Spanish Literature: Modernism and the Generation of ’98
Rubén Darío
Work
- Azul…: Poems are characterized by elegance and sensuality.
- Prosas Profanas: Represents the fullness of Parnassian Modernism. Surprises for the musicality of the verse, which shows the metric range of motion. Poetry is a precious, exotic, sophisticated fantasy. The poet, who said “I hate life and the time I happened to be born”, takes refuge in an ivory tower (a symbol of aristocratic exterior insulation).
- Cantos de Vida y Esperanza: There is a crisis of earlier aestheticism. Now we see poetry that is more intimate, more concerned about man, more anxious. Serious, deep, sometimes very bitter issues abound. Rubén Darío reflects on art, pleasure, love, time, death (an obsessive concern), life, religion, etc.
Antonio Machado
Work
The best of his work is lyrical, found in his first two books:
- Soledades, Galerías y Otros Poemas: This first work belongs to symbolist modernism. It addresses issues of time, melancholy, God, and, above all, death, which is a constant in his work. It uses symbols such as the afternoon or the source, which enclose their concept of time.
- Campos de Castilla: The above topics are combined with those of Castilla. There are subjective descriptions of landscapes and a critical attitude (backwardness and poverty, denouncing the country’s problems, etc.). We also appreciate beautiful compositions dedicated to his wife, Eleanor, in which, through the landscape, he shows the mood of the poet. In later poems, social criticism will be added, a fact that earned him the admiration of the poets of the war. Today, the intimate poetry of his early period is being revalued.
Biography of Antonio Machado (1875-1939)
Antonio Machado was born in Seville. At eight years old, he moved to Madrid. He repeatedly visited Paris, where he became acquainted with the work of the French Symbolists (Paul Verlaine). He was a Professor of French in Soria (where he married Eleanor) until the early death of his wife. Anxious to leave Soria, he requested a transfer to Baeza (Jaén). Later, he went to Segovia. A strong supporter of the Republic, he went into exile to Collioure (France) during the Civil War and died there.
The Novel of the Generation of ’98
The theme of Spain in the late 19th century was consumed by international decadence. The independence of Cuba and the Philippines (the disaster of ’98) was the realization that Spain was no longer a great power. The former Spanish Empire, set in the Golden Age, had been lost forever. This caused Spanish intellectuals, including those in the Generation of ’98, to ask for the causes of decay and the need to regenerate the country. Thus, reflections on the theme of Spain are frequent in many works of the time. In this sense, Castilla becomes the representation of the essential values of the Spanish soul.
Miguel de Unamuno
Work
Essays: He mainly reflects on two themes:
- The meaning of life and the afterlife: The Agony of Christianity (1931) and The Tragic Sense of Life (1913). These works deal with the problem of God, the agonizing sense of existence, immortality, etc., with a strong existentialist tone. Many of Unamuno’s ideas are noted for their originality. Thus, his thinking may be regarded as antiprogressive, antitechnicist, and antirationalist. The Basque writer does not believe in progress or technique; they do not serve to disentangle the only mystery that concerns man: the existence of God or the afterlife. Reason, unable to provide happiness, only throws anguish over man. Thus, we propose an irreconcilable conflict between reason and faith: is there really something after death? A question that has no answer. You want to have something (“if the immortal soul is not worth anything, nor is effort worthwhile,” Unamuno says). And it appears God is a desired but unprovable God. Reason denies us hope, but the heart looks eagerly. Rather than believe, Unamuno wants to believe.
- En Torno al Casticismo (1895), Vida de Don Quijote y Sancho (1905).
Novels: They develop the same issues already mentioned. Since the author is interested, above all, in the internal conflict of his characters, the novels are, to a large extent, of approach and outcome. Critics of the novel denied that some of these works were novels. Thus, Unamuno called them nivolas. Paz en la Guerra, designed by Unamuno to describe everyday and anonymous events. Niebla, La Tía Tula, and San Manuel Bueno, Mártir.