Spanish Literature of the Silver Age: Generation of ’98 and Beyond
The Generation of ’98: Pío Baroja
Pío Baroja (1872-1956) was a prolific Spanish novelist whose works reflected his skeptical and pessimistic worldview. His novels are characterized by their open structure, incorporating descriptions, events, philosophical reflections, and a seemingly spontaneous narrative flow. Baroja favored strong characters, often men of action from the Basque Country, as seen in his adventure novels like Zalacaín the Adventurer, The Concerns of Shanti Andia, and the Memoirs of a Man of Action series. His sensitivity to social injustice is evident in The Search, while his existential concerns are explored in The Tree of Knowledge. Baroja’s rapid, effective, and colloquial style, along with his nimble dialogue, creates vivid and believable settings and characters.
Antonio Machado
Antonio Machado (1875-1939) represents a path of personal evolution from the modernist trends of his time. He began his literary career within the Modernist style (Soledades. Galerías. Otros poemas, 1907), but with an intimate character that he would always maintain. His symbolist poetry—”the essential word in time”—evokes psychic identification with the landscape and deep human concerns through symbols like “afternoon,” “sleep,” or “the way.”
His later book, Campos de Castilla (1912), offers a lyrical vision of the rugged landscape of Soria, resonating with the poet’s soul and engaging with social issues like the decline of Castile. Machado’s critical vision aligns with the Regenerationist ideas of the Generation of ’98. The book also includes poems dedicated to his young wife, Leonor, who died prematurely, and Proverbs and Songs, which lean towards philosophical themes. His poetry aims for universal communication of profound feelings through simple, popular language and varied meter. His preferred stanza was the assonanced silva.
Juan Ramón Jiménez, the Avant-Garde, and the Generation of ’27
The Literature of the Silver Age
Historical, Social, and Political Context
Europe experienced a period of political and social change, economic recovery, and the growth of experimental artistic tendencies (modernism) during the interwar period (1918-1939). In Spain, the first third of the 20th century saw significant political, social, and cultural transformations, particularly with the start of the Second Republic (1931) and the outbreak of the Civil War (1939).
These three decades produced one of the most splendid cultural moments in Spanish history, known as the Silver Age of Spanish literature. This period witnessed three successive generations of writers: the older writers of Modernism and the Generation of ’98 (Unamuno, Baroja, Machado, Valle-Inclán), the intellectuals of the Generation of ’14 or Novecentismo (including Juan Ramón Jiménez), and, coinciding with the artistic renewal of the Avant-Garde, the young poets of the Generation of ’27 (Alberti, Salinas, García Lorca, Aleixandre, Guillén, Diego, Cernuda). The Generation of ’27 interacted with the previous generations and considered Juan Ramón Jiménez as their maestro. This last group of poets and friends skillfully combined the influence of European avant-garde movements with the Hispanic literary tradition, introducing full modernity into Spanish poetry. This climate of cultural flourishing would be tragically interrupted by the Civil War and its consequences for the country and its writers.
Juan Ramón Jiménez
Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881-1958) dedicated his life and work to the relentless pursuit of perfection and beauty through language. He conceived of poetry as a form of knowledge and a means of accessing the essential truth of the world. His poetic language underwent a progressive purification, culminating in “pure poetry.”
His poetic career is typically divided into three stages:
- Sensitive Stage: Begins with a modernism rooted in Romanticism and Symbolism, as seen in Sad Arias (1903), which features complex verses and musical imagery, and Solitude, Sound (1911).
- Intellectual Stage: His poetic language gradually sheds its modernist trappings. Following his marriage to Zenobia Camprubí and a sea voyage to New York, he embarks on a new search for pure poetry.
- True or Sufficient Stage: In his poetic maturity, he reaches the culmination of this literary and mystical-transcendent process, expressing himself fully and experiencing the creative power of his ego.
The Avant-Garde and the Generation of ’27
In the 1920s, when the Generation of ’27 emerged, a series of highly original, provocative, and groundbreaking artistic movements triumphed: the Avant-Garde. They developed a dehumanized art, conceived as pure art, independent of reality, with a playful and experimental intention. These movements included Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, and Surrealism. Surrealism, in particular, had a strong ideological foundation and became one of the most influential art movements of the 20th century.