Early 20th Century Spanish Novelists: Humor, Modernism, and Avant-Garde

Key Early 20th Century Spanish Novelists

This period saw a flourishing of diverse styles, from humor to modernism and the avant-garde.

Writers Focused on Humor

Fernandez Flores: His main interest was the creation of the modern humorous novel in Spain. For him, humor was an attitude towards life, increasingly critical and intellectual (Volvoreta, The Living Forest...).

Ramón Gómez de la Serna: He wrote novels, short stories, and avant-garde theater. However, his most interesting works are the greguerías (humorous lyrical images establishing witty, unusual relationships between two objects or concepts), which he defined as: humor + metaphor.

Modernist Novelists

Gabriel Miró: He presents a special care in his prose. Formed in modernism (Cherries Cemetery), he gradually sheds ornamentation. Aiming for a full prose crafted with the same attention as verse, he minimizes action in his novels (Our Father, Saint Daniel and Bishop Leper).

Pérez de Ayala: He offers a noucentista model for the novel, intellectual and reflective, sometimes essay-like, sometimes poetic, with a particular concern for language. His narrative is often arranged in several stages:

• First, autobiographical novels in the style of the Generation of '98 (AMDG, Troteras y danzaderas).
• In 1916, he published three short, complete novels together: Prometheus; Light of Sunday and The Fall of Lemons, subtitled "Poetic Novels of Spanish Life," representing transitional novels.
• Later, he published intellectual novels with minimal action: Belarmino and Apolonio; The Work of Urbano and Simona and Tigre Juan and The Healer of His Village.

The Prose of '27 and the Avant-Garde

By affinity with the poets of the time, prose writers subsequent to the Generation of '14 have been grouped under the name Prose of '27. More generally, we often speak in terms of their literary works and dehumanized avant-garde prose. In the novel, Ortega's ideas had a decisive influence. These novels are set out as an intellectual game, rejecting the traditional novel's approach. Thus, the plot dissolves, action is minimized, and characters are blurred. Originality, unusual scenes, fantasy, imagination, creating environments, humor, wit, and irony are important. Priority attention is devoted to both structure and style.

Key Avant-Garde Novelists

Benjamin Jarnés: The most important of these avant-garde narrators, he also published biographies and other writings, along with several novels: Madness and Death of Anyone, The Red and the Blue.

Francisco Ayala: He joined the avant-garde group at a young age, publishing short stories collected in The Boxer and an Angel and Catcher in the Morning. In exile after the Civil War, he wrote his best works (Kills Dog; The Bottom of the Glass).

Max Aub: One of the avant-garde narrators, though perhaps best known as a playwright, he wrote novels like Geography. In exile, he developed an extensive body of fiction (the Campos series).

Rosa Chacel: Also close to Ortega's ideas is her novel Station, Back and Forth.

Ramón J. Sender: He developed a long and ambitious literary career. Imán, his first novel, reveals his narrative gifts: powers of observation, direct style, narrative precision. During the Civil War and in exile, he continued to publish, including Requiem for a Spanish Peasant (his most valuable novel) and Crónica del Alba (a series of nine autobiographical novels).