Generation of '98: Themes, Authors, and Literary Style

Features of the Generation of '98

a) Concept of generation

The following assumptions must be met for a group of authors to be considered a generation:

• Contemporaries: For example, between the oldest (Unamuno) and the youngest (Machado) there is only an 11-year difference.
• Similar intellectual formation: They all received the same influences and had common concerns.
• Similar intellectual traits: They share similar intellectual facts; they received the same influences and had common concerns.
• Shared historical event: A general fact unites them all: the Disaster of 1898.
• Spiritual guide: There must be a leader or spiritual guide; in this case it was Miguel de Unamuno.

b) Issues

Their love of Spain leads them to analyze the causes of decline through three main topics:

1. The landscape: Travels and descriptions of Spain, especially Castile, used as symbols of the nation.
2. History: They reject History with a capital H (great men and great battles) and focus on the town's history and the people who work every day — the "millions of people without history" described by Unamuno as intrahistoria.
3. Literature: An interest in the classics of Spanish literature such as the Poema de Mio Cid, Gonzalo de Berceo, the Archpriest of Hita, Jorge Manrique, Cervantes, Góngora, etc.

Besides these topics related to the problem of Spain, there are two main themes:

• Life and death: The meaning of life and time; these existential concerns are represented mainly by Unamuno.
• Religion: There is no consensus on religion: members range from Catholics (for example, Ramiro de Maeztu) to agnostics (for example, Pío Baroja), with hesitant positions such as Unamuno.

c) Authors and style

Most of the Generation of '98's most important works are novels or essays. Highlights include:

• Miguel de Unamuno: Niebla, San Manuel Bueno, mártir.
• Azorín (José Martínez Ruiz): La voluntad.
• Pío Baroja: El árbol de la ciencia.

Antonio Machado stands out as a poet.

In style, we can cite some overlapping features:

• Reaction against the rhetoric and bombast of previous literature.
• Simple, direct style and content — clarity is important.
• Careful attention to language: they sometimes recover obsolete words and include them intentionally.
• Subjective vision and lyrical intonation; the landscape is associated with sentiment and mood.