Realism and Naturalism in 19th-Century Spanish Literature
Realism and Naturalism
Realism
Named its own cultural movement of the nineteenth-century bourgeois society, which did not please the fantasy and romantic idealism. Main features of realistic literature are the following:
- Observation and accurate description of reality. The writers come to scoring ground on i.e. documented notes about characters or settings, or consult books, which extract accurate information.
- Location of upcoming events. The authors write realistically about what they know. The eye moves to the everyday.
- Frequent purpose of social and political criticism. The authors describe reality conservatives to show their degradation and demand a return to traditional values. Progressives are also social evils.
- Simple and sober style. The ideal style is accuracy.
- Predilection for the novel. The typical features of the realist novel are: “Likelihood. -Linear structure. The events usually pass in a linear fashion over time. -Detailed descriptions. Descriptions are very detailed. “Language at the colloquial use. It uses a language close to that of the conversation. The authors strive to adapt the language to the characters, who speak according to their status, their geographical origin.
Naturalism
Naturalism was a literary movement that developed during the last third of the nineteenth century, mainly in France. It was defended by the novelist Émile Zola, who claimed that literature should become another science whose object of study was the social environment. The literature was to scientifically analyze human behavior according to the principles of observation and experimentation. This was based on the idea that man was not really free, but was determined biologically and socially, since individuals were conditioned by their genetic inheritance and social environment in which they moved. This explains the interest of naturalists for environments and characters: miserable morons, alcoholics, victims dazed or comorbidities.
- Omniscient narrator. The narrator completely manages the threads of the story.
- Didacticism is common that the authors intend his novel to give the reader a moral lesson or social.
Realism and Naturalism in Spain
The triumph of Realism in Spain was delayed. But Naturalism was known quite early and Zola’s works were soon translated, although the Spanish writers did not accept the idea of turning science and literature in a single advantage of some resources Naturalism narratives and his interest in squalid environments.
- Fernán Caballero abound in his works still romantic elements. The best known is The Seagull.
- Pedro Antonio de Alarcón prerrealista writer. His best work is the novella The Three-Cornered Hat.
- Juan Valera is the author of novels known as Pepita Jiménez. His style is cultivated, the construction is quite clever and ironic use of putting some distance between characters and author.
- José María de Pereda represents the degradation and corruption. His novels take place in Cantabria. Descriptions highlight the landscape and local types. The most important is Peñas Arriba.
- Emilia Pardo Bazán His narrative work is diverse. In The Gallery, one sees the influence of Naturalism with degraded environments, raw descriptions. But the naturalistic determinism is corrected by the religious faith of its author.
Benito Pérez Galdós
Galdós’ many novels can be classified into the following groups:
- First novels. Almost all of theses are novels in which Galdós does not hide his sympathy for the liberal Spain.
- Novelas contemporary Spanish. Fortunata and Jacinta
- Latest novel. The Question, Reality. They rehearsed procedures Narrative original novels in dialogue form, dreams, etc.
Leopoldo Alas, Clarín
Most of his life was spent in Oviedo. Just write two novels, The Regent and His Only Son, some short stories and little more than a hundred stories. The stories are of two kinds: Satirical or reflectively. The first part of a kind whose features are ridiculous caricature. In the latter expressed his personal concerns
The Regent is an exceptional novel that recounts a woman’s adultery frustrated. The real protagonist of the play is the provincial society, which served to show the pettiness Clarín of Restoration Spain. Thus, behavior severely satirizes the ruling class of Canova: clergy, nobles, burghers, parade through its pages finding their frivolity, hypocrisy, pride, moral mediocrity and misery. As a naturalist novel, it is very important environmental influence on the characters. There are two main features of the environment that surrounds the characters: boredom and lust. In the closed provincial society everything is repeated until the boredom, and that means lust is the only way out of the many frustrations.