Spanish and Latin American Literature: Trends and Authors
Poetry as a Way of Knowing
One work trend is that poetry is meant to be a way of knowing the mystery against logic and rational thought. It is an anti-realist poetry that values the creative freedom of the avant-garde and in which language becomes the protagonist. Feelings are expressed with modesty, without the poems telling the biography of the poet. Jose Angel Valente, Antonio Gamoneda, and Andres Sanchez Robaina are its main representatives. The anthology “Strange Islands”, selected by Jose Angel Valente, includes many poets of this trend, both Spanish and Latin American. It also includes older poets whose work had gone unnoticed during the Franco regime, such as Francisco Pino and Eduardo Cirlot.
Employment of Female Poets
Generally, these trends are struck by the quantity and quality of female poets in the last third of the century. Maria Victoria Atencia, Clara Janes, and Ana Rossetti are some of the most recognized poets. The anthology “They Have the Word” (1999) contains a selection of over forty contemporary women poets.
The Theater in the 1970s
In the 1970s, experimental theater emerged, innovative and consistent with the trends of foreign playwrights and companies. Experimental theater continuously conveys a message of social criticism but also aims to transform stage conventions. It promotes public participation and pays attention not only to the dramatic text but also to the bodily expression of the actors, music, and light, conceived of theater as a total spectacle. Independent theater groups like Els Joglars, Tabano, and Los Goliards created these works, which had no place in the programming of commercial theaters. The most important authors of such innovative theater are Luis Riaza, Jose Sancho Sinisterra, Fernando Arrabal, and Francisco Nieva. Nieva called his experimental plays “Furious Theater”, which have strong similarities with the “esperpentos” of Valle-Inclan.
Buero Vallejo also incorporates aspects of experimental theater in “The Skylight” (1967), a work in which a multiple stage appears, and other symbolic works featuring characters such as “The Dream of Reason”, where viewers hear the inner voices that Goya, being deaf, heard within himself.
Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet and diplomat. He was in Madrid from 1934 until the Spanish Civil War, and during that time, he met the poets of the Generation of ’27. In 1971, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Neruda’s Literary Journey
- His work begins with “Crepusculario” (1923).
- Continues with his most famous book: “Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair” (1924), a book in which he sings of love that is, at the same time, passion and drama.
- Surrealism is present in “Residence on Earth” (1933).
- Later, his poetry shifted to political commitment, especially after the war in Spain, when he wrote “Third Residence”, including “Spain in Our Hearts”.
- Among Neruda’s works, special emphasis is placed on “Canto General” (1950), a tribute to America, its nature, and its people, with a strong epic tone.
- This epic tone contrasts with the much more colloquial and concrete approach of his “Elementary Odes” (1957), in which the poet sings of simple things: the onion, bread, wine.
Post-Avant-Garde: Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz, a Mexican diplomat, lived in France, where he encountered Surrealism. He also traveled to Spain, India, and Japan, which allowed him to become familiar with the poetry and thought of these countries.
Octavio Paz’s Major Works and Awards
- His great book of poems is “Parole” (1949).
- His latest poems are collected in “A Tree Within” (1987).
- In 1981, he received the Cervantes Prize.
- In 1990, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature.