Spanish Literature of the 20th Century: Novecentismo and Vanguard Movements
1. Introduction: Spanish Literature After WWI
The Rise of New Artistic Movements
Following World War I, European youth, including those in Spain, advocated for a new creative order. This period saw the emergence of two significant literary movements in Spain: Novecentismo and the Vanguards.
2. Novecentismo
Definition and Context
Novecentismo refers to the work of a group of Spanish authors who reached their peak during the period from 1914, coinciding with the Generation of 1914. These authors possessed a solid intellectual foundation.
3. Stages of Novecentismo
The movement can be divided into three stages:
- Initial Stage: First decade of the 20th century.
- Maturity Stage: 1914 – Coexistence with the Avant-Garde (1920s).
- Twilight Stage: From 1930 onwards.
4. General Characteristics of Novecentismo
Politically, Novecentismo aligned with the bourgeoisie and their reformist ideals. They shared the Generation of 1898’s concern for Spain’s regeneration, but approached it with a sense of coldness and rigor in their analysis of problems and proposed solutions. Key characteristics include:
- Orderly and university-centered lives.
- Rational and objective analysis.
- Focus on a cultured and intellectual minority.
- Openness to new ideas while remaining grounded in Spain’s issues.
- Reaction against 19th-century art through three mechanisms:
- Use of derivation and composition.
- Neologisms, cultisms, and vulgarisms.
- Revitalization of the original meaning and etymology of words.
5. Novecentismo Prose
A. The Essay: José Ortega y Gasset
Ortega y Gasset’s essays can be grouped into three categories:
- Philosophical: Emphasizing the importance of philosophy in human life, exemplified by his famous quote, “I am myself and my circumstance.”
- Political and Sociological: Examining the reasons for Spain’s decline and proposing solutions. He attributed the main cause to social “disintegration” stemming from national, individual, social class, and mass indiscipline. His solution was a minority government led by the educated elite.
- Artistic and Literary: Presenting his ideas on theater (considering both text and extralinguistic elements), the dehumanization of art (advocating for pure art devoid of human feelings, using humor and metaphor as intellectual tools), and the novel (proposing a shift from descriptive narratives to a focus on the reader’s experience and the author’s portrayal of atmosphere over action).
B. The Novel
Two main trends emerged in the Novecentismo novel:
- Continuation of previous models (realism).
- Renewal of the genre by moving away from realism and embracing Modernism and the Generation of 1898.
Several types of novels emerged within Novecentismo:
- Lyrical Novel (e.g., Gabriel Miró): Characterized by elaborate prose, minimal action development, emphasis on formal description, and the author’s focus on evoking emotions through objects.
- Intellectual Novel (e.g., Ramón Pérez de Ayala): Featuring reduced action, characters as symbols, abundant ideas and reflections, multiple perspectives, and narrative simultaneity.
- Humorous Novel (e.g., Wenceslao Fernández Flórez): Employing realist narrative techniques, elevating humor to a prestigious level, and using humor to criticize society, often through black humor and intellectual critique.
- Dehumanized Novel (e.g., Benjamín Jarnés): Characterized by complex and intellectually challenging narratives, minimal plot, elimination of traditional arguments in favor of reflection and meditation, circular structure, and perspectivism.
6. Novecentismo Poetry: Juan Ramón Jiménez
A. General Characteristics and Poetic Theory
Juan Ramón Jiménez dedicated his life to poetry and the pursuit of beauty. His poetry is characterized by:
- Minority appeal and hermetic difficulty.
- Continuous creation and refinement (pure poetry).
- Poetry as a triple desire: beauty, knowledge, and eternity.
B. Stages of Juan Ramón Jiménez’s Poetry
Jiménez’s poetic journey was a continuous process of creation and change, marked by distinct phases:
- Sensitive Phase: Encompassing his early poems, memories, and learning experiences. This phase shows influences from Symbolism and features themes of loneliness, sadness, and melancholy, as seen in Tristes Arias.
- Intellectual Phase: Marked by a radical shift away from Modernist aesthetics, emotion, and superficiality. This phase emphasizes conceptual poetry with brief, free-verse poems, often in prose form. The city becomes a recurring poetic scene, and the main theme is creative writing itself, as exemplified in Diary of a Newly Married Poet and Eternity.
- Adequacy Phase: Characterized by increasingly difficult poetry with a focus on complex content and symbolism. The main theme explores God as an artistic concept, as seen in God Desired and Desiring and Animal de Fondo.
7. The Vanguard Movements
The Impact of World War I
World War I profoundly impacted the consciousness of young Europeans, leading to a reaction against the established order. This period saw the emergence of the Avant-Garde movements.
Development Stages of the Avant-Garde
The Avant-Garde movements unfolded in two stages:
- The 1920s: Characterized by optimism and confidence.
- The 1930s: Marked by increasing involvement in social and political struggles.
1. Characteristics of Avant-Garde Art
The Avant-Garde movements represented a revolt against traditional art based on imitation of reality. Key characteristics include:
- Anti-realism and the pursuit of artistic autonomy.
- Rejection of anecdote and sentimentality.
- Emphasis on irrationality and the power of images.
- Obsession with originality and experimentation.
- Abolition of traditional punctuation and the use of free verse.
2. European Avant-Garde Movements
Several distinct movements emerged in Europe:
- Futurism (e.g., Filippo Tommaso Marinetti’s Manifesto): Proclaimed anti-romanticism and focused on themes of technology, film, and sports. It sought a complete break with tradition.
- Cubism (e.g., Guillaume Apollinaire, Pablo Picasso): Decomposed reality into geometric shapes, offering a new way of observing the world.
- Expressionism: Explored themes of anxiety, fear, and intense emotions through the use of violent imagery and deformations.
- Dadaism (e.g., Tristan Tzara): Embraced total negation and incoherent rebellion against established norms.
- Surrealism (e.g., André Breton): Influenced by Sigmund Freud, Surrealism sought to explore the subconscious and the world beyond sensory reality.
3. Avant-Garde Movements in Spain
The development of the Avant-Garde in Spain was influenced by several factors:
- Ramón Gómez de la Serna’s translation of the Futurist Manifesto, published in the journal Prometeo, which left a mark on the choice of themes by some authors, particularly Vicente Huidobro.
- The emergence of Creationism, advocating for poetry that reflects the entirety of reality.
- The publication of Breton’s Surrealist Manifesto, championed by Juan Larrea.
Two key Avant-Garde movements in Spain were:
- Ultraism: Rejected narrative and emotional elements, focusing on the agony of discourse. They broke with logical symbolism and aimed to create a reality within the poem itself, granting the poet divine power.
- Creationism: Employed two fundamental resources: the juxtaposition of images without regard for their real-world connections and the creation of rhythm through typographical arrangement.
3.1. Ramón Gómez de la Serna
Through his magazine Prometeo and his creative work, Ramón Gómez de la Serna played a significant role in popularizing Avant-Garde movements in Spain. His individualism led him to create his own “ism”: Ramones. He was a prolific writer who explored various genres, including short stories and novels. His most notable contribution was the creation of “greguerías” (humorous metaphors).
Greguerías are short texts that offer surprising and illogical associations based on everyday objects or situations. They express a fragmented view of reality through techniques such as:
- Metaphors and comparisons.
- Pseudo-etymologies, paronomasias, and double entendres.
- Subversion of idioms and sayings.