20th Century Literature: From Avant-Garde to Generation of ’27
20th Century Literature
2.1 The Avant-Garde (1910s)
The avant-garde art scene emerged around 1910. These movements, also known as “isms,” rejected traditional art forms and advocated experimentation. Key movements include:
- Creationism (Hispanic origin): Aimed to create reality within the artwork itself, often using language games.
- Surrealism (French origin): Focused on expressing subconscious emotions and thoughts, employing techniques like automatic writing to create irrational images.
The New Novel
Europe experienced an innovative literary phenomenon: the experimental novel, revolutionizing form and content.
- Marcel Proust (1871-1922): Author of In Search of Lost Time, a seven-novel series analyzing the psychology of high society.
- Franz Kafka (1883-1924): Expressed the anguish of man and the constraints of social relations.
- James Joyce (1882-1941): Wrote Ulysses, set in Dublin, mirroring the plot of the Odyssey. Its transgressive language blends various styles.
The Novecentismo (1910s-1920s)
A group of writers known as the Generation of 1914 emerged, characterized by intellectualism, European influence, and a pursuit of pure art.
Poetry: Juan Ramón Jiménez is the main representative.
The Noucentista Novel: Key features include lyrical descriptive passages and non-fiction elements. The focus is on reflection and character description rather than action. Notable novelists include Gabriel Miró and Ramón Pérez de Ayala, who moved away from realism in his later works. Ramón Gómez de la Serna introduced avant-garde to Spain and created greguerías, known for their humor and metaphors.
Noucentista Essay: José Ortega y Gasset summarized his ideas on new literature, reflecting avant-garde influence.
The Generation of ’27 (1920s)
This group admired Juan Ramón Jiménez’s poetry and Ortega y Gasset’s ideas. They incorporated new formal and thematic elements, blending tradition and innovation. Key figures include Federico García Lorca, Rafael Alberti, Luis Cernuda, Pedro Salinas, and Jorge Guillén.
- Rafael Alberti: Sailor on Land reflects a neopopularist style, preserving traditional Spanish poetry forms, exploring themes of nostalgia and childhood. Concerning Angels expresses the poet’s anguish and disorientation through surrealism.
- Jorge Guillén: A key figure in pure poetry. His work, collected in Cántico, exalts the joy of life. Clamor addresses problems challenging the perfection of Cántico. Homenaje praises figures in art and science.
Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881-1958)
Born in Moguer (Huelva), Jiménez later lived in the USA with his wife Zenobia Camprubí. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature and died in Puerto Rico. His work is characterized by a pursuit of perfection, with three creative cycles:
- Sensitive Stage: Marked by modernism, with musical verse, symbols, and modernist motifs.
- Intellectual Stage: Characterized by formal simplicity and complex themes like loneliness and death.
- Sufficient Stage: Works written during his American exile, seeking transcendence through perfection and beauty.
Federico García Lorca (1898-1936)
Poetry
Born in Fuente Vaqueros (Granada), Lorca moved to Madrid in 1919 and later traveled to New York. He was executed in Víznar (Granada). His poetry has two stages:
- First Stage: Popular style, using traditional Spanish forms, exploring themes of desire, rebellion, and death.
- Second Stage: Influenced by avant-garde, particularly surrealism. Post-New York poems reflect poverty and hunger, using free verse and surreal imagery.
Theater
Lorca, along with Valle-Inclán, revitalized Spanish theater. His early work was Symbolist, but his first success was the historical drama Mariana Pineda. His theatrical peak includes three rural tragedies set in Andalusia: Blood Wedding, Yerma, and The House of Bernarda Alba.
Homonymy
Some words are spelled or pronounced alike but have different meanings to these words are called words homónimas.Las homonyms are classified into two: “Words are pronuncial homophone-like (hello and wave), homographs, words are spelled the same (canto1 and canto2)