Communication, Literature, and Theater in the Early 20th Century
The Languages of Communication
Within society, there are different social realities that determine diverse linguistic realities. We are referring to the varieties of different strata of society: the diastratic varieties. We often identify, in a particular social stratum, different linguistic levels:
- Cultivated: Those who use this should not exclude the following two.
- Popular: Characterized by subjectivity.
- Vulgar: Those who do not follow the rules of the language, and beyond that, they show flaws in resources to change the level.
Depending on the situation, the same speaker with an acceptable command of the language can change their register:
- Formal: Corresponds to the standard language.
- Informal: This is the most frequently used by speakers because of its spontaneous character.
Different Types of Expression
Oral language:
- There are two parties.
- Use of mime, accents.
- There are constant interruptions.
- Less reflection.
Written language:
- It is not performed before the reader.
- Use of punctuation marks.
- There are no interruptions.
- More reflection.
Musical Staircase Poem
It is an avant-garde poem because of the number of verses. The lines are placed in the form of stairs, matching the theme of the poem.
Escada Music = music = scale of musical notes
Loudness, tower of iron. The avant-gardes seek a different expression and designed a ladder with the arrangement of verses. Before studying a poem of this kind, look at it as if it were a picture.
The Avant-Garde: Literature Beyond
Definition and Characterization
The beginning of the twentieth century represents the search for new channels of expression, new ways, and paths to free the creators. Isms arise, varied and diverse artistic movements, but with a common project determined to break with previous aesthetic proposals. Each ism has its own identifying lines. For example, Dadaism proposes to create randomly, Surrealism calls for spontaneous creation, and intelligent design advocates for the image as central. Accompanying the new movements appear manifestos, program texts governing the foundations of literature. Magazines serve to spread the novelties. Foreign words, techniques, and mechanisms may be some of the names to describe the nascent aesthetic. Heteronymy is the establishment of separate works attributed to actor-characters.
The Lead in Portuguese Literature
One of the first signs occurs in 1922 when two young men, Manuel Antonio and Álvaro Cebreiro, publish Máis alá. Within the new literature, the most representative is Manuel Antonio and, in particular, the book De catro a catro. Aside from Manuel Antonio’s book, we found avant-garde procedures in several other texts and authors, for example, Álvaro Cunqueiro’s Mar ao Norde, Manuel Luís Acuña’s Fírgoa, Vicente Risco, or Eugenio Montes. In contrast to this full manifestation is Luís Amado Carballo, author of the book Proel. Neotrobadorismo is a lyrical reinterpretation of medieval Galician-Portuguese. Perhaps Álvaro Cunqueiro is, along with Fermín Bouza Brey, one of the best representatives.
A Narrator’s Experiences: Rafael Dieste
Rafael Dieste (1899-1981). The author’s most quoted book, published in 1926, is Dos arquivos do trasno, comprising a total of 20 stories. Encol da morte de Bieito is one of Dieste’s best-known stories. The narrator of this story tells how, while helping to take the coffin of the deceased Benedict to the cemetery, he feels a slight noise inside. He doesn’t say anything, maybe it’s just an impression. The noise is repeated, but again he is afraid of ridicule and error.
Theater
There are specific elements to the theatrical genre. It is a literary genre with its own characteristics: the characters build the action, it adds the spectacular factor since its inception, and it is a social genre due to the presence of the public. In theater, the recipients are multiple. There is an actor-audience relationship. The theatrical act or scenic fact is the development of a literary text, in which there is the idea of representation. Usually, parts are divided into acts, and they may give up other divisions, like the scene or the act. The characters are asked to build the action. Main and secondary characters appear in scenes but have no voice and cannot intervene. Occasionally, they report to the chorus, which assumes the role of a collective character. There is comedy, tragedy, and drama.