Generation of ’27: Authors, Characteristics, and Stages
Generation of ’27
Under this name are grouped a set of escritores (writers) who joined the Spanish literary tradition (songbooks and poets of the Golden Age), leading new trends coming from Europe and adapted to Spain.
The reference date of this generation was 1927 when the Ateneo de Sevilla commemorated the three-hundredth anniversary of the death of Góngora. On this occasion, they met for the first time, and this meeting had a double meaning: they were modeled on the Baroque poet and made a manifesto against modernism and 19th-century tradition.
The first list of members of the group was published in the same year in the first volume of the magazine Verso y Prosa and included: Salinas, Guillén, Gerardo Diego, Aleixandre, García Lorca, Alonso, Cernuda, and Alberti.
Traits
- Close birth dates (1891-1895)
- Extensive literary information
- Related in friendship
- Commonplaces
- Literary magazines
- Ordinary teachers
- Anthologies
Characteristics
- Similar aesthetic tastes
- Disparate literary influences
- Special interest in the popular
- Poetic renewal
- Influence of the avant-garde
Topics
- City
- Nature
- Love
- Commitment
Stages
- Initial (1929): The authors are located between the influence of lyric poetry and traditional and popular admiration for the classics.
- Before the Civil War (from 1929 to 1936): Greatly influenced by Surrealism.
- After the Civil War (from 1936): The war caused it to disappear.
Pedro Salinas (1891-1951): Author of poems and essays, he was one of the translators of the work of Marcel Proust, whom he met while working at the Sorbonne. He also taught at Cambridge and Murcia. His life was marked by emotional storms, which were expressed in some of his works, such as La voz a ti debida, Razón de amor, and Largo lamento.
Jorge Guillén (1893-1984): Author of “pure poetry,” he is considered a disciple of Juan Ramón Jiménez. A friend of Pedro Salinas, whom he succeeded at the Sorbonne as a reader of Spanish. He co-founded the magazine Verso y Prosa, went into exile, and settled in America first, and Italy later. He received the Miguel de Cervantes Prize in 1973. Some of his works are Cántico, Clamor, and Homenaje.
Gerardo Diego (1896-1987): Poet and writer, his figure is linked to the avant-garde Spanish poetry, particularly Ultraism and Creationism. He was charged with preparing two versions of the Anthology of poetry that gave the world the Generation of ’27.
Vicente Aleixandre (1898-1984): Poet and member of the Royal Spanish Academy, he received numerous national and international awards throughout his career, including the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1977. Some of his outstanding works are En un vasto dominio, Poemas de la consumación, and La destrucción o el amor.
Dámaso Alonso (1898-1990): Poet, philologist, and editor. He was also recognized with the Miguel de Cervantes Prize in 1978. Among his poetry books are Poemas puros, Poemillas de la ciudad, and Hijos de la ira. As a philologist, he did an outstanding job in the field of stylistics.
Emilio Prados (1899-1962): In the student residence, he befriended other poets of the circle. Because of his health problems, he should retreat, and it is in this situation when his vocation as a poet is born. He also assumes a strong social commitment, and the situation at home becomes untenable; he was exiled to Mexico. He is the author of Tiempo, Cancionero menor, and Romancero general de la Guerra de España, among others.