Overview of Spanish Literary Movements: Modernism to Generation of ’27

Posted on Oct 6, 2024 in Language

Modernism

Modernism in Latin America began in the late nineteenth century and ended with the First World War. Its chief representative was the poet Rubén Darío.

Features:

Rebellion against bourgeois aesthetics considered prosaic. The genre most cultivated was poetry because it was best able to convey the intimate and imaginative vision of the artist.
Desire to escape that leads Modernists to set their work in exotic places and ancient times.
Intense eroticism in expressing the desire for love.
Alternation of melancholy with rebelliousness and vitality.
Finding a new poetic language, through the use of proparoxytone, anaphora, alliteration, and synesthesia.
Renewal of meter. Forgotten verse is used, and traditional verses are changed.

Generation of ’98

It is not easy to establish a boundary between Modernism and the Generation of ’98, as features of these two movements may often be found in the work of the same author.

However, in general, we can point out the following features as characteristic of the Generation of ’98:

Concern about the problem of Spain, specifically in the area of Castile, and zeal for reform.
Desire to open up to Europe, together with the love for Spain.
Taste for the traditional and popular lexicon. Sobriety in the use of language and rejection of rhetorical excess.
Subjectivism in the description of the landscape and, in general, in the vision of reality.

Naturalism

Naturalism emerged in the last years of the nineteenth century and its foundations were laid by the French writer Emile Zola. Some of the principles of this movement are:

Application of experimental observation to reality: the novelist must investigate the laws that govern the natural world and human behavior.
The importance of biological heredity and environment in determining the behavior of the characters.
Presence, sometimes, of the most unpleasant and sordid aspects of reality.
Interest in marginal characters, in whom the influence of biological heredity and environment can best be shown.

Generation of ’27

The Generation of ’27 refers to a group of poets who share some common features:

The members of this group had a very close personal relationship, centered around the Student Residence and the Free Institution of Education.
They participated in 1927 in an act of homage to Góngora, whom they admired for his search for a literary language that differed from everyday language.
They all began publishing around 1920.
They were influenced by the avant-garde, yet felt a great interest in traditional forms of poetry: ballads, folk songs, etc.

Realistic Features of Literature

The sentimental exaltation and imaginative deployment of Romantic literature were replaced by observation and representation of the environment. The intention was not to evade reality, but to portray the society of the time in order to transform and improve it.

Interest in reality and the everyday. Historical settings were replaced by current settings and characters.
Focus on issues pertaining to their time. They addressed social and political conflicts.
Search for objectivity and realism. The author’s intention was to construct a literary world that was a faithful representation of reality.
The scenarios described were recognizable to the reader of the time; social life appeared reflected in great detail.
The themes expressed the interests, conflicts, and feelings of the various social classes.
The language was adapted to the character: it became a natural and direct style.
Use of the omniscient narrator. The narrator knows perfectly the atmosphere and the inner world of the characters.
Presence of the author’s critical perspective. The author expresses their opinions through the narrator.
In some novels, a moral intent is perceived, as the description of the vices and defects of society is made with the aim of improving it.

Desire for Change

There was a break with earlier poetry and a willingness to change. That change consisted of two options:

Composing poetry turned towards the external world. These were the Modernist poets.
Composing literature closer to the reality of man and things. These were the writers of the Generation of ’98.

Some of these writers emphasized their status as exceptional beings with bizarre behavior. They did not feel integrated into society.

Azorín coined the term “Generation of ’98” to bring together writers who shared a concern for Spain, their love for the forgotten, for Castile, and for its landscape.

Alongside this designation, the poets born under the influence of Rubén Darío, since his arrival in Spain in 1892, were called “Modernists.” They advocated a new aesthetic based on aristocratic contempt for vulgarity and on beauty as a justification for life.

Themes of the Poets of the Generation of ’27

The poets of the Generation of ’27 addressed the universal themes of poetry and added new themes.

A) The theme of love is highlighted in the passionate vision that blends pleasure and pain. On the other hand, Pedro Salinas conceived of love as the fullness of the lovers.

B) The theme of art, which requires imagination and a daily effort to transfigure reality, is addressed by Guillén in Cántico. At the opposite pole, Cernuda exalts the theme of loneliness and tears.

C) Death is not accepted with resignation by any of the poets of the Generation of ’27.