The Spanish Novel in the First Half of the 20th Century
The Social Novel
The dehumanized face of the novel arises from the 1930s, a movement claiming the rehumanization of art and a return to human concerns. Jose Diaz Fernandez’s The New Romantic Novel (1930) triggered this new literature. Contemporary historical events, such as the Soviet Revolution, World War I, and the war in Morocco, led these authors to become aware of reality and feel the need to report the objectionable aspects of society.
The issues revolved around the war in Morocco and the situation of workers and peasants, so that sometimes these novels became social reports. José Díaz Fernández (1898-1940) published The Blockhouse in 1928, which became one of the first works of this genre. The publication was supported by the publisher New History, which contributed to the consolidation of the genre with the collection “The Social Novel.” Besides Fernández Díaz’s novel, in the same year appeared Campus Invalid by the Peruvian Cesar Falcon and The Suicide of Prince Ariel by E.J. Balbontín.
Ramon J. Sender (1902-1982) was the principal author of this current. With Magnet (1930), he solidified the newly born genre. The concern for social criticism and the attempt to show reality as it is are two elements common to most novels by this author.
The Nineteenth-Century Realist Narrative
The importance of the realist novel acquired in the second half of the nineteenth century survived in the work of some authors determined to prolong it: Ricardo Leon and Concha Espina.
Ricardo León (1877-1943) established a direct bridge between the realism of Galdós and Clarín’s novel of the first half of the twentieth century. In 1908, he published his most successful novel, Caste Gentry, with which he became one of the authors with the widest audience. The titles that followed did not achieve such popularity: Sentimental Comedy (1909) and Centaurs (1912).
Concha Espina (1877-1955) stands out for developing a dimly lyrical prose, as well as stylistic values. Among its pages, you can find the first signs of social withdrawal, but very colored by the tone of Christian redemption that the author uses as a common element in all her novels. This becomes more a demonstration of true piety than a complaint. In The Sphinx (1914), Concha Espina criticizes the discrimination of women in León. Her best novel is The Metal of the Dead (1920), in which the central theme is the dispute raised by a group of miners.
The Humorous Novel
Wenceslao Fernández Flórez (1884-1964) is one of the few Spanish authors dedicated almost exclusively to the humorous novel, though that humor would gradually sour because of skepticism. In recent times, his work is becoming more valued and recognized, and he may be considered a prominent author of our literature. His early works are mainly naturalistic and introduce Galician regional elements, with a touch of eroticism and manners: The Procession of the Days (1914), Volvoreta (1917), and A Thief Has Entered (1920). Gradually, his mood becomes more intellectual and critical, so that the novels of the second stage take place in imaginary places. He criticizes gender bias, irrational attachment to the land, and false heroism, all of which leads to the skepticism of Bluebeard’s Secret (1923).
The Novel of the Forties
After the Civil War (1936-1939), Spanish society had to return to normal, but this task would not be easy. The ideology of the victors was imposed on the vanquished in all aspects of life, and the novel would be no different. The material needs and the delicate social situation came to the fore, and in the period popularly known as the famine years (1939-1945), there was not much room for creative writing. However, there are examples of authors who began a search for new narrative forms that would allow the novel to resume the development it was reaching in the years of the Second Republic.
Rafael García Serrano
An enthusiastic advocate of the Falangist ideology, Rafael García Serrano published Eugenio Spring or the Proclamation (1938) during the war to support the National troops of General Franco. The fascist symbols and continuous invitations to death and heroism in the cause drown out any literary values it may contain. In 1943, he published his most renowned work, The Faithful Infantry.
Camilo José Cela (1916-2002)
Camilo José Cela began publishing during the forties, and his is the first great novel of the decade: The Family of Pascual Duarte (1942). Due to the brutality of the argument and the sad and distressing image of Spanish society presented, the technique of this novel has been called exaggerated, characterized by the objectivism of the story and the mastery of language and its expressive possibilities. In the second half of the century, Cela would become the best-known Spanish novelist inside and outside Spain.
The Nadal Award
The creation of the Nadal Award is another element that contributes to the slow awakening of the novel during the forties. The first edition, in 1945, awarded Carmen Laforet (1933-2004), until then an unknown young woman of twenty years, for her novel Nothing.
Miguel Delibes (1920-2010)
Miguel Delibes is the most important author who won the Nadal Prize during the forties. The publication of his first novel, The Shade of the Cypress is Long (1948), was followed shortly after by The Road (1950), Five Hours with Mario (1966), and Prince Dethroned (1973).
Juan Antonio Zunzunegui (1901-1982)
Juan Antonio Zunzunegui wrote primarily about folk customs and realistic subjects, with great descriptive power. In a way, he leans towards social criticism, while not being a progressive writer. His first book is Chiripi (1925). The following works of Zunzunegui develop into bourgeois subjects: Oh… These Children (1943), The Death Ship (1945), and Ulcer (1948). The rest of his production is set in the fifties and sixties.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the novel of the forties is totally determined by the circumstances of the war.