20th Century Spanish Literature
Twentieth Century Spanish Poets
Federico García Lorca, Pablo Neruda, Miguel Hernandez, Antonio Gala, Pedro Salinas, Antonio Machado, Juan Ramon Jimenez, Rafael Alberti.
Camilo José Cela
Born: La Coruña, 1916 – Died: Madrid, 2002. Cela lived in Mallorca, where he founded the journal Papeles de Son Armadans. From an early age, he composed poetry with influences from Neruda and Alberti, but his true success lay in prose, cultivating novels, short stories, and travel books.
Works:
- The Family of Pascual Duarte
- Pabellón de reposo
- La Colmena (The Hive)
Miguel Delibes
Born: Valladolid, 1920. Delibes was a writer who became one of the most prestigious authors of the second half of the twentieth century. He began his career as a comic artist around 1940 and later became a film critic. His doctorate in business law influenced his precise writing style, devoid of superfluous adjectives. He received numerous awards and, since 1975, was a member of the Royal Spanish Academy. His prose style and lexical richness were his main contributions to the revival of the Spanish novel.
Works:
- La sombra del ciprés es alargada (Shadow of the Cypress is Long)
- Aún es de día (It’s Still Day)
- Las ratas (The Rats)
- Los santos inocentes (The Holy Innocents)
- Cinco horas con Mario (Five Hours with Mario)
- Mis amigos los peces (My Friends the Fish)
- La naturaleza amenazada (Threatened Nature)
Types of Texts
Narrative
Narrative text recounts real or fictional events. Analyzing narrative texts requires studying the story and its actions, the characters involved, the time and space where they unfold, how these elements are arranged, and the point of view from which the story is told. Narrative, especially in literary texts, is often interwoven with dialogue and description, resulting in complex texts with different sequences.
Descriptive
Descriptive text lists the characteristics of an object statically, without the passage of time. The term “object” is understood broadly, encompassing all of reality, whether human or not, concrete or abstract, real or fictional. Everything imaginable is describable. The descriptive text types are:
- Scientific texts: Their purpose is to show the procedure for an investigation or experimentation.
- Technical texts: These list the components, shape, and function of any object or instrument of artistic creation: painting, sculpture, mechanics, sports, medicine, etc. They include instruction manuals and equipment assembly guides; recipes and medication prospects.
- Social texts: These provide data on the behavior of individuals and institutions. They are prescriptive in nature.
Argumentative
Argumentative text presents reasons for or against a particular “position” or “thesis” to convince the audience through various arguments. It fundamentally, though not exclusively, uses value judgments, positive or negative findings about the above (good, bad, ugly, beautiful), valid/invalid, appropriate/inappropriate. Argumentative discourse is common in essays and criticism. Examples include political speeches or opinion articles. In argumentative texts, one can express views against “something,” either positive or negative.
Expository
Expository text presents certain facts or realities neutrally and objectively. Unlike argumentative or narrative text, it does not attempt to convince but to show. However, this difference is not always evident in individual texts, so we often speak of “expository-argumentative” discourse. Examples of expository text are typically scientific texts. The purpose of these texts is to inform.
Types of Expository Texts:
- Educational or informational texts: These target a broad audience and use vague and formal lexical information that is not technical or specialized. We find them in notes, textbooks, encyclopedias, reviews, conferences, collections, etc.
- Specialized or argumentative texts: These target a specific audience within a particular knowledge area that requires or uses specialized vocabulary and technical information. We find them in reports, legislation, scientific research articles, etc.
Characteristics of Informative Texts:
- Reports clearly and objectively about a topic of general interest.
- Directed to a larger audience.
- Easy to understand.
- Uses a standard vocabulary.
- Objective.
Characteristics of Specialized Texts:
- Reports on a very specific subject.
- Directed to a content expert.
- Difficult to understand for anyone not familiar with the subject.
- Uses specific terminology.
- Highly objective.