Spanish Literature: Unamuno, Machado, Baroja, Azorín, Valle-Inclán
Miguel de Unamuno
Miguel de Unamuno, a great essayist, highlights two main concerns in his work: Spain and the conflict between reason and faith. He analyzes the essence of the Spanish soul and its spiritual trajectory, which leads towards existentialism. In narrative technique, he innovated with what he called ‘nivolas.’ His most important work is San Manuel Bueno, Mártir.
Antonio Machado
Antonio Machado was born in Seville. He taught in high school in Soria, Spain. He married Leonor, who died three years later. Machado went into exile and died in France. His first book was typically modernist. A melancholy tone predominates, and his themes are characteristic of intimate modernism. The use of symbols is very characteristic. He published again in 1907 with many changes, reflecting a degree of loneliness in works like Galerías and other poems.
He accentuates the intimate line: memory, dreams, constantly evoking a lost past. There’s a visible feeling of anxiety, both for the unrestrained flow of time and the premonition of death. In 1912, Campos de Castilla appeared for the first time. Modernism now softens, and he describes real landscapes, filled with human presences or alluding to historical circumstances. Campos de Castilla contains very different poems. Many describe the land and people of Castile, highlighting the contrast between the glorious past of these lands and their struggling present. After Leonor’s death, Machado recalls the Castilian lands from Baeza, his vision of them is more emotional, and the landscape is tinged with subjectivity again. In 1924, his last book of poems, Nuevas Canciones, appeared.
Pío Baroja
Baroja’s novels are literary pieces that encompass absolutely everything. In his texts, we find philosophical and political conclusions, humor, adventure, and harsh social criticism. Baroja’s novels often depict the existential evolution of a single main character, as in The Tree of Science. The primary structure is simple, and there is a lack of conflict, with abundant dialogue and description. The characters, like Andrés Hurtado, are mostly failures and, like Baroja himself, are often misogynistic, anticlerical, and anarchistic.
His style is brief, clear, and precise.
Azorín
Azorín’s literary output is divided mainly into two major sections: the essay and the novel. As an essayist, he devotes special attention to the landscape of Spain, viewing it through his obsession with time and the transience of life, with a melancholic and nostalgic temperament. His style favors detailed description, succinct phrases, and a Sorbian style.
Valle-Inclán
The eccentric personality of the author is reflected in his writings, which are characterized by originality and theatricality. His production is considerable and varied: novels, short stories, poetry, etc. However, he stands out above all in the theater, in which there is an evolution ranging from antagonism to the aesthetic bourgeoisie, culminating with the esperpento renovation. The esperpento is a way of seeing the world that distorts reality to present the real picture hidden behind it. To do so, he uses parody, humanized animals, and animalized humans. Thus, the characters lack humanity and are displayed as puppets and fantoches. An example of his work is Lights of Bohemia.