Spanish Realism: A Historical and Cultural Overview
1. Introduction: The Realism – Historical and Cultural Context
1.1. Historical Context
In 1868, the Glorious Revolution led to the downfall of the Bourbons in Spain. A six-year progressive government began, which, although it enshrined the democratic rights of the Spanish, also prompted labor and tax reforms that generated considerable dissatisfaction. In 1874, after a coup, the Bourbon monarchy was restored. This period, known as the Restoration, saw oligarchic rule based on the turn of the conservative and liberal parties in power, distorting the democratic system.
During this period, economic development promoted the growth of cities and railway communication. This era represents the consolidation of the liberal state and the triumph of the bourgeoisie, but also the beginning of awareness among the neediest people in society and the organization of socialist and anarchist workers (the PSOE was founded in 1879 and the UGT in 1888).
1.2. Cultural Context
Realism was an artistic movement that aimed to represent reality as closely and faithfully as possible. It arose in France in the first half of the 19th century and appeared in Spain around 1870, reaching its peak in the 1880s.
As it reached its fullness, the realist novel evolved into Naturalism, a movement led by Émile Zola, who sought to apply the scientific method to literature, affirming that humans are determined by their environment, historical context, and biological heritage. In Spain, most realist writers rejected the claimed biological determinism and free will, but Naturalists incorporated themes and techniques from realist novels.
2. Construction Features of the Realistic Novel
2.1. Detailed and Documented Descriptions
Writers used observation and documentation to reflect reality accurately.
2.2. Language as a Key Resource
Language became crucial for characterizing environments and characters, presenting geographical and social varieties to reflect the narrative world.
2.3. Themes, Plot, and Characters
2.3.1. The Conflict Between Individual and Society
This theme is ever-present in the realistic novel, occurring at the intersection of history and private life.
2.3.2. Urban and Rural Areas
These settings become important, and the characters usually represent a particular social group.
2.4. The Narrator and Narrative Techniques
The realistic narrator often tells the story in the first person. It is frequently an omniscient narrator who takes an outside perspective on the story but constantly engages in discussing history and prosecuting the facts. Realistic novels highlight dialogue (fundamental for characterization), as well as free indirect style and interior monologue (used to subtly express the views of the narrator or the characters themselves).
3. Authors and Most Significant Works of Spanish Realism
3.1. Traditionalist Realism
Like Romanticism, Realism had two streams: a conservative one, praising old folkways (José María de Pereda and Juan Valera), and a progressive one, characterized by social criticism (Galdós, Clarín…).
3.1.1. José María de Pereda
Pereda cultivated a regionalist or custom-driven realism in which the rural world and its traditions represent the purest essence of man, while the city, technological progress, and bourgeois society represent the perversion of those values. Sotileza (1885) and Peñas arriba (1895) are perhaps his most significant works.
3.1.2. Juan Valera
For Valera, the novel is identified with poetry, and its purpose is to create beauty. His most common theme is love and, related to it, the issue of old age and young women. Like Pereda, his works present a rural idyll without poverty and suffering. His most popular novels are Pepita Jiménez (1874) and Juanita la Larga (1895).
4. Benito Pérez Galdós
Galdós’s extensive production evolved from his early thesis novels to a much richer style noted for its character creation and ability to integrate Spanish history into the lives of these characters. This evolution has been traditionally divided into three stages, along with his Episodios Nacionales.
4.1. The Episodios Nacionales
These are short narratives about major historical events in 19th-century Spain, such as the Battle of Arapiles and the Battle of Trafalgar. Connected to these events are narrated episodes from the everyday lives of fictional characters whose lives make up the plot.
4.2. Novels of the First Period
These are thesis novels where characters and plot illustrate the author’s ideas. This period includes Doña Perfecta and Marianela.
4.3. Contemporary Novels
These novels describe contemporary society without advocating a particular ideology but remaining fair. His works are notable for the depth and complexity of their characters, for example, La desheredada, Tormento, and Miau.
4.4. Spiritualist Novels
These novels reflect the author’s ideological disillusionment with the failure of the bourgeoisie and progressive ideals to change society. These works relate to the spirituality of Russian writers like Tolstoy and develop, like their models, around humble characters imbued with high moral values.
4.5. Fortunata y Jacinta
The action of this novel is structured by a love triangle that expresses the conflict between love and the values of bourgeois society. The world narrated in this work reflects the religious, social, and economic aspects of the era. In this sense, if Jacinta is the symbol of bourgeois society: elegant, submissive, faithful… and sterile, Fortunata symbolizes the opposite: rebellion against the absurd moral rules of the bourgeoisie. At the end of the story, Fortunata loses in her confrontation with Jacinta, but somehow her failure reaches them all.
5. Leopoldo Alas, “Clarín”
Clarín cultivated criticism, essays, novels, and short stories. His output was published in newspapers and magazines, including satirical, political, and literary articles. He was an educated man and an expert in European literature and philosophy, which he discussed in his critical work, and he valued the contemporary novel over theater and poetry. His literary criticism is included in the collections La literatura en 1881 and Paliques. Regarding his short stories, ¡Adiós, Cordera! stands out. Clarín’s novel output consists of only two works: La Regenta and Su único hijo.
5.1. La Regenta
In La Regenta, Clarín addresses the conflict of pursuing ideal love in a mediocre and hostile environment; it is the story of a lack of love and friendship. The story is built around a love triangle, and the predominant theme is adultery. Literature is an important component of the work: the protagonist’s readings, her poems, her diary… The work can be structured in two parts: The first (the first fifteen chapters, which take place over three days) introduces the characters and describes the physical, social, religious, and ideological environment of Vetusta. The second part (the last fifteen chapters, covering three years of the story) sees the main development of the narrative plot. Naturalistic elements are evident in the environmental determinism and the circumstances that have marked Ana Ozores: her orphanhood, unhappy childhood, severe and cruel education… which manifest in physiological reactions (hysterical fever). The use of free indirect style is dominant. The narrator intervenes at times in the story with deep irony.