19th Century Literary Movements: Realism, Naturalism, Modernism
Prior to the Twentieth Century
Realism
Realism is a literary current that developed in the second half of the nineteenth century. It has its origins in the work of Cervantes, the picaresque novel, serials, and novels of manners, customs, and the picture. It is characterized by impersonal, objective exposition using the principle of verisimilitude. Realism gives importance to the protagonist, who is typically middle-class, as realism caters to the bourgeois public and is often endowed with psychological depth. The omniscient narrator delves into the characters and controls all the threads of the story. It often has a didactic intent, a reforming zeal, and a critical attitude according to the prevailing ideology, which leads to the emergence of thesis novels. Its style is sober, emphasizing efficiency and accuracy. It aims to reflect reality, incorporating different linguistic registers. The themes may be regional, folk, historical, or personal. A highlight is the important work of Clarín, *Ana*.
Naturalism
Naturalism is characterized by determinism. The individual is determined by their biological heritage, and characters are often depicted as miserable. It embraces a materialist conception of human beings. Freedom does not exist; everything is determined by psychological and social heritage. It employs realistic narrative techniques. The narrator acts as a chronicler, merely establishing the facts without explaining them. It emphasizes the struggle for life, influenced by Darwin. Additionally, there is a social critique with a moral intent, exposing the most degrading values, issues, and institutions. It uses descriptions of miserable environments and characters. A representative work is *The Disinherited* by Galdós.
Modernism
The artistic trends at the end of the century are characterized by their heterogeneity. The new aesthetic incorporates elements from earlier movements: Parnassianism (the absolute cult of formal perfection), Symbolism (the correspondence between sensory perceptions and spiritual life), and a sense of decline (a rare charm). It signifies a thematic renewal, seeking an exotic world as a means of escape, with allusions to the East. It commonly uses symbols and myths to evoke sensations. There is a feeling of nostalgia for a legendary past and a desire to recover its origins. Explanations are sought for spiritual reality. It believes in the rhythm and harmony of the world. It aims to provoke through love. Heartbreak and romance evoke a feeling of loneliness and sadness with a melancholic tone. It brings a poetic renewal that incorporates color, sound effects, and vocabulary referring to unusual, delicious, exotic, archaic, mysterious, and fantastic realities. Metric innovation is characterized by the use of older verse forms like Alexandrine, dodecasyllabic, hendecasyllabic, eneasílabo, and octosyllabic. The most commonly used verses are the sonnet, the broken foot, and assonanced silva. Words with antepenultimate stress predominate, along with the alternation of unstressed and tonic, short and long syllables. The rhyme may be consonant or assonance. A highlight is the *Profane Prose* of Rubén Darío.