Spanish Literature: Modernism and the Generation of ’98
Unit 4: Modernism and the Generation of ’98
Spain’s Socioeconomic and Political Context
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Spain was largely rural, with abundant labor and low wages, leading to social conflicts and rural exodus. Industry was underdeveloped, relying on foreign resources and investment. The political system was plagued by corruption, exacerbated by the country’s socioeconomic backwardness. The Disaster of 1898, marked by Spain’s defeat by the United States, resulted in the loss of its remaining overseas territories. The Regeneracionista movement emerged, advocating for economic and political modernization, particularly in agriculture. Regionalism gained traction in Catalonia, with support from the bourgeoisie, and also ignited in the Basque Country and Galicia. Foreign policy conflicts arose in Morocco, culminating in the Tragic Week uprising in Barcelona (1909).
Modernism and the Generation of ’98
At the dawn of the 20th century, Realism declined, coinciding with a broader crisis of positivism and reason. Young writers challenged 19th-century literature, while established realists like Galdós and Clarín explored new expressive avenues. Initially, the term modernist was used pejoratively to criticize the extravagance and radicalism of the new generation. However, it was eventually embraced by the authors themselves, signifying a focus on beauty, idealism, and a rejection of mediocrity.
Literary Modernism originated in Latin America and flourished in the early 20th century. While its peak was brief, its influence endured. From 1913, when Azorín used the term Generation of ’98, a distinction arose between modernists, who sought refuge in aestheticism, and those who adopted a critical stance towards reality and advocated for change, often with social and political commitment. The latter formed the Generation of ’98. Most of these writers shared a rebellious attitude against bourgeois values, although they held diverse aesthetic and ideological positions, including socialism, anarchism, and Carlism. They rejected the mediocrity of Spanish society during the Restoration.
Main Features of Early 20th-Century Literature
Despite their varied perspectives, writers of this era shared certain concerns:
- Originality: Often bordering on eccentricity and extravagance.
- New Values: A re-evaluation of social and ethical norms.
- Rebellion: Opposition to conformity and the bourgeois order.
- Castilla: Embracing a myth of an anti-materialistic, austere, and spiritual Castile as the essence of Spain.
- Dead Cities: A focus on cities anchored in a seemingly unchanging past.
- Decadence: An exploration of human misery, disease, and death.
- Boredom: A pervasive sense of vital boredom, expressed through skepticism, pessimism, and discontent.
- Pain and Eroticism: A fascination with pain, often intertwined with sensuality, occasionally bordering on the obscene and perverse.
- Cosmopolitanism: A taste for the exotic and a desire to transcend borders.
- Existential Angst: A search for transcendence beyond the apparent.
- Aestheticism: An almost religious devotion to beauty.
- Syncretism: Poetry as the supreme art, capable of encompassing the expressive power of other art forms.
Precedents and Influences
French literature, particularly Parnassianism and Symbolism, heavily influenced Spanish writers. Parnassianism, with its emphasis on “art for art’s sake,” influenced Modernism’s pursuit of formal perfection and focus on detail. Symbolism, with its focus on capturing the supra-reality through symbols, impacted Modernism’s emphasis on imagination, intuition, and mystery. Key figures included Gautier, Leconte de Lisle, Verlaine, Baudelaire, and Rimbaud.
Additionally, the influence of Krausismo and the Free Education Institution contributed to ethical concerns and an appreciation for folk poetry. Rebellious and social concerns aligned with Regenerationist, socialist, and anarchist ideas. Philosophers, particularly Nietzsche, also exerted a significant influence.
Modernist Poetry
Key works of the early 20th century include Manuel Machado’s Alma (1902), Antonio Machado’s Solitudes (1903), and Juan Ramón Jiménez’s Arias Tristes (1903).
Poetic language moved away from conceptual expression, aiming to evoke feelings through words, similar to how other arts use light, color, and music. Poems were filled with decorative elements, suggestive imagery, symbols, exotic words, neologisms, and evocative settings like gardens and fountains. Poets experimented with stanzas, verses, rhymes, and rhythms, constantly seeking originality and musicality.
The Prose of ’98
Realism declined in prose, giving way to descriptive, lyrical, and non-fiction writing. The essay gained prominence, serving as an outlet for social and existential concerns. Prose became more impressionistic, characterized by suggestion, imprecision, symbolism, and a tendency towards the unfinished and fragmentary.
Common themes included the will versus apathy, passion versus intellect, personality problems, erotic frustrations, and social criticism. Novels were populated by apathetic and maladjusted characters, contrasted with those driven by will and action. Prominent authors and novels include Unamuno’s Niebla and Baroja’s The Tree of Knowledge.