Ramón del Valle-Inclán: Works and Influence on Spanish Literature

Posted on Jan 16, 2025 in Latin

Ramón del Valle-Inclán: A Literary Journey

Ramón del Valle-Inclán encompassed all literary genres and mixed them, as a good modernist, looking for the “total art.” His novels have so many dialogues that they resemble dramas, and his plays have stage directions that seem like real narratives. Sometimes, he cared so much about rhythm and musicality that his work seems like genuine poetry.

Valle-Inclán’s Literary Evolution

A) Poetry (Modernist):

  • The Aromas of Legend (1907)
  • The Kif Pipe (Suburbs) (1919)

B) Essay:

  • The Wonderful Lamp (Esoteric) (1916)

C) Narrative:

  • Sonatas (4 novels related to the seasons): Its protagonist is the Marquis de Bradomín and has erotic memoirs in old age. The ambiance, the music, the aristocratic, sensuality, and longing of a decaying world make the Sonnets the best manifestation of modernism in prose.
  • Carlist War (1909) (trilogy): Moves to rural Galicia. It highlights the contrast between the romantic heroism of the Carlists and the brutality of war.
  • Tyrant Banderas (1920) (Latin American dictator novel): Criticizes the abuse of authority (fictional satire of dictatorship).
  • The Iberian Arena (1932): In grotesque language, it caricatures Queen Elizabeth II and her court as puppets.

D) Theater:

  • Ashes (1899) (Nouveau)
  • The Captain’s Daughter (1927)
  • Barbaric Comedies (trilogy: Heraldry Eagle, Wolf, and Romance of Silver Face)
  • Divine Words

All of these are pre-esperpento works. The trilogy and the last one are about sexual impulses.

In the grotesque cycle (1920), Bohemian Lights enters, and the 1930 trilogy Tuesday of Carnival (Don’s Horns of Plenty, The Galas, and The Daughter of the Late Captain).

Characters in Bohemian Lights

Bohemian Lights reflects:

  • The official world (Minister, Diego, Don Filiberto)
  • The bohemian world (Max, Gay Pilgrim, Rubén Darío)
  • The world of trade (Zarathustra, Picalagartos)
  • The marginal world (Pisa “Well”, King of Portugal)
  • The junior world (The quiet one, the guards)
  • The people (The prisoner, the dead child’s mother)

Political and Social Context of Bohemian Lights

Bohemian Lights (1920) is set in the political regime in Spain called the Restoration, which began with a military coup and ended with the coup of General Primo de Rivera (1923).

The Architect of the Restoration: Cánovas del Castillo

Cánovas’ system used the “alternation” based on two major parties: the conservative, which he ran, and the liberal, led by Sagasta. The golden rule of “alternation” was to take turns in power. The scheme operated due to the passivity or the very low political consciousness of the Spanish people. There was opposition to the system, but Republicans and the labor movement (the International) were a minority. The Carlist opponents of Cánovas also failed to end the regime. The results were agreed upon between the political forces before the elections were held. The control of the electorate was made through the figure of the chiefs, members of the local elite at the provincial and regional level, acting as intermediaries of the state. Their maxim was: do favors for friends, apply the law to enemies. The political class who used the system to their advantage lived in Madrid and met in the Senate and Congress. Some of these characters appear in Bohemian Lights, such as Maura.

The Tragic Week and Maura’s Unpopularity

Maura was an extremely unpopular figure from the so-called Tragic Week in July 1909. It was a spontaneous uprising in Barcelona against the shipment of troops to the war in Morocco: spilling the blood of the workers while the middle class stayed home. The repression was terrible, and Maura’s unpopularity because of it, too. Maura passed the Fugitive Law in 1921, allowing the police to shoot any prisoner under the guise of an escape attempt. In 1998, Spain lost the Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, supported by the U.S. The political and economic disaster was also moral, as the Philippines was the richest colony and emotionally attached to the metropolis.

Modernism and the Bohemian Lifestyle

Bohemian Lights belongs to modernism. The bohemian lifestyle is a way of life where bohemians voluntarily marginalize themselves from the bourgeoisie to form a separate society in which they live the passion of art.