Spanish Literature of the Golden Age
Quevedo
Quevedo’s works can be classified into several categories:
- Festive Works: Comic in nature, such as “The Roof” and “Letter to Another Cuckold”.
- Satirical Works: Criticizing societal vices and defects, like “Dreams”.
- Fiction: Notably, “The Buscon”, which portrays a pessimistic and cruel world through the life of rogues. It’s considered a masterpiece of Baroque prose.
- Doctrinal Works: Moral and political essays like “God’s Politics”, “Government of Christ”, and “Tyranny of Satan”.
Cervantes
Don Quixote
Don Quixote, a gentleman obsessed with chivalry books, becomes a self-proclaimed knight and embarks on adventures with his squire, Sancho Panza, a pragmatic farmer. They represent contrasting views on life: idealism versus realism, spirituality versus materialism.
Don Quixote’s journey is filled with both comical and melancholic episodes, creating a bittersweet narrative.
Dulcinea, a peasant woman, is transformed by Quixote’s imagination into a beautiful lady, highlighting the disparity between reality and fantasy.
Novelas Ejemplares
This collection of twelve stories includes “The Gypsy Girl”, “The Illustrious Mop”, “Rinconete and Cortadillo”, and others.
Lope de Vega
Lope de Vega established the National Theater, a new form of dramatic expression characterized by:
- Popular Themes: Drawn from everyday life.
- Dynamic Characters: Full of vitality and passion.
- Lyrical Language: Musicality and rhythm.
- Fast-Paced Action: Creating a sense of dynamism.
- Varied Language: Adapted to different situations and characters.
Works
Lope de Vega wrote around 400 plays, mostly three-act comedies, categorized as:
- Foreign History
- Religious
- Mythological
- Legends of Spanish History (e.g., “El caballero de Olmedo”, “Peribáñez and the Commander of Ocana”)
- Customs (e.g., “The Dog in the Manger”, “The Foolish Lady”)
- Comedies of Honor (e.g., “The Castle Without Vengeance”)
Tirso de Molina
A prominent follower of Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina’s theater features:
- Plain prose and colloquial language.
- Psychological portraits of characters.
- Intricate plots with burlesque and comic situations.
- Rich and expressive language with irony.
Works
He wrote approximately 400 plays, including:
- Religious (e.g., “Saint Joan”)
- Historical (e.g., “Prudence in Women”)
- Character Plays (e.g., “The Pious Martha”)
- Comedies of Intrigue (e.g., “Don Gil of the Green Breeches”)
- Mythological
- Sacramentals
His most famous works are “The Barber of Seville” and “The Stone Guest”, which contributed to the legend of Don Juan, symbolizing unbridled sexuality, deception, and sacrilege.
Calderón de la Barca
The most significant playwright of the Golden Age, Calderón de la Barca held a pessimistic worldview, seeing the world as a fleeting spectacle.
Works
His plays cover various themes:
- Love and Jealousy (e.g., “The Painter of His Own Dishonor”)
- Spanish History and Legend (e.g., “The Mayor of Zalamea”)
- Philosophical (e.g., “Life is a Dream”)
- Comedies of Manners (e.g., “The Phantom Lady”)
- Mythological (e.g., “The Daughter of the Air”)
- Sacramentals (e.g., “The Great Theater of the World”)
17th-Century Prose
Cervantes and Quevedo are considered the most important figures in 17th-century prose. This period saw the emergence of more realistic novels, exemplified by Cervantes’ works, picaresque novels, and the writings of Baltasar Gracián.
Miguel de Cervantes
Life and Work
Born in Alcalá de Henares, Cervantes spent his youth in various Spanish cities. He traveled to Italy, served in the army (where he lost the use of his left hand), was captured and held captive in Algiers for five years, and later worked on diplomatic missions. He married in 1585 and began writing plays. In 1587, he became a Royal Commissioner of Supplies in Seville. He faced imprisonment on false accusations in 1592 and resigned from his post in 1600. He continued writing, achieving recognition with the publication of “Don Quixote” in 1605. The second part was published in 1615, and he died in Madrid in 1616.
Thought
Cervantes’ thinking was shaped by the historical context of the Spanish Empire, the transition from Renaissance to Baroque, and his personal experiences. He valued Christianity, rationalism, humanism, and the importance of experience. He believed in utopian ideals like freedom, justice, morality, understanding, and tolerance. He recognized that reality can be interpreted from multiple perspectives and that appearances can be deceiving. His characters often serve as vehicles for his philosophical ideas, which are generally optimistic and advocate for tolerance and freedom.
Cervantes’s Novels
Cervantes revolutionized storytelling and created the modern novel. He embraced realism and reflected the changing times, using a clear and engaging prose style. His works are grounded in reality but often incorporate fantastical elements, as seen in “Don Quixote”.
Language and Style
Cervantes employed a variety of language registers, believing that a good novel should use natural expression to provide both intellectual and aesthetic pleasure to the reader. His writing is characterized by simplicity, naturalness, irony, humor, and parody.
Narrative Works
- “La Galatea”: An unfinished pastoral novel in prose, divided into six books, narrating the love stories of Elicia and Galatea.
- “Don Quixote”: Cervantes’s masterpiece, a parody of chivalry books. It follows Alonso Quijano’s transformation into Don Quixote and his adventures with Sancho Panza. In the second part, Don Quixote regains his sanity before his death.
Literary Sources
Cervantes drew inspiration from the works of Gil Vicente, “Amadis of Gaul”, and “Orlando Furioso”.