Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Latin

Key Spanish Poets (1891-1963)

Pedro Salinas (1891-1951)

• 1923 - Omens: Books influenced by Juan Ramon Jimenez and the avant-garde.
• 1929 - Seguro azar: Poems dedicated to the typewriter or the movies.
• 1933 - The Voice Due: Item you love, that is not suffering or frustration, but a source of joy and mysterious force that gives meaning to life and the world.
• 1936 - Name of Love
• 1946 - The Poetry Referred: Tinged drama and anguish over the events.
• 1949 - A Vivid Clearer: (war, etc.).

Jorge Guillén (1893-1984)

Considered the prototype of the pure poet and intellectual. His poetry is the result of a rigorous selection process: look for the idea or feeling, eliminating the anecdotal or accessory.

• Song: Collected in successive editions (from 1928-1950). Topic:

The Latin American Literary Boom: Defining Characteristics and Key Authors

The mid-20th century witnessed a transformative period in Latin American literature, often referred to as the Latin American Literary Boom. Novelists from this era built upon previous literary traditions while increasingly favoring the urban novel as a setting. A defining characteristic was the consolidation of magic realism, seamlessly blending the fantastical with everyday reality.

These authors boldly broke with traditional narrative structures, incorporating innovative techniques such as multiple points of view, free indirect style, and interior monologue. They employed diverse styles and languages, often emphasizing poetic elements. Furthermore, their works frequently... Continue reading "Latin American Literary Boom: Defining Characteristics and Key Authors" »

Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas (1580–1645)

Born in Madrid, Quevedo studied at Alcalá and lived in Valladolid, his life intertwined with the court and political activity. Imprisoned in León in his later years by order of the Count-Duke of Olivares, Quevedo experienced firsthand the suffering of confinement. A master of language and poetic forms, his work is divided into several poetic categories:

• Love poems: Written according to the conventions of the era's amatory lyric.
• Metaphysical poems: Covering themes such as anguish, disappointment, resignation, and the transience of life.
• Moral poems: Adopting the stance of a moralist, Quevedo criticizes and satirizes human weaknesses.
• Satirical poems: Alluding to characters in 17th-century society,

La Celestina: A Tragic Love Story

Story: A tragic love story where Calisto, a young bourgeois, falls deeply in love with Melibea, a beautiful young woman of a higher class. She initially rejects him. Calisto seeks help from his servant Sempronius, who suggests the bawd Celestina. Celestina uses her wisdom and spells to unite the young lovers. However, the servants are killed for not sharing their payment. Calisto dies after falling from Melibea's house wall, and Melibea commits suicide out of love.

Editions:

• Comedy of Calisto and Melibea (Burgos, 1499): 1st edition, 16 acts. Includes the Author's letter to his friend, detailing the text's creation.
• Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea (Seville, 1502): 21 acts. A foreword explains the title change

Lazarillo de Tormes: A Picaresque Masterpiece

First published in 1554, Lazarillo de Tormes saw four different editions appear in various locations, all published anonymously. The author chose not to reveal their identity, likely fearing potential problems due to the anticlerical criticism and Erasmian influences present in its pages.

Plot Summary and Character Development

Lázaro de Tormes begins his journey serving a blind man, his first master. Throughout the novel, he serves several others, including a priest, a knight, a friar, a pardoner, a tambourine painter, a chaplain, and a constable. Through these experiences, Lázaro learns the harsh realities of life and develops survival skills. Ultimately, he marries a preacher's servant and becomes... Continue reading "Spanish Golden Age Literary Classics: Lazarillo, Cervantes, Fray Luis" »

Federico Garcia Lorca

Federico Garcia Lorca was an excellent poet and playwright. His works often explore the topics of love, frustration, and tragic destiny, featuring many marginalized people doomed to pain, loneliness, and death. His style is personal and bright, with plastic images, and his poetry is suggestive and dramatic. His work, in both senses of the word, is theatrical and tragic: theatrical because it is expressed through characters, and tragic because it reflects fatalism, presenting humans in a fight against an adverse fate. Along with tragic fate appear frustration and impossible desire. Notable works include Poet in New York and Gypsy Ballads. His theater is poetry that presents a stylized reality, posing a single theme: the... Continue reading "Spanish Poets: Lorca, Alberti, Salinas, and Diego" »

Item 13

Narrative

Narrative is the genre that best adapted to cultural changes, while poetry and drama became genres for a minority audience. The novel, as a subgenre, became more commercial.

Characteristics of the Contemporary Novel

• Confluence of several generations of authors: Postwar novelists, authors of the Generation of '68, writers of the Generation of '80.
• Diversity of trends: Addresses all kinds of issues and adopts different styles and narrative techniques. Novelists often return to historical narrative.
• Publishing Market: The main types of novels have grown without one dominating the others. They conform to publishing criteria and public taste. The novel becomes both a cultural product and a consumer product.
• Latin American Influences:

Chivalric Literature: From Medieval Tales to Tirant lo Blanc

Books of Chivalry: At the center of these stories was the figure of a knight-errant, who was involved in a string of daring missions, following an ethical code. These missions of the knights took on a purely anecdotal and adventurous nuance, including courtly love, and religious or symbolic elements. The stories were always wrapped in a good dose of fantasy, magic, and wonderful items. Dissemination from the European area of Britain was early in our land, and over the fourteenth century: Blandín of Cornwall or The Fable. But our literature made the genre evolve into what is called the chivalric novel, more credible and realistic, reflecting the changes.

The New Chivalric Novels

Novell... Continue reading "Chivalric Literature in Valencia: From Medieval Tales to Tirant lo Blanc" »

Generation of '27

A Poetic Fusion in Spain

The Generation of '27 wasn't strictly a generation, but rather a close-knit group of poets within a larger historical generation. This larger generation included other poets (like Miguel Hernández), playwrights (like Alejandro Casona), novelists (like Francisco Ayala), and even artists from other cultural movements (like Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dalí, and Manuel de Falla). The poets of '27 were united by a fusion of ideas:

• Noucentisme (pure art, intellectual rigor, and careful style)
• Tenets of the avant-garde (especially Surrealism and Creationism)
• Deep respect for Spanish lyrical tradition (influenced by authors like Antonio Machado and Juan Ramón Jiménez)
• Secular ideology from their shared educational

Spanish Post-Civil War Novel: Literary Evolution

The 1940s Literary Landscape

The Spanish novel of the 1940s was profoundly marked by exile, harsh censorship, and the promotion of idealistic novels that extolled the values of the Francoist regime.

Idealistic Novel

During the initial years of Franco's rule, propaganda-driven novels were published that glorified the war, the regime, and its values. Notable works include La fiel infantería by Rafael García Serrano and Javier Mariño by Gonzalo Torrente Ballester. There was also another idealistic narrative that sought to forget the war.

Existential Novel

This type of novel attempts to reflect everyday life. Its recurring themes include loneliness, the frustration of hopes, the uprooting of characters... Continue reading "Spanish Post-Civil War Novel: Literary Evolution and Key Authors" »