Spanish Novel Trends in the Last 30 Years
Significant Aspects of the Spanish Novel in the Last 30 Years
In sum, two are the most significant aspects of the Spanish novel in the last thirty years:
a) The unifying character. It hosts almost all the trends, patterns, speeches, issues, experiences, and personal concerns.
b) The individuality. Each writer will choose the direction that is most appropriate to find a style with which to express his personal world and his particular vision of reality.
So we can say that in recent decades live:
a) Important novelists of all postwar: Delibes, Cela, and Torrente Ballester above all.
b) A number of novelists of the “Generation 50”: Juan Goytisolo, Juan Marsé, Carmen Martín Gaite, etc.
c) Novelists of ’75, most of whom are still active.
d) New writers released after Franco: Manuel Vicent, Julio Llamazares, Javier Marías, Luis Mateo Díez, Rosa Montero, Jesús Ferrero, Antonio Muñoz Molina, Luis Landero, etc.
Moreover, it is not easy to discern in a new narrative defined currents or schools; it is possible, however, to identify some thematic trends. The most relevant are these:
Mystery and Intrigue
This subgenre resurfaces with particular force. Among its practitioners include Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, author of a series featuring private detective Pepe Carvalho, and Arturo Pérez-Reverte, in The Flanders Panel (1990), El club Dumas (1992), The Skin of the Drum (1995) or La Reina del Sur (2002).
Historical Novels
Examples include Gold of Dreams by José María Merino; The Heretic (1998) by Miguel Delibes, and The Old Mermaid (1990) by José Luis Sampedro, and the saga starring Captain Alatriste by Pérez-Reverte, set in the Golden Age. In recent years, historical novels contextualized in times close, especially in the Civil War, are common, such as Soldiers of Salamis (2001) by Javier Cercas, The Sleepy Voice (2002) by Dulce Chacón, or In the Name of Ours (2004) by Lorenzo Silva on the African wars of the twenties.
Intimate Reflection
This kind of narrative focuses on personal research and reflection on one’s own existence. Representative works of this trend are Mortal and Rose (1975) by Francisco Umbral, a heartfelt reflection on death written in brilliant style, or The Disorder of Your Name by Juan José Millás, which combines psychological insight with literary reflection. In Yellow Rain (1988), Julio Llamazares tells the story of the abandonment of people through a long and emotional monologue.
Novels of Memory and Testimony
The memory of a generation and commitment are the basic themes of this current, in which fall novelists like Rosa Montero, I’ll Treat You Like a Queen (1981), a defense of womanhood, and Luis Mateo Díez, with The Fountain of Age (1994), a lyrical and humorous critique of provincial life.
Realistic Focus
After the frenzy of experimentation, some authors have since recovered the art of storytelling for the novel. Yes, from a wider and more open perspective, also covering the dream world, the irrational, or the absurd. In this line would include the carnival realism of Luis Mateo Díez or the imaginary realism of Luis Landero (Games of the Late Age ).
Culturalist Novel
In recent years, a number of young writers have appeared who make a novel that deals with analyzing and explaining various aspects of Western culture from very scholarly positions. That’s what Juan Manuel de Prada does with Masks of the Hero or The Tempest.
Other Trends
Other trends in the novel by younger authors is to make a novel about the problems of urban youth with an aesthetic very close to the counterculture (Historias del Kronen by José Ángel Mañas, Heroes by Ray Loriga, and Sex, Prozac, and Doubts by Lucía Etxebarria).