19th Century Spanish Literature: Romanticism to Naturalism

The Context of Literary Change

In the late eighteenth century, the French Revolution (1789) introduced a new political framework. Society was divided into absolutists and liberals. This coincided with the Industrial Revolution, which spread throughout Europe in the nineteenth century. In Spain, the situation was exacerbated by the Napoleonic invasion and the War of Independence. Subsequently, Ferdinand VII restored absolutism.

Romantic Literature Characteristics

• Freedom, originality, individualism.
• Vibrant expression and rhetoric.
• Rebellion, evasion, projection onto nature, and nationalism.

Romantic Literature Sources

Influences include Goethe (Faust) and the Romantic poet Lord Byron.

Romantic Poetry

Characterized by polimetría (mixed verse and stanza of varying degrees). Topics included ideal love, passion, and soledad (solitude). The language was highly rhetorical.

Romantic Prose

Maintained fiction and journalistic text (e.g., Legends). Key figures include Larra in journalism.

Romantic Theater

Rejected the classical unities of action, time, and place. The protagonist is often a mysterious hero facing an inevitable, tragic fate and destiny, frequently set in gloomy locations. Known playwrights include the Duque de Rivas and José Zorrilla.

The Second Half of the 19th Century

Realistic Literature

Realism replaced sentimental exaltation and imaginative deployment with the observation and accurate representation of the environment.

The Realist Novel

Key features:

• Concern for reality and the everyday, dealing with contemporary subjects.
• Search for objectivity and realism.
• Critical presence of the author.
• Use of an omniscient narrator.
• Plain and simple style.
• Meticulous recreation of the characters' speech.

Stendhal described it as: "A mirror that strolls along the way."

Realism in Europe

• France: Stendhal (Red and Black), Balzac, Flaubert, Zola.
• Russia: Dostoevsky, Tolstoy.

Prereality (Costumbrismo)

Beginning in 1849 with Fernán Caballero. These works had a tone of manners and a moralizing purpose. They preferred detail and the defense of traditional values, often reducing conflicts to good versus evil.

Spanish Realism

Starting around 1870, exemplified by Benito Pérez Galdós. Characterized by a critical portrayal of everyday reality. Also includes JUAN VALERA.

Naturalism

Naturalism emphasized biological determinism, suggesting that not only physical traits but also psychological traits are inherited. It is considered the completion of Realism, taken to its maximum impact. Mendel's laws provided a biological explanation for many human physical traits. Key figures include E. Pardo Bazán and V. Blasco Ibáñez.