20th Century Spanish Literature: A Comprehensive Overview

Posted on Sep 21, 2024 in Music

20th Century Spanish Literature

Previous Novel

The Generation of ’98: This movement centers on the landscape of Spain. It emphasizes intrahistory, simplicity, and clarity. The plot is important and style should not be an obstacle.

Generation of ’14: This group brought an intellectual approach to the problem of Spain. They compared Spain with Europe and sought to modernize the university. They were approaching power with a brilliant, perfectionist style. They disengaged art from life and utilized the essay format. Notable authors include Gabriel Miró, Ramón Pérez de Ayala, and Ramón Gómez de la Serna.

  • Dehumanized Social Novel: This narrative style draws from the nineteenth-century realist tradition. Concha Espina’s work exemplifies this with The Metal of the Dead.
  • Comic Novel: Wenceslao Fernández Flórez’s The Living Forest is a prime example of this genre.

Previous Theater

Triumph followed the trend of the nineteenth-century fin de siècle theater.

  • Neo-Romantic Theater of Echegaray: This represents the theater of Late Romanticism. It enjoyed great success with the public, and Echegaray received the Nobel Prize in Literature.
  • Realistic Drama: This represents a theater concerned and committed to social problems.
  • Generation of ’98 Theater: Notable authors include Unamuno, Azorín, and Valle-Inclán.
  • Modern Drama: This encompassed evasive trends and a restoration of theater. Notable authors include Jacinto Grau, Francisco Villaespesa, Eduardo Marquina, Pedro Muñoz Seca, and José María Pemán.
  • Mass Theater: This targeted the upper classes and was the main leisure activity.
  • Sainete of Manners: Serafín and Joaquín Álvarez Quintero are known for their works full of local color.
  • Generation of ’27 Theater: Notable authors include Lorca, Alberti, and Hernández.

Previous Poetry

Poetry was a genre that grew significantly during the first half of the twentieth century.

  • Modernism: This movement emphasized the cult of beauty, neat and careful stanzas, and the continued use of classical meters. It also saw a recovery of rhythm, the expression of the subjective, the search for exoticism, a devotion to Paris, and an aristocratic and exquisite tone. Notable authors include Rubén Darío and Juan Ramón Jiménez.
  • The Avant-Garde: This encompassed Futurism, Dadaism, and Surrealism. It was characterized by an opposition to logic, continuous experimentation in search of originality, art for art’s sake, and a minority and ephemeral character.
  • Generation of ’27: This group gathered to commemorate the death of Góngora. They sought a restoration of poetry, an interest in form, metaphor, free verse with white lines, and themes of pain, joy, and memories. Notable authors include Salinas, Jorge Guillén, Gerardo Diego, Lorca, Vicente Aleixandre, Dámaso Alonso, Cernuda, Alberti, and Miguel Hernández.

Posterior Novel

  • 1940s: Literature became existential and a form of escape. Notable authors include Carmen Laforet with Nada, Camilo José Cela with The Hive and The Family of Pascual Duarte, and Miguel Delibes with Five Hours with Mario and The Heretic.
  • 1950s:
    • Objectivist Realism: This movement reflected everyday reality and wrote about poverty. Notable authors include Ignacio Aldecoa, Carmen Martín Gaite, and Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio.
    • Social Realism: This saw literature as an instrument of denunciation. Notable authors include Juan Goytisolo and Juan García Hortelano.
  • 1960s: This period saw an evolution towards experimentation and innovation, influenced by European, American, and Latin American authors. Notable authors include Luis Martín-Santos, Francisco Umbral, and Gonzalo Torrente Ballester.
  • 1970s-Today: Many authors continued to maintain the experimental novel. With the arrival of democracy, new genres emerged, including detective novels, noir and intrigue, adventure, and historical fiction. Notable authors include Arturo Pérez-Reverte and Julio Llamazares.

Posterior Theater

Works of very low quality were well received by the public.

  • Commercial Theater: Designed to produce laughter. Notable authors include Enrique Jardiel Poncela, José María Pemán, Miguel Mihura, and Juan Ignacio Luca de Tena.
  • Realistic Social Denunciation Theater: Notable authors include Antonio Buero Vallejo, Alfonso Sastre, Lauro Olmo, and José Martín Recuerda.
  • Commercial Theater during the 1950s and 1960s: Its goal was to reach the general public. Notable authors include Alfonso Paso and Antonio Gala.
  • Experimental Theater of the late 1960s: This involved the creation of a total spectacle, including techniques from other art forms. It featured symbolic drama, developed in open spaces, aimed for provocation, used symbolic characters, and employed nonverbal communication. Independent groups continued to emerge, influenced by foreign trends. Notable authors include Francisco Nieva and Fernando Arrabal.
  • Current Theater: This encompasses a wide variety of theatrical trends. Notable authors include José Sanchis Sinisterra and Ana Diosdado.

Posterior Poetry

  • 1940s: Authors sought to forget the war. Notable authors include Luis Felipe Vivanco and Leopoldo Panero. Others expressed their dissatisfaction with the world around them through direct and committed poetry, such as Victoriano Crémer and Eugenio de Nora.
  • 1950s: Authors were concerned about social reality and human problems. They employed free verse and versicles, using poetry as a tool to change the world. Notable authors include Gabriel Celaya, Blas de Otero, and José Hierro.
  • 1960s: Authors exhausted existing forms and sought to find new paths. Notable authors include Ángel González, Caballero Bonald, José Agustín Goytisolo, Jaime Gil de Biedma, José Ángel Valente, Francisco Brines, and Claudio Rodríguez.
  • 1970s: Social issues were forgotten, and the authors of the Generation of ’27 were revisited. Realism and cultural freedom were embraced. Notable authors include José María Castellet, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Pere Gimferrer, and Guillermo Carnero.
  • 1980s-Today: There is no single center of attention. Poetry contests are prevalent, and there is a return to literary tradition. There is no dominant trend, and poetry is close to lyrical prose, often focusing on urban environments. Notable authors include Antonio Gala and Víctor Botas.