20th-Century Spanish Literature: Post-Civil War to 1970s
Poetry
1960s & 1970s: The Poetry of Experience
During the 1960s, a group of young poets (who were children during the war) forged a new path, diverging from social poetry and its inherent anger. These poets, skeptical of literature’s power to change the world, focused on personal experiences: childhood memories of the civil war, love, work, and other mundane aspects of daily life. Their language, while everyday, remained accessible.
Representative Authors:
- Ángel González
- Jaime Gil de Biedma
- Francisco Brines
Novel
1940s
Attempts to depict the harsh realities of post-war Spain clashed with the censorship imposed by the dictatorial regime. This led to an initial stagnation in the narrative genre. Popular novels either glorified the war from the victors’ perspective or offered escapism into emotional matters far removed from the prevailing misery. However, two critical novels emerged: The Family of Pascual Duarte by Camilo José Cela and Nada by Carmen Laforet.
The Family of Pascual Duarte initiated the tremendismo movement, which explored the harshest aspects of reality: poverty, violence, and crime. In Nada, the protagonist journeys to Barcelona for university, only to find herself trapped in a stifling, bourgeois world. She experiences existential angst and dissatisfaction, leading a life devoid of meaning.
Miguel Delibes focused on the lives of society’s poorest—farmers and children—with a nostalgic and tender perspective. His novels often address difficult themes through the eyes of children, whose initially idealized vision of life gradually gives way to nostalgia. Notable works include The Road and The Shade of the Cypress is Long.
1950s
In 1951, Cela published The Hive, a precursor to the social novel. For the first time since the Civil War, a narrative reflected the immediate post-war society and its miseries. The novel’s complex structure, with its numerous characters and time jumps, heavily influenced novelists of the time.
Social criticism and denunciation were predominant, aiming to expose social injustices and inequalities. Authors committed to their contemporary society prioritized political objectives over aesthetic achievements. Thematic topics spanned all social sectors, from the selfishness of bourgeois life to the hardships of rural and industrial labor.
Formally, the social novel embraced objectivism. The narrator disappeared from the story, attempting to reflect reality like a film camera, with dialogue dominating the narrative. Notable authors and works include Carmen Martín Gaite’s Between Curtains and Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio’s The Jarama.
1960s
The oversaturation of social novels and the transformation of Spanish society in the 1960s led to a narrative renewal. Instrumental to this change was the 1962 publication of Luis Martín Santos’s Time of Silence.
This novel continued the critical reflection on Spanish society but with a radically new formal presentation. It employed innovative storytelling, a rich vocabulary, and inventive expression. Time of Silence introduced narrative techniques that became common in later novels:
- Shifting narrative perspectives (e.g., from third-person to first-person).
- Use of interior monologue, reproducing the disordered thoughts of a character.
- Temporal disorder, deviating from linear chronology.
- Conflicted characters grappling with identity issues.
Theater
The impact of the Civil War on theater was profound, given the deaths and exile of writers, set designers, and actors, compounded by censorship. Theater, as a public spectacle, felt the weight of censorship most acutely.
1940s
Theaters were filled with escapist performances like musicals, catering to the bourgeois audience. Historical works aimed at reinforcing the victors’ ideology were also common. Comic theater, exemplified by Miguel Mihura and Enrique Jardiel Poncela, offered a surreal and absurd humor. Mihura’s Three Top Hats is a prime example.
1950s
A pivotal release in the 1950s was Antonio Buero Vallejo’s Historia de una escalera (Story of a Staircase). The play explored existential problems through relatable characters, resonating with audiences. Mid-decade saw the emergence of socially committed theater, reflecting social injustices and inequalities: the lives of workers, the economic and moral misery of the poor, and ideological repression.
Aesthetically, the stage mimicked recognizable spaces, and everyday language reproduced the speech of different social classes. Many of these works remained unpublished or unperformed due to censorship, hence the term “shadow theater.” Alfonso Sastre, with works like Squad to Death, stands out.
1960s
Without abandoning social commentary and commitment, new authors emerged, renewing language and dramatic techniques. This decade’s distinctive feature was a renewal movement aligning with European trends like the Theatre of the Absurd and underground theater.
Independent theater groups, operating under challenging conditions, shared common characteristics:
- Reduced emphasis on text, prioritizing body language, dance, music, cabaret, and revue elements.
- Deconstruction of stage conventions, exploring new ways to organize performance space, such as extending the stage into the audience.
A prominent group was Joglars.
Literary Context
1940s-1970s
From the end of the Franco dictatorship to the dawn of democracy, literature evolved alongside other social issues.
1940s
Post-Civil War Spain faced immense challenges: a devastated economy, a divided society, and the exile of many intellectuals. Literature was dominated by existential concerns, reflecting the bitterness of a shattered nation and the pain of exile.
1950s
Lack of ideological freedom, censorship, and social injustices fueled rebellion. Spain’s growing economic ties with the United States contrasted with the dictatorship’s silencing of literature. Published works, often produced in exile, expressed the desire for justice, freedom, and equality, giving rise to social literature.
1960s & 1970s
While social literature struggled to reach a wide audience and inspire social change, it found expression in protest songs. Singers like Joan Manuel Serrat set the works of social poets (Blas de Otero, Gabriel Celaya) and Republican authors (Antonio Machado) to music, achieving what books could not. The May 1968 protests in Europe and youth movements against the Vietnam War further fueled this spirit of rebellion, with young people challenging international capitalism and bourgeois values.