20th-Century Spanish Poetry: From Noucentisme to Surrealism

Posted on Oct 13, 2024 in Latin

Noucentista Poetry

Noucentista poetry can be identified with pure poetry, which strives for moral perfection, romantic sentimentality, and impressionist and modernist ornamentation, rejecting subjectivity. Juan Ramón Jiménez is a key figure, alongside postmodernists like Tomás Morales and pre-avant-garde poets like León Felipe. The Generation of ’27 also had their stage of pure poetry.

Juan Ramón Jiménez

Jiménez viewed poetry as the search for beauty in everything. Poetry is not only a means of expression but also a form of knowledge. He emphasized the search for the absolute and perfection, which led him to constantly evolve and reconceive his work. His work can be divided into four stages:

  • Poetry dressed in innocence
  • Poetry dressed in modernist robes
  • Refined poetry
  • Poetry stripped of all clothing

Alternatively, his work can be divided into three stages:

  1. Sensitive Stage: With three phases:
    • Early works: Steeped in Becquerian romanticism, later becoming more intimate and symbolist. Arias Tristes stands out.
    • Modernist works: Featuring sensory adjectives, brighter colors, and a modern vision. The Solitude Noise is a key work, employing modernist meters like the Alexandrine.
    • Transitional works: Moving towards a more refined and simple poetry. Includes Summer and Platero y yo, a prose poem divided into short chapters.
  2. Intellectual Stage: Marked by bare poetry. Opens with Diary of a Newly Married Poet, written during his honeymoon in New York. Features pure poetry with short, conceptual, and emotional poems. Jiménez sought the exact name of things in poetry, a form of knowledge of the world. The sea becomes a symbol of wholeness. His most important work of this stage is Eternity.
  3. Sufficient Stage: From exile until his death. Two works stand out, both published posthumously:
    • On the Other Side: Contains a long prose poem, Space, which uses free association to explore poetic consciousness.
    • Desired and Desiring God: The first part is reflected in Animal de Fondo, which uses free verse steeped in mysticism and the eternity of a god.

The Noucentista Innovative and Avant-Garde Theater

There was a perception that theater was in crisis, but it was specifically non-commercial theater that struggled. Innovative authors either failed or did not achieve widespread recognition.

  • Innovative theater tied to the Generation of ’98 failed, despite the work of promoters like Rivas Cherif and renovators like Gregorio Martínez Sierra, who established art theaters.
  • Avant-garde theater also struggled, with some exceptions like Unreason.
  • Ramón Gómez de la Serna’s theater was innovative but limited in output. His literary bursts lacked cohesion. Erotic themes predominated, along with social criticism. The Media Beings is an avant-garde work where characters feel incomplete.
  • Jacinto Grau rejected traditional drama, proposing an intellectual tragedy with universal and mythical themes. He also ventured into farce, applying these techniques to contemporary issues. He emphasized the importance of language in theater.

Vanguards

The Vanguards were a set of movements that proposed a break with previous aesthetics in their manifestos. They flourished in the interwar period.

Vanguards in Spain

Spanish Vanguards were reflections of European movements. Isms were adapted, resulting in Ultraism and Creationism. Surrealism had a significant presence with notable literary achievements and its own unique characteristics.

Ramón Gómez de la Serna

Gómez de la Serna directed the magazine Prometeo and chaired the gatherings at the Café Pombo. He wrote essays outlining his personal vision of the avant-garde (reality seen through the light of imagination). He defined the “greguería” as a metaphor + humor, a metaphor that reveals aspects of reality with internal logic. In his novels, characterization and narrative take precedence over plot, emphasizing a humorous perspective on situations. Eroticism and sexuality are prominent themes in his narratives (e.g., The Improbable Doctor).

Ultraism

Ultraism was linked to Vicente Huidobro’s time in Madrid, where he had absorbed European isms. A group of young writers penned an Ultraist manifesto, advocating for:

  • Moving beyond existing literary currents
  • Removing the extra-literary
  • Representing the signs of the modern world

Ultraism was represented in magazines, with Guillermo de Torre’s Hélices being a notable publication. The movement faded by 1923.

Creationism

Creationism’s creator is Vicente Huidobro, and it is a more defined movement.

  • It aimed to take the reasons for life and transform them to create a new reality.
  • The life of poetry is supported by the juxtaposition of images and metaphors.
  • The language of poetry is self-sufficient, stripped of its conventional meaning.

Vicente Huidobro is the main representative, with Altazor being a key work. In Spain, Gerardo Diego and Juan Larrea are notable figures.

Main Avant-Garde Movements:

  • Futurism: Filippo Tommaso Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto marked a break with tradition. It sought to shatter classic and traditional values, imposing a Nietzschean vitalism that exalts risk and violence. It breaks with traditional language.
  • Cubism: This pictorial trend expressed reality intellectually. Literary works developed after 1913, decomposing and remaking reality through collage.
  • Dada: Emerged in wartime Europe. Dada revolted against rationality, logic, and all established norms. It rejected previous aesthetic language (breaking coherence and logic). Absurdity highlighted the false logic of human principles and values.
  • Surrealism: Began with the application of Freudian ideas. It liberated the unconscious and sought the liberation of the spirit and society. The subconscious was expressed through techniques like automatic writing. It mixed free associations to create a higher, new, and suggestive reality.

Surrealism in Spain

Surrealism gained traction at the Students’ Residence, where Louis Aragon gave a lecture. There were other outbreaks in Malaga, Tenerife, and elsewhere. It generated its own manifestations in Spain, influencing poetry and achieving significant results. In the novel, Nadja stands out, and in theater, Lorca’s work, particularly As You Like It, is noteworthy.