18th Century Spain: Society, Culture, and Literature
Historical and Cultural Context
Society and Culture: Absolute monarchy was imposed on the church. Socially, the bourgeoisie grew while the nobility and clergy maintained their privileges. The culture valued the philosophy of science and disseminated theories about social welfare, humanitarianism, and deism. It advocated a utilitarian or didactic art.
Aesthetic: Neoclassicism: The model is inspired by Greco-Roman and Renaissance architecture and is designed to reflect good taste. It aspires to be elegant, simple, and reasonable, presents didactic themes and characters.
Spain in the 18th Century: After the war of succession, the Bourbons, supporters of enlightened reform, were established. However, they censored rationalist and reformist tendencies for fear of revolutions. Enlightenment thought started spreading somewhat belatedly through travel, translations, newspapers, academies, and salons.
The Language: A clear, concise, and simple language rejected Baroque complications. Gallicisms were incorporated.
Literature: Three stages:
- Posbarroco (during the 1st half of the century, repeated themes and forms of the previous century)
- Neoclassicism (rise of Enlightenment ideas, style consistency and rationality)
- Preromanticism (last two decades, philosophical literature, emotional and rational language)
18th Century Prose
Trends: Posbarroco, Neoclassical, and Pre-Romantic. Feijoo and Jovellanos developed the essay, which used a natural, precise, and functional language. Cadalso’s narrative is the test that becomes more developed.
Fray Benito Jeronimo Feijoo
Author of numerous didactic essays of an encyclopedic type, which make him the most important intellectual of his time. He disseminates knowledge and science in order to modernize society. In Teatro Critico Universal and Cartas Eruditas y Curiosas, he attacks superstitions and false popular beliefs from a religious perspective. He was defended by Ferdinand VI. He uses a concise and antibarroco language adapted to the didactic purpose of his work.
Jose Cadalso
A connoisseur of the Neoclassical and Pre-Romantic, he is the author of the most representative work of the Enlightenment, Moroccan Letters. It performs a social satire following the approach of Montesquieu’s Persian Letters. The protagonist, Gazel, is traveling in Spain, writing to his Spanish tutor and a friend. They reviewed and criticized the customs, ideas, and Hispanic social organization. Mournful Nights: an elegy in prose that is part of sepulchral preromanticism. The dialogue takes the form of a story after the death of Tediato, who wants his beloved dug up and cremated with her. The Pseudo-Intellectuals satirizes the pseudo-scientists, elated pedants who speak with authority of religion in the classroom without understanding.
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos
A writer and political figure who lived intensely during the second half of the eighteenth century, he collected his letters and diaries. A prominent representative of the essay, he covers topics including economics, education, agriculture, and law. From his Enlightenment perspective, he proposed modernizing the country through works such as Memory for the Array of Police Shows, which was a reflection on the forms of entertainment offered by society. He defended the educational value of the neoclassical theater. Report on Land Law studies the causes of rural disadvantage and proposes reforms to establish irrigation, farmers’ access to culture, and amortization. Report on Public Education believes that culture is the source of social prosperity and personal happiness and raises the need to expand education and combine theoretical learning with practical trades. He also wrote satires, prose, and dramatic epistles.