Generation of '98: Spanish Writers, Castilian Landscape and Existential Anxiety

The Generation of '98:

Some young writers, conscious of the crisis that Spain was experiencing after the loss of its last colonies, abandoned the aesthetic ideas of Modernism and used their works to criticize the injustice and inequality of the caciquismo and to cry out for the regeneration of the country. Their works revolve around a critical and sentimental vision of Spain and their preoccupations.

Vision of Spain

Two features characterize the vision of the Castilian landscape of the Generation of '98:

• Impressionism: the ability to portray what the writer sees, not only the representative elements.
• Subjectivism: the writers project their state of mind onto what they describe, turning the landscape into an inner landscape.

Existential Preoccupations

Next to the issue of Spain, these writers turned their attention inward, reflecting the existential crisis of the turn of the century: religious beliefs, the meaning of life, death, and anxiety over the passage of time.

Literary Language

Although each author has a personal style, they coincide in subjectivism, which gives an emotive vision of the landscape, people, and ideas. In the renovation of literary language:

• Style: a simple yet sober prose, separated from rhetorical grandiloquence, that embraces the aesthetic of Modernism.
• Lexicon: traditional slang words or archaic terms were used to revitalize their continuous use.
• Resources: emotive features such as adjectives, expressive repetitions, and images that create an affective vision of reality.

Principles of the Writers of '98

The principles of these writers were drawn from Modernism, but they distanced themselves from it and adopted critical postures toward the rationalism that led to the Generation of '98. Among them are Azorín, Antonio Machado, and Pío Baroja, along with Ramón del Valle-Inclán.

Pío Baroja (1872–1956)

The Basque novelist was one of the great nonconformists of the Generation of '98. His life was marked by pessimism and a painful vision of a backward Spain. Despite his skepticism about faith and science, he believed in the future of the country. For Baroja, life is the reason for existence, and his characters are men of noble action, disoriented and restless. Among his works are Searching, Zalacaín the Adventurer, The Restlessness of Shanti Andía, and The Tree of Science.

Antonio Machado (1875–1939)

The poet identified himself with Castile, where he lived. In Soledades, his concern for the sensory language of Modernism and sentimental decadence is evident. In Campos de Castilla, written while he was a teacher in Soria, he adopts a sober style, far from the Modernist brilliance, with descriptions of the Castilian landscape, the recollection of Leonor, and a critical reflection on Spain after the disaster. He died in exile in Collioure during the Spanish Civil War.

Ramón del Valle-Inclán (1866–1936)

An eccentric and original figure of the Generation of '98 from Galicia, he was feared by Madrid's literary circles and admired for his traditionalist ideology and ironic wit. He evolved from an initial nonconformist attitude toward a lyrical and revolutionary narrative. He cultivated the theater, always as an innovator. Following a transition phase, he developed his own style, derived from Modernism but with a search for something new, as seen in his works that offer a degrading vision of Spanish society.