19th-Century Spanish Realism and Naturalism: Authors and Novels
19th-Century Realism
Realism originated in France in the 19th century. Authors such as Balzac and Stendhal emerged, and the movement unfolded with Flaubert in the context of an urban, industrial society with an established middle class. In Spain, it emerged around 1870, after “The Glorious Revolution,” and its greatest success was in the 1880s, a time of access to power for the bourgeoisie. The emergence of this movement was influenced by the genres of romance and historical novels, articles on customs, and foreign works by novelists such as Balzac, Flaubert, and Dickens.
Realism and Naturalism
Naturalism was driven by Zola with his experimental novel. He proposed applying the scientific method to literature, analyzing the human being, who is determined by the environment, the historical moment, and inheritance. In Spain, it was different; writers asserted free will and humor.
Features of the Realist Novel
Realist writers make use of observation and documentation to reflect reality. Descriptions of places and events are usually explanatory and functional.
Language
Realistic authors used expressions in the lexicon of geographical and social varieties and location to reflect the narrative world. Language constitutes a fundamental resource for the characterization of environments and, especially, for the characterization of characters.
Themes, Plot, and Characters
The conflict between the individual and society is related to the corporate opposition to nature. The individual is a misfit who faces society and is defeated by the world around them.
Urban and rural places are very typical in the realist novel. The narration usually respects chronological temporality.
The narrative material is organized through contrasts: contrasting situations, characters, and worldviews.
There are usually numerous characters representing a particular social group; they are also individual personalities. The protagonists evolve throughout history.
Galdós
Galdós is an author of extensive literary production. He is Canary Islander but comes to Madrid to study law. In Galdós’s novels, we can distinguish several stages:
Episodios Nacionales
These reflect 19th-century Spain. These chronicles constitute the immediate past, as their titles refer to historical facts. There are 5 series of national events: the last year of the reign of Charles IV, the reign of Fernando VII, the Carlist War to Isabel II, Queen Elizabeth II, the regency, and the restoration.
Novels of the First Period or Thesis
Galdós exposes ideological conflict. The subject reconnected, and the means employed by Galdós are anticlerical. To present his thesis, he uses the conduct and opinions of the characters, comments by the narrator, and the use of irony, hyperbole, and symbolism.
Contemporary Novels
Galdós invents a fictional world that reflects the reality of the time. Galdós further developed various narrative techniques: the preponderance of the omniscient narrator, dialogues, interior monologue, free indirect style, theater, humor, irony, and parody. Among his most outstanding works are Tormento and Fortunata y Jacinta (which reflects changes occurring in society).
Spiritual Novel
Gospel values prevail: love and Christian charity. The author expresses ideological disappointment, witnessing the failure of the bourgeoisie to transform society.
Last Novels
These blend realism with fantastic and wonderful elements. In these novels, there is some ideological reflection by writers on fin de siècle society.