Spanish Neoclassical Literature: Prose & Theater
Neoclassical Prose
During the Neoclassical period, there was limited production of lyric poetry but a significant rise in the essay and theater genres.
Key Neoclassical Prose Writers
Benito Jerónimo Feijoo (1676-1764)
Feijoo is considered the first contemporary Spanish essayist. His work is characterized by a personal tone, clear language, and a great variety of themes. His extensive work spans thirteen volumes, divided into:
- Universal Theater
- Erudite and Curious Letters
He advocated for the search for truth through reason and experience. His essays address practical problems, favor the adaptation of Castilian words from other languages, and defend women’s access to education and culture.
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (1744-1811)
Jovellanos’s work covers a wide variety of themes and synthesizes many aspects of eighteenth-century literature. He was the foremost political writer of his time, and his vast culture allowed him to write treatises on diverse issues, including:
- Report on the Agrarian Law
- Public performances and entertainment
- Education, artistic, and economic matters
José Cadalso (1741-1782)
Cadalso aimed to bridge the new ideas of modern European culture with the Spanish cultural tradition. A man of cosmopolitan culture, he pursued a military career and died in Gibraltar.
His notable essays include:
- Erudite Scholars for the Violet: A cultural satire targeting false erudition and cultural snobbery.
- Moroccan Letters: A collection of short essays reflecting on the social and historical reality of Spain. These letters were published posthumously and anticipated the critical attitude later seen in Larra.
Montesquieu’s Persian Letters prompted Cadalso to write his Moroccan Letters.
Cadalso also wrote the prose work Noches lúgubres (Mournful Nights), in which the protagonist, Tediato, converses with a gravedigger, a jailer, and Justice over three nights. This work anticipates typical features of Romantic literature.
Neoclassical Theater
Throughout the eighteenth century, theater was a very popular form of entertainment, although much of the repertoire, particularly comedies, was of poor quality.
Key Neoclassical Playwrights
Vicente García de la Huerta was a key defender of neoclassical renewal in theater, notably composing the tragedy Raquel.
From the last third of the century, neoclassical writers advocated for a realist, educational drama based on the Aristotelian precepts of the three units: space, time, and action. Spanish subjects were adapted for tragedy. However, neoclassical theater only truly succeeded with the comedies of Leandro Fernández de Moratín.
Leandro Fernández de Moratín (1764-1828)
Leandro Fernández de Moratín was the most outstanding personality of the neoclassical theater. Son of the writer Nicolás Fernández de Moratín, he held various public offices and traveled in France, England, and Italy.
He composed poems with a neoclassical orientation, including the Elegy to the Muses. In prose, he wrote The Defeat of Pedants (a satire on literary and theatrical pedantry) and Origins of Spanish Theater (a study of theater before Lope de Vega). His diary offers insights into Spain at the time.
In his dramas, Moratín followed Aristotelian rules, based his work on social reality and its problems, and ridiculed societal prejudices and errors. He wrote only five original plays:
- The Old Man and the Child: Explores the theme of a woman’s freedom to choose her husband.
- The Baron
- The Prude: Expresses ideas about theater.
- The Maidens: Enjoyed his greatest success.
Moratín’s work is characterized by good taste and well-developed human characters.