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Spanish Romanticism and Costumbrismo

Key Authors and Works

• Ramón de Mesonero Romanos: Known for costumbrista works like Escenas Matritenses.
• José de Larra: Famous for his critical "Articles" ("Artículos"), including El castellano viejo and Vuelva usted mañana.
• Serafín Estébanez Calderón: Wrote Escenas Andaluzas.

Early European Influences

Spanish Romanticism was influenced by European figures such as Chateaubriand, Henry Fielding, Daniel Defoe, and Sir Walter Scott. Lyrical influences include Lord Byron, while Victor Hugo impacted theater, and Alexandre Dumas influenced novels with works like The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.

Notable Romantic Writers

• José de Larra: Also noted for his youthful contributions.
• Enrique Gil y Carrasco:

Romantic Theater

Romanticism pretended to be a drama that could shake the audience. People are represented by protagonists with a hovering mystery.

Characteristics

• The focus is usually love.
• The outcome combines the tragic and the comical, verse and prose.
• Use of measured action.
• The action transpires in different places and scenarios, and temporal skips can occur.
• Secondary actions.

The Student of Salamanca

Félix de Montemar, a Don Juan, seduces and abandons Elvira, provoking her death. Following a mysterious woman, Félix contemplates his own funeral and is brought to the "somber mansion". There, he discovers the lady is but the skeleton of Elvira, with whom Montemar marries before dying.

José de Espronceda

(1808-1842) was born in Almendralejo (Badajoz)... Continue reading "Romanticism in Spanish Literature: Authors and Works" »

Spanish Theater: 1940 to Today

The harsh conditions following the Spanish Civil War significantly impacted literary creation. The theater experienced an intense crisis, with authors becoming scarce due to strict censorship.

Triumphant Theater in the Postwar Period

The triumphant theater in the immediate postwar period suggests a clear continuity with the forms and dramatic themes that existed before the Spanish Civil War. This era includes authors who viewed theatrical shows in the style of Jacinto Benavente, Jose Maria Pemán, Luca de Tena, and Calvo Sotelo. Besides high comedy, the dramatic landscape of the postwar period shows a clear trend toward humor in theater. The most outstanding representatives are Jardiel Poncela and Miguel Mihura.

Jardiel

Literary Texts

Literary texts allow us to affirm their literariness. The issuer can be an external circuit to the internal one of the author and may or may not be the author. The receptor, the reader, in every literary work is created by the implied reader within the work itself. Communication in literature presents differences because the receptor is also an issuer, and they are in different communication situations.

The literary message differs from other texts because its sole purpose is not practical. The literary character of a work creates a new reality, a different world, not a real one. The reader considers it true or false according to their task.

The ordering of contents is conditioned by the modes of discourse (narrative, description,... Continue reading "Characteristics of Literary and Argumentative Texts" »

20th-Century Hispanic Theater

Early 20th-Century Theater

The Decade of the 1950s

Theater of the Absurd

Humor is used to escape a society full of contradictions and with little freedom.

Social realism, with works like A Straight Story (1949) by Antonio Buero Vallejo and Death Squad by Alfonso Sastre, addressed problems from a committed social position.

Theater of the 1960s

Commercial theater: Alfonso Paso and Jaime de Armiñán.

Committed and innovative theater, criticizing social problems while seeking new forms of expression.

Works: Laura by Jesús Campos, The Elm-Shirt by Lauro Olmo, Pic-nic by Fernando Arrabal, and works by Antonio Gala.

Theater of the 1940s

Ideological drama: Jacinto Benavente and Carlos Arniches.

Comedy intended to distract the public... Continue reading "20th-Century Hispanic Theater and Literature: A Deep Dive" »

Vicent Andrés Estellés

Life and work are intertwined for Vicent Andrés Estellés. The death of his daughter deeply impacted his writing. Professional recognition, such as the Award of Honour of Catalan Letters and early retirement, marked his career. He studied journalism in Madrid, where he wrote his first verses, and worked as an editor for Las Provincias. The publication of Llibre de meravelles (Book of Wonders) in 1971 was an immediate success.

Estellés' language draws from three sources: classical tradition, colloquial Valencian, and legal terminology. He employs a series of 'anti-poetic' words, including vulgarisms.

The poetic 'I' is a significant element, offering insights into the author's biography.

His forms, tones, and structures... Continue reading "Vicent Andrés Estellés, Joan Rois de Corella, and Joan Fuster: Key Valencian Writers" »

Spanish Literature: Existentialism and Social Realism (1940s-1950s)

The Novel of the Immediate Postwar Years (1940s): Existential Realism

Spanish literature of the 1940s is dominated by anxiety and uprooting. It can be divided into three main streams:

• The continuation of nineteenth-century realism and traditional narratives.
• An approach to the Civil War from the perspective of the victors.
• A new perspective marked by a group of novels centered on an anti-heroic character faced with an indifferent society, dealing with issues such as the bitterness of everyday life, loneliness, frustration, and death.

Key Authors and Works of the 1940s

Camilo José Cela

In 1942, Camilo José Cela published The Family of Pascual Duarte. The story focuses on Pascual Duarte,... Continue reading "Spanish Postwar Literature: Existentialism and Social Realism" »

The Avant-Garde Movements

The avant-garde: A combination of movements that rejected traditional art forms and championed experimentation, adopting new themes and forms of expression. Key movements include:

• Literary Creationism: Sought to create an original reality within the work itself.
• Surrealism: Aimed to express the emotions and thoughts of the subconscious.

The New Novel of the Early Century

Key authors and works include:

• Marcel Proust (1871-1922): Author of In Search of Lost Time.
• Franz Kafka (1883-1924): Expressed the anguish of the human condition in novels like The Trial and The Metamorphosis.
• James Joyce (1882-1941): Wrote Ulysses, which transposes the plot of Homer's Odyssey to contemporary Dublin.

The Novecentismo

In the second decade of... Continue reading "Spanish Literature: Avant-Garde to Post-Franco Era" »

Poetry of the 40s

This era saw a return to traditional metrics, moving away from the Spanish reality. Notable works include those of Garcilaso and Leopoldo Panero, with the latter's "Poetry Uprooted." Other key figures include Damaso Alonso and Fiery Angel Otero, who viewed poetry as a creation. Pablo Garcia Baena also contributed to this period.

Poetry of the 50s

This period was characterized by social themes. Blas de Otero's work emphasized simplicity and a denouncement of the lack of liberty. Other writers include Gonzalez, whose work explored solidarity and freedom, and Gabriel Celaya, who addressed injustice.

Poetry of the 60s

Jaime Gil de Viedma blended conversational language and humor, critiquing the situation in Spain. José Agustín Goytisolo... Continue reading "Spanish Poetry and Theater: Eras, Styles, and Authors" »

Pedro Salinas

Poetry is a way to get to the essence of things and life experiences.

Topics

• Love: finding the central facts of existence.
• Desire for understanding and knowledge.

Style

• Contrast.
• Importance of the rhythm of dialogue and action.
• Short verse.

Stages

1. Influence of pure poetry, Creationism, and Futurism.
2. Covers the trilogy of love: La voz a ti debida, Razón de amor, and Largo lamento, which form a song of love.
3. Developed in exile.

Works

• Presagios
• Seguro azar
• La voz a ti debida
• Razón de amor
• Largo lamento

Jorge Guillén

His work is a rigorous poetic selection process which suppresses the accessory to communicate the essential idea or feeling. He grouped his poetry until 1968 under the title Aire nuestro, including Cántico, Clamor, and Homenaje.

Topics

• Joyous