Avant-Garde Movements in European and Spanish Literature
1. Avant-Garde: Trends and Characteristics – Ramon Gomez de la Serna
1.1 Historical Context: Europe Before and After World War I
Avant-garde movements emerged in the first half of the 20th century, primarily in France and Germany, but their influence spread throughout the Western world and impacted all artistic expressions. These movements, heirs of Symbolism, Impressionism, and Modernism, amplified the innovative spirit of their predecessors, experimenting with literary forms and playing with sounds and words. They displayed an intense interest in the inner world and its mysteries and advocated for a break from Naturalism.
1.2 The European Avant-Garde: The Irrational Poetic
This term refers to movements vehemently opposed to the past, proposing radical new avenues for art and literature.
Various avant-garde movements – Cubism, Expressionism, Futurism, etc. – rapidly emerged in Europe and America. The movements that significantly impacted literature include:
1.2.1 Futurism and Dadaism: The Poetic Irrationalism
Futurism originated in 1909 with Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto in Italy. It was an iconoclastic movement rejecting past traditions and art forms, celebrating mechanical civilization, technological achievements, and sports.
Dadaism emerged in 1916. Its name, randomly chosen from baby talk (da-da), reflects its spirit of rebellion against logic and conventions. Dadaists championed the liberation of individual imagination and the cultivation of incoherent language. Its primary role was to pave the way for Surrealism.
Dadaism and other movements shared a common characteristic known as poetic irrationalism, which entailed a rebellion against the dominance of reason, a transgression of logical norms, and a yearning for pure creation.
1.2.2 Surrealism
Surrealism was the most profound revolution in 20th-century literature and art. It originated in France with André Breton, who published the first Surrealist Manifesto in 1924. Breton integrated Freudian and Marxist ideas into the concept of irrationalism.
Surrealism aimed for the total liberation of humanity by freeing individuals from repressed impulses (Freud) and the constraints of bourgeois society (Marx).
It championed the freedom of imagination, advocating for writing dictated by free thought, unburdened by reason’s constraints. Surrealists employed various techniques, including automatic writing, collage, and dream transcription.
Surrealist texts interweave objects, concepts, and feelings that reason would typically keep separate.
By 1930, the French Surrealist group began to disintegrate, but Surrealism continued to spread globally.
Today, Surrealism persists in forms of expression that resonate with younger generations, such as comics and album covers.
3. The Avant-Garde in Spain
The avant-garde movement quickly reached Spain. In 1925, Ortega y Gasset published The Dehumanization of Art, a landmark in the development of the Spanish avant-garde. Among other things, he highlighted its minority status (the masses did not understand it) and its focus on formal goals, sometimes as a mere creative game.
Ortega’s analysis served as a catalyst for many. In the evolution of the Spanish avant-garde, two phases can be distinguished. Initially, playfulness and the optimism of modernity dominated. By 1930, a more serious spirit emerged, even including distress and rebellion against the dehumanizing effects of modern civilization.
3.1 Ramon Gomez de la Serna
Ramon Gomez de la Serna was born in Madrid in 1888 and died in Buenos Aires in 1963. He belonged to the Generation of ’14 but was a true precursor of modernism. He championed new trends, which he would later explore in his book Ismos (1931). As early as 1909, in The Concept of the New Literature, he denounced the exhaustion of old forms. His work overflows with logic, bold intuitions, and unexpected associations.
His extensive work is centered around the gregueria, a literary form he invented. These combine, in varying proportions, concept, humor, lyricism, and pure verbal play. Sometimes they resemble clever jokes, while at other times they approach philosophical maxims. He also wrote short stories and novels (The Bullfighter Caracho), avant-garde theater (The Media Loved), and more. Ramon was an undisputed master of prose and poetry and remains one of the most original creators in contemporary Spanish literature.
3.2 Futurism, Ultraism, and Creationism in Spain
Futurism’s influence is evident in the works of the Generation of ’27 poets: poems about light bulbs and typewriters (Salinas) or football (Alberti).
Ultraism emerged, incorporating elements of Futurism and Dadaism. Alongside themes of speed and sports, it introduced visual innovations in verse arrangement.
Creationism, a movement introduced from Paris by the poet Vicente Huidobro, proposed creating a new reality within the poem itself. As Gerardo Diego, the leading representative of Creationism, stated, it involved creating what had never been seen before. This movement responded to the pure joy of invention.
3.3 Spanish Surrealism
Surrealism left a profound and lasting impact on the Generation of ’27 poets. Almost all were influenced by it, with Lorca’s Poet in New York being a prime example.
In general, Spanish Surrealism was unorthodox. While it embraced the liberation of imagery from the constraints of reason, it also reacted against the ideals of purity and dehumanization promoted by some Surrealist influences.