Spanish Literature and Linguistics Under Franco

Posted on Mar 19, 2025 in Latin

Spanish Literature During the Franco Era (1939-1975)

The Franco dictatorship ended the Silver Age of Spanish Literature. Literature intended to express horror and anguish. In the late 1940s, the difficult economic situation resulted in social literature that addressed problems such as hunger and poverty. The 1960s led to new experimental models. Novels composed in 1975, with the death of Franco, marked a turning point.

Lyric Poetry Under Franco

  • Social Poetry and Uprooted Poetry:
    • Rooted Poetry (Luis Rosales, optimistic tone).
    • Uprooted Poetry (anxiety about life, Dámaso Alonso). Uprooted Poetry evolved into social poetry, which conceived the poetic word to denounce injustice.
    • Key Figures:
      • Miguel Hernández (1910-1942), the principal precursor, author of “Man Lurks.”
      • Blas de Otero (1916-1979), known for “I Ask for Peace and the Word,” a social denunciation of the country.
      • Gabriel Celaya (1911-1991), who believed poetry is “a weapon loaded with the future.”
      • José Hierro (1922-2002), focused on social issues, author of “Earth Without Us.”
  • The Generation of ’50: Claudio Rodríguez and Ángel González, among others, sought a deeper understanding of reality or evoked memories and personal experiences.
  • The *Novísimos*: Poets who renewed poetic language by creating aesthetic poems loaded with cultural references for a minority audience. Key figures include Guillermo Carnero, Félix de Azúa, and Pere Gimferrer.

The Novel Under Franco

  • The Novel of the 1940s: The Family of Pascual Duarte by Camilo José Cela initiated *tremendismo*, addressing the most sordid aspects of reality.
  • The New Society of the 1950s:
    • Objective reflection, echoing dialogues and actions as if recorded (*El Jarama* by Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio).
    • Descriptions of collective ownership and characters portraying everyday environments through criticism (*The Hive* by Miguel Delibes, *Between Curtains* by Carmen Martín Gaite).
  • Experimental Novel of the 1960s: *Time of Silence* by Luis Martín-Santos marked the beginning of the experimental novel. Narrative technique and aesthetics were renewed, abandoning realism. More importance was given to language structure than to the argument.
  • The Latin American Novel: A group of writers contributed to the *Boom* of the 1960s. Key figures include Gabriel García Márquez (*One Hundred Years of Solitude*) and Ernesto Sábato (*The Tunnel*). They departed from realistic models and sought new narrative procedures, some cultivating magical realism.

Theater Under Franco

1940s: Theater of humor, more intellectual (Miguel Mihura, *Three Top Hats*).
1950s: Emergence of a theater reflecting social problems (Antonio Buero Vallejo).
1960s-1970s: Scenic experimentation (Fernando Arrabal).

The Text: Characteristics and Mechanisms

A text is a message, transmitted orally or in writing, in an act of communication.

Characteristics

  • It is a message presented as complete.
  • It is a closed linguistic universe.
  • It has thematic unity.
  • It shows internal cohesion.

Suitability

  • The recipient to whom the text is directed and the relationship between the sender and receiver matter. It’s not the same to address a relative as an unknown person.
  • The situation matters. We express ourselves differently in a formal setting than in a casual atmosphere.
  • The environment matters. Depending on the medium, we express ourselves differently.

Coherence

  • Topically linked ideas must be related to the topic.
  • Principle of relevance: Ideas must be consistent with the context.
  • Principle of non-contradiction: No idea should be incompatible with another.

Cohesion

The statements of a text relate to each other lexically and grammatically, so the text is presented as a cohesive and internally locked unit where components make sense.

Correction

Achieved through the dictionary, spelling, and grammar.

Mechanisms of Cohesion

These may be grammatical (ellipsis and anaphora), lexical (synonymy, hyperonymy, hyponymy), or semantic (discourse markers).

  • Ellipsis: Suppression of some lexical items in the statement.
  • Anaphora: A phenomenon where a linguistic element refers to an earlier part of the speech, which it represents.
  • Synonymy: When there is total or partial identity between words.
  • Hyperonymy: When a word names a concept that belongs to the genus of another word.
  • Hyponymy: When a word names an element that belongs to the class named by another word.
  • Discourse Markers: Words that express the relationships that exist between the ideas of a text.