Spanish Literature of the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s: An Overview

Posted on Oct 6, 2024 in Latin

Spanish Literature: 1940s-1970s

Two Forms of Arguments

Concession: The author tentatively admits the opposing party’s opinion, but then rejects the opposing argument.

Refutation: The author demonstrates the falsity of an adverse idea.

Wildcard Words

These are terms that can be replaced by more precise words. Some wildcard verbs include make, have, hold, put, say, give and nouns such as thing, subject, and gossip.

Spanish Literature: 1940s and 1950s

Implications of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

  • Tragedy, numerous victims, and a fractured, traumatized, and impoverished population.
  • Dictatorial regime of the victors, suppression of freedoms, and exile of many intellectuals.

Impact of World War II (1939-1945)

  • Allied victory and defeat of Germany, which had supported the Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War.
  • Political isolation of Spain.

The 1950s and the Cold War

  • The Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union led to the end of the international embargo against Spain.

Literary Trends

  • Conservative: Shared the ideals of the victors, focusing on heroic themes of war, the exaltation of the “new Spain,” and timeless themes like love and religion, while avoiding the problems of the people and the reality they lived in.
  • Rehumanizing: Expressed the anguish and despair of human beings in a world dominated by the void and pain caused by war (1940s). In the 1950s, it focused on denouncing injustices, lack of freedom, and promoting social and political commitment to address the Spanish reality.

Poetry

  • Rooted Poetry: Optimistic vision of reality, focusing on intimate themes like the country, the glorious past, the beauty of the landscape, and family life. Used classical forms (e.g., the sonnet) and language worship.
  • Uprooted Poetry: Expressed the despair and anguish of humanity regarding the meaning of existence. Topics included the meaning of life, suffering, the absence of God, and anguish. Used both traditional forms and free verse, with a lexicon reflecting despair and anguish.

Theatre

  • Theatre of Evasion/Continuation: Created by Jacinto Benavente, aimed to entertain an audience that identified with bourgeois values. Representative authors: José María Pemán, Joaquín Calvo Sotelo.
  • Intellectual Humor Theatre: Featured absurd situations, full of imagination and ingenuity, highlighting human contradictions. Notable authors: Enrique Jardiel Poncela, Miguel Mihura.
  • Theatre of Testimony and Social Commitment: Addressed the problems of contemporary man and their struggle against an adverse fate, including injustice, lack of solidarity, and egoism. Emphasized ethical components, the search for truth, the exercise of freedom, and the transformation of society. Most prominent representative: Antonio Buero Vallejo.

Text Types and Literary Concepts

Five Basic Text Types

  • Narrative Texts: Relate actions developed over time. Key indicators include narrator’s voice (1st or 3rd person), action verbs, and past tense markers.
  • Descriptive Texts: Describe the form and characteristics of objects, environments, or people. Key features include state or perception verbs (be, seem), present or imperfect tense, and spatial indicators (right, below). Literary descriptions may include subjective elements, personifications, comparisons, and metaphors.
  • Expository Texts: Convey knowledge or practical information. Characterized by precise and specialized lexicon, repetition of keywords, and present tense.
  • Argumentative Texts: Justify the truth of an idea using arguments. Key features include the presence of the issuer (in my opinion, I think), modal expressions, evaluative adjectives, and logical connectors.
  • Dialogic Texts: Composed of speakers’ replies and exchanges of information, requests, or expressions of feelings. Can contain narrative, descriptive, expository, or argumentative sequences.

Additional Literary Concepts

  • Project: A plan for a piece of work, intended to be carried out once approved by a teacher or company director.
  • Phrases: Fixed combinations of words with a unified meaning, functionally equivalent to a grammatical category (noun, adjective, verb).

Spanish Literature: 1960s and 1970s

The 1960s in Spain were marked by economic and cultural development, leading the country towards modernity. The causes of this change include:

  • Improvement of the industrial network.
  • Internal and external emigration.
  • The rise of tourism, bringing wealth and representing an opening up.
  • The press law, allowing the liberalization of censorship.
  • Increased publishing, leading to the entry of foreign works and greater knowledge of 20th-century foreign writers.
  • The expansion of mass media and its cultural impact.