Modernism and the Generation of ’98: A Literary Contrast
Modernism
Modernism manifests itself as a vital attitude and an eagerness for rebellion, renewing every field of life and artistic movement. Aesthetically, modernism relates to the bohemian world and the rejection of social and moral standards. It involves dropping the taste for provocation and contempt of mediocrity and vulgarity. Modernist literature curdles, especially in the lyrical and poetic prose genres, which shows a new poetic language and intimate themes. Among the Romantic modernist writers, Antonio Machado, Valle-Inclán, Rubén Darío, and Juan Ramón Jiménez stand out.
It is characterized by:
- Diversity of influences:
- Romantic: The attitude of rejection of reality.
- French poetry: Inherits formal perfection, using suggestive symbols and the identification between feelings and the outside landscape.
- American modernism: Collects sensuality, brilliance, and root-romantic themes.
- Rejection and uprooting of the present. Evasion is used.
- Existential concerns.
The modernist style renovation meant the metric, language, and expressive resources. Progress was achieved through various means:
- Using phonic resources.
- Enriching the lexicon with learned words.
The most characteristic resources of modernism are suggestive symbols and synesthesia. The favorite genres by modernists are lyrics and poetic prose. Modernist writers include Antonio Machado, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Valle-Inclán, and Rubén Darío.
The Generation of ’98
Refers to a group of writers who expressed their deep drain to the society of the Restoration and proclaimed the need for social regeneration, cultural reform, and aesthetic thought. They are mostly inspired by literary figures. They evolve to focus on reflection on Spanish society and are interested in the historical and literary origins of Castile. They reflect existential pessimism and subjectivism. The preferred genre is the essay, and the group worries about achieving a personal style. The most characteristic authors are Unamuno, Azorín, Baroja, and Maeztu.
The features that characterize the Generation of ’98 are:
- The group are more thinkers than part of current literary trends.
- Traits of his career are his evolution from radical youth attitudes toward conservative positions in maturity.
- The initial attitude is characteristic of the group and differentiates these authors from the modernists.
- Concern for social and cultural issues leads them to reflect on Spanish society.
- The issue of Spain arises when they try to understand the crisis in Spain at the end of the century. This is reflected in the existential concerns that the group raises: anguish, the aesthetic of subjectivism.
- The Generation of ’98 leans towards simplicity and pursues a personal expression.
- The essay is the most commonly used genre. The restoration of the novel is also emphasized.
Antonio Machado
Born in Seville, within a liberal family, he lived a cultured and bohemian youth in the shadow of Manuel, who was better known and more sociable. In 1907, he began to work as a French teacher in Soria, fell in love, and married Eleanor, who fell ill and died shortly after. Machado went to Madrid. He manifested support for the Republic, so he fled with other refugees and died in exile.
Antonio Machado wrote the three types of genres, of which he stood out as a poet. Three stages stand out in his career:
- The first stage, with Soledades (1903), is part of a deeply intimate, symbolist modernism. It conveys his feelings of sadness and emptiness through numerous symbols. Machado dialogues with himself or interprets messages from nature. He is the poet-medium capable of understanding the language of the sources or the wind. It has a clear Romantic influence. The subject is time. The style is simple, with a little strident sensoriality. Although the metric is varied and flexible, popular forms predominate.
- The second stage begins with Campos de Castilla (1912). Machado began a period less intimate and more historicist, in which the Soria landscape becomes a big protagonist. It is descriptive poetry that reflects a real landscape. In lyrical poems, identification also occurs between the landscape and the soul of the poet. Other times, it causes a historical and critical reflection on the decline of the present. They are generally reflective poems that allude to the warlike past of Castile. He writes the Leonor cycle, which reminds him of his dead wife, and poetry on the subject of Andalusia.