance
  • The second phase of the Industrial Revolution led to increased tensions between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat
  • Growing interest in culture among trade unions, exemplified by the establishment of the Modern School in 1901 by Francisco Ferrer Guardia, promoting rationalist and anarchist ideas
  • Social unrest, culminating in the Tragic Week of 1909, where Ferrer Guardia was accused of inciting violence and subsequently executed
  • The crisis of 1917
  • Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship (1923-1931)
  • Proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931, followed by the Catalan Republic on April 12, 1931, led by Francesc Macià and later by Lluís Companys
  • The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), triggered by a military uprising, resulted in the victory of Francisco Franco’s fascist regime, which lasted for nearly four decades

The Mallorcan School

What is the Mallorcan School?


– A set of characteristics common to the Mallorcan poets who made his work between 1900-1950 approximately.
Features:
– 1a, a dobre feeling:
– Superiority: in four believes that poetry
Mallorca has come to full perfection with Costa and Alcover
and therefore there is no longer possible beyond.
– Inferiority: when his followers are considered below for those two teachers, to the point of not trying igualarlos. Segir limited to a distance with them.
The Mallorcan School believes possess the truth and to serve as an example and model for other branches of Catalan poetry.
– 2nd propensity to myth. Alcover Coast and were subject to
the School Malloquina myth.
School Mallorcan victory means the full line of classical serenity and balance.
MS owes much more than in Costa Alcover. The latter serves as a model in common with what now with Costa: landscape (there is no human figure), formal perfection, musicality …
External characteristics and formal poetry in this series:
1a-academic rigor of form. The verse should “sing” music should be easy, friendly and without noticeable effort.
2a-rigor of the poetic form. Limitations chaired by the dogma of extreme good taste, which concerns how to express the theme. Poetry fonementalment landscape.
3rd fund classical humanism, which is the positive element Mediterranean School; what saves the best moments in the superficiality that is provided.
The school represents a time of Mallorcan poets craftsmen polish it, and seek to preserve a point well taken that the inheritance received.
I am located in the first 50 years of our century. There were 3 types of writers: · romàntcs · the last couple of times · young people: are the 1st generation of ESOL represented by: Maria Antonia Salva, Michael Ferri and Lorenzo Riber.