Spanish Literature: Early 20th Century to Interwar Period
Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881-1958)
Born in Huelva, Juan Ramón Jiménez married Zenobia Camprubí in 1916. They returned to Spain after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Two years after winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, he died in Puerto Rico. His works are characterized by a constant search for perfection and can be divided into three stages:
- Sensitive Stage: Marked by Modernism, this stage features the sonority of verse and Modernist symbols and motifs. Notable works include Platero and I and Elegies.
- Intellectual Stage: Beginning with Diary of a Newly Married Poet, this stage is characterized by formal nudity and more complex issues. Themes include loneliness, death, eternity, and creation. Notable works include Eternities and Stone and Sky.
- Sufficient or True Stage: These are books written during the author’s exile in America. Notable works include In the Other Side and God Desired and Desiring, which seek the transcendence of perfection and beauty, all identified with God.
Federico García Lorca (1898-1936)
Federico García Lorca was born in Granada and was shot to death in Granada during the Spanish Civil War. His poetry is distinguished by two stages, divided by a trip to New York:
- First Stage – Gypsy Ballads: These are poems composed in a popular style, drawing on traditional Spanish poetry. Recurring themes include desire, rebellion, and death. Notable works include Gypsy Ballads (which portrays the Gypsy as a mythical archetype, a symbol of beauty, courage, and freedom) and Poem of the Cante Jondo.
- Second Stage – Poet in New York: Influenced by the avant-garde and especially Surrealism after his journey, these poems use free verse and surreal images. All the poems were collected in a book called Poet in New York.
Lorca’s Theater
Along with Valle-Inclán, Lorca was one of the greatest innovators of Spanish theater. His first drama, The Butterfly’s Evil Spell, was Symbolist, but he achieved success with Mariana Pineda. He wrote three rural tragedies: Blood Wedding, Yerma, and The House of Bernarda Alba, which are characterized by Lorca’s dramatic intensity.
The Interwar Period
After World War I, the conditions imposed by the victors led to the birth of Fascism in Italy and Germany and to nationalist expansionist policies. The Second World War resulted in the establishment of the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera in Spain, although the Second Republic was declared after the war. The Spanish Civil War later ensued. In Spain, this period gave way to new generations: Novecentismo (Generation of ’14) and the Generation of ’27, which pursued the renewal of literary forms and were influenced by the European avant-gardes, the “isms.” The authors of the Generation of ’14 defended pure and dehumanized literature.
Generation of ’27
This group focused primarily on lyric poetry and theater. Notable authors include Lorca, Rafael Alberti, Luis Cernuda (all three from Andalusia), Vicente Aleixandre, Jorge Guillén, Dámaso Alonso, Pedro Salinas, Gerardo Diego, Manuel Altolaguirre, and Emilio Prados (the last two from Málaga). The name comes from the fact that the majority of them met in Seville in 1927 to celebrate the tercentenary of Góngora’s death.
The Avant-Garde
In 1910, the avant-gardes (“isms”) appeared. They rejected tradition and proclaimed experimentation. Two notable “isms” are:
- Creationism: Of Hispanic origin, it sought to create and view reality within the work itself, often employing language games.
- Surrealism: Of French origin, it aimed to express emotions and subconscious thoughts, emphasizing automatic writing and leading to irrational images.
Early Century Novels
Notable authors and works from this period include Marcel Proust (In Search of Lost Time), Franz Kafka (The Metamorphosis and The Trial), and James Joyce (Ulysses).
Novecentismo
Also known as the Generation of ’14, Novecentismo is characterized by intellectualism, a Europeanist eagerness, and the pursuit of pure art. Juan Ramón Jiménez is a prominent figure of this movement.
The Novecentista Novel
Features of the Novecentista novel include lyrical passages, descriptions, and essayistic elements. Notable authors include Ramón Pérez de Ayala and Gabriel Miró.