Spanish Literature: Realism and Naturalism in the 19th Century
Narrative Time and Order
The treatment of time in a narrative is central to the story. The time of the story refers to the actual duration of events in real life. The narrative time is the duration of these events as presented in the writing. The order in which these events are presented creates a narrative rhythm, which can be slow or fast.
There are two types of narrative pace:
- Rapid: Occurs when the text is shorter than the actual duration of events in the story.
- Slow: Occurs when the narrative time is equal to or greater than the actual time. This is often achieved through dialogues (where narrative time is similar to real-time) and descriptions (where narrative time can be longer).
There are two types of narrative order:
- Retrospection: The narrator or characters evoke earlier events, leading to the action being narrated.
- Prospection: The narrator mentions future events in a chronological order that deviates from the main timeline.
Literary Terms
- Glossary: A list of vocabulary words and their definitions, often specific to an author or work.
- Bibliography: A list of books, articles, and other documents on a particular topic, usually found at the end of a book.
- Foreign words or expressions: Words and expressions borrowed from another language.
- Loanwords: Foreign words adapted to the pronunciation and spelling of the borrowing language.
- Calque: The formation of new words or phrases by literally translating terms from a foreign language and adapting them to the grammatical order of the target language (in this case, Spanish).
Compound Sentences
Compound sentences can be:
- Copulative: Joined by conjunctions like y (and), e (and, before i- or hi-), ni (nor).
- Disjunctive: Joined by conjunctions like o (or), u (or, before o- or ho-), o bien (or else).
- Adversative: Joined by conjunctions like pero (but), sin embargo (however), no obstante (nevertheless), etc.
- Explicative: Joined by phrases like es decir (that is), o sea (in other words), esto es (that is to say).
Realism in 19th Century Spanish Literature
Realism was a literary movement that emerged in the second half of the 19th century. It is especially evident in the narrative genre. Realism aimed to reflect real life and the problems of society, disregarding romantic sentimentality and fantasy.
Historical Context
- Political Context: The period was marked by political and ideological struggles between absolutists and liberals, as well as the emergence of socialist and anarchist movements.
- Social Context: The Industrial Revolution led to the development of steam power, the railroad, and the metallurgical and steel industries. This period also saw the rise of the proletariat (the working class) and the bourgeoisie (composed of wealthy landowners, traders, and business owners).
Characteristics of Realism
- Mimesis: Imitation of reality.
- Verisimilitude: The depiction of events that could have realistically happened.
- Themes: Political struggles between absolutist and liberal ideologies, conflicts arising from the need for money, marital problems within the lower middle class, and the personal and social influence of religion.
- Techniques: Realistic novels often feature a straightforward style, a plausible plot, an omniscient author, free indirect style, and internal monologues.
Naturalism in 19th Century Spanish Literature
Naturalism is considered an extreme form of Realism. It emerged in France with the work of writer Émile Zola (1840-1902) and spread throughout Europe.
Characteristics of Naturalism
- Themes: Humans are depicted as being determined by their genetic inheritance and social environment. Naturalism often features a materialistic conception of humanity, with instincts and social conditions governing people’s behavior. It focuses on describing degrading aspects of life and aims to expose social injustice.
- Techniques: Naturalistic works often use scientific language, slang, epithets, and demeaning comparisons to the animal world.
Key Authors of the Period
Benito Pérez Galdós (1843-1920)
Galdós is considered the best novelist of the 19th century and one of the greatest in Spanish literature. He aimed to reproduce the spiritual and physical environment of 19th-century Spanish society and politics in his novels. In 1870, he began his Episodios Nacionales, a series of historical novels covering the second half of the 19th century. His work can be divided into three periods:
- First Period (Thesis Novels): Doña Perfecta, Gloria.
- Second Period (Naturalistic Novels): La de Bringas, Miau, La desheredada, Fortunata y Jacinta, El Tormento.
- Third Period (Spiritualist Novels): Misericordia, Nazarín, Halma.
Leopoldo Alas, “Clarín” (1852-1901)
Born in Zamora, Clarín studied law in Oviedo. He participated in politics with the liberals and wrote novels and short stories. His most famous work, La Regenta, is considered one of the best novels of the 19th century. In it, he explores his dissatisfaction with love. Clarín was highly critical of social hypocrisy, the ambition of the clergy, political corruption, and the abuse of power. He employed the principles of Naturalism and demonstrated his skill in creating complex characters and using free indirect style in his descriptions.