Avant-Garde & Post-War Spanish Literature: Movements and Authors
1. The Avant-Garde Movements
Vanguardist Movements in Europe
Between the two World Wars, various revolutionary artistic and aesthetic movements emerged in Europe, known as the avant-garde movements. The most important avant-garde movement in France was Surrealism.
Surrealism
Emerging with André Breton’s publication of the Surrealist Manifesto, this movement sought to look beyond reality and logic. Surrealist writers often employed automatic writing techniques in their poetry, aiming to explore free expression through the authentic language of Surrealism.
Other Avant-Garde Movements
- Futurism: Advocated breaking with the past and celebrating art, sport, and modernity.
- Dadaism: Championed fantasy, irrationality, and the rejection of logic, influencing Surrealism.
- Creationism: Sought to create reality within the poem itself.
- Ultraism: Reflected Futurist and Dadaist influences.
- Calligrams: Where poets attempted to visually represent their subjects through the arrangement of words.
Common Features of the Avant-Garde
This period, which Ortega y Gasset termed the “dehumanization of art,” saw a shift away from traditional themes of love, life, death, and human passions. This evasion of reality manifested in poetry that abandoned narrative, anecdote, and didactic or moral intent. Logic was disrupted, and relationships between things were redefined. The poet’s fundamental instruments became words and limitless fantasy, emphasizing associative capacity and the suggestive power of sound over inherent meaning. Metaphor became ideal for creating new imagery. This poetry, lacking coherent content, became an unpopular and elitist art form.
Ramón Gómez de la Serna
A pioneering Spanish avant-garde figure, Ramón Gómez de la Serna possessed extraordinary creativity and dedicated his life to innovative and original forms of expression. He is known for his greguerías, brief, witty metaphors that offer an unconventional and humorous perspective on reality. These concentrated poetic expressions, full of philosophical and lyrical variety, present a childlike view of things.
2. The Generation of ’27
The Generation of ’27 Poetic Group
In 1927, a group of poets gathered to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Luis de Góngora’s death. This group would later become known as the Generation of ’27. Initially, the group included Pedro Salinas, Jorge Guillén, and Gerardo Diego, who had been in contact with Juan Ramón Jiménez and his concept of pure poetry. Later, Federico García Lorca and Rafael Alberti joined, followed by Luis Cernuda, Dámaso Alonso, Vicente Aleixandre, Manuel Altolaguirre, and Emilio Prados. These poets shared strong literary friendships, collaborated in magazines, and some even lived together. They accepted Juan Ramón Jiménez as their mentor and shared common aesthetic interests.
Lines of Poetry of the Generation of ’27
While the poets of ’27 favored avant-garde aesthetics, they did not reject previous literary traditions.
- Popular and Educated Tradition: They inherited themes and motifs from both popular lyricism (Romancero and traditional songs) and cultured poetry (Garcilaso, Quevedo). They used traditional forms like romances, sonnets, quatrains, and décimas, often with assonance.
- Renewal: Some poets experimented with free verse, abandoning fixed meter and rhyme. They employed innovative structures like parallelism and incorporated avant-garde forms like calligrams and collage.
- Style: These authors frequently used literary devices, particularly metaphor, to express visionary imagery. Their complex interplay of poetic resources sometimes made comprehension challenging, as they sought to create a unique poetic language.
- Thematic: Love, a traditional theme, was explored with avant-garde innovations. It was conceived as a life-giving force, juxtaposed with loneliness and intimate struggles. The confrontation between the self and surrounding reality provoked questions about destiny and death. The tragic sense of a dislocated self facing an adverse destiny also emerged. Social concerns, marked by the Spanish Civil War, led to compositions dealing with injustice, destruction, and the longing for peace and justice.
Joint Evolution of the Generation of 1927
- Initial Explorations: A transition from Modernism, influenced by Juan Ramón Jiménez’s pure poetry, his obsession with metaphor, and the search for formal perfection in the classics.
- From 1927 to the War: A shift from pure formalism to Surrealism, focusing on human sentiments and social and political unrest.
- The War and Exile: The war led to silence and diverse political stances. All were Republicans except Gerardo Diego. The quality of poetry became more human and dramatic. The group dispersed due to Lorca’s death and exile.
- Post-War: Themes of anguish, loss, and the experience of exile emerged. Dámaso Alonso and Vicente Aleixandre remained in Spain.
3. Post-War Spanish Narrative
The 1940s
The Spanish novel restarted with traditional narrative patterns reminiscent of 19th-century realism, exemplified by authors like Agustín de Foxá, Zunzunegui, and Juan Antonio de Zunzunegui. Three key events marked this decade: the emergence of Camilo José Cela with The Pascual Duarte Family, Carmen Laforet’s Nadal Prize win with Nada, and the first works of Miguel Delibes and Gonzalo Torrente Ballester.
Authors
Camilo José Cela
A prolific and versatile author of novels, short stories, and travelogues, Cela constantly sought new narrative modes and forms of expression. The Pascual Duarte Family established him as a major author. The Hive opened the way to social realism. Mrs. Caldwell Speaks to Her Son delves into the mind of a woman writing letters to her dead son. Mazurca for Two Dead Men is set in rural Galicia. He also wrote travel books (Journey to the Alcarria) and experimental works like The Nice Policeman’s Crime.
Miguel Delibes
Committed to human dignity and nature, Delibes’ extensive work remained independent of literary trends. He won the Nadal Prize with The Shadow of the Cypress is Long and later published The Way, a realistic portrayal of childhood. Five Hours with Mario, a rich monologue of a widow, offers a social and moral dissection of the middle class. The Holy Innocents depicts rural life and denounces the marginalization of the poor. The Heretic explores themes of tolerance and religious freedom.
Gonzalo Torrente Ballester
A writer of immense quality, Torrente Ballester gained recognition gradually. After Javier Mariño, he published The Joys and the Shadows, a realistic trilogy set in pre-Civil War Galicia. The Saga/Escape of J.B. creates a mythical world blending reality and fantasy, humor, irony, and innovative language. Fragmented Chronicle of a King revolves around a king’s desire to see his wife naked.
The 1950s: Social Realism
This period emphasized objective, ideologically committed realism. The novel was seen as a tool for social commentary, denouncing social injustices and focusing on collective protagonists. Authors minimized their presence, acting as witnesses. Formal concerns decreased in favor of social testimony. Humor, irony, skepticism, and colloquial language were prominent.
Authors
Ana María Matute
Matute’s work blends reality and fantasy with dramatic force, portraying characters trapped by pain and anger in a world also filled with love and tenderness. Her works include Small Theater.
Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio
Ferlosio’s El Jarama, a landmark novel, employs objectivism, transcribing the dialogues of young people on a Sunday outing. He also received the Cervantes Prize.
Ignacio Aldecoa
A great prose writer, Aldecoa’s novels often feature marginalized characters. With the Blood and the Glitter and Great Sun are set in Castilian lands, while The Baden-Baden Pigeons focuses on the world of fishermen.