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 and Muslim cultures.
Byzantine: These novels feature pilgrimage and adventure, often intertwined with romance.
Satirical-Menippean: Alonso Núñez de Reinoso’s Historia de los amores de Clareo y Florisea and later works like El Lazarillo de Tormes, Guzmán de Alfarache, and Cervantes’ Los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda fit this genre.
Picaresque Novel
Lazarillo de Tormes (anonymous, 1554) marks the beginning of the picaresque novel, a realistic and often autobiographical genre. Mateo Alemán’s Guzmán de Alfarache continues this tradition.
Short Novel
Cervantes and María de Zayas are notable figures in the development of the short novel.
Baltasar Gracián (1601-1658)
Gracián’s El Criticón is a Byzantine allegory exploring the problems of human life and the contrast between appearance and reality. His works often address political and moral issues from a critical perspective.
Cervantes
A towering figure in world literature, Cervantes excelled in both drama and narrative. His Novelas ejemplares showcase his mastery of the short novel form. Don Quixote, a parody of chivalric romances, is considered a foundational work of the modern novel.
Theater
16th Century
Lope de Rueda is a key figure in 16th-century Spanish theater, known for his humorous short plays and longer works.
The New Comedy (Lope de Vega)
Starting around 1590, Lope de Vega revolutionized Spanish theater with his “New Comedy.” He broke with classical conventions, mixing tragic and comic elements, focusing on a single action, and using a three-act structure. His plays often feature a “gracioso,” a witty comic character.
Calderón de la Barca
Calderón further developed the Spanish Golden Age drama, simplifying plots and emphasizing logical development. His works include philosophical and honor plays.
Poetry
18th Century
The 18th century saw a shift towards Neoclassicism, with a focus on fixed generic models and educational purposes. Anacreontic poetry, celebrating sensual love, became popular.
José Cadalso (1741-1782)
Cadalso’s prose work Cartas marruecas critiques Spanish society and suggests reforms.
Leandro Fernández de Moratín (1760-1828)
Moratín championed Neoclassical ideas in comedy, defining it as an imitation of a single event, occurring in one place, and aimed at ridiculing societal vices and recommending virtuous behavior. La comedia nueva and El sí de las niñas are among his best-known works.