History of Spanish Literature: From Neoclassicism to the 20th Century

Spanish Literature of the Eighteenth Century: Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism in 18th-century Spanish literature reflected the enlightened spirit of the time. However, two other tendencies existed within the century alongside Neoclassicism: post-baroquism, which continued the formal characteristics of the mid-17th-century baroque, and preromanticism, a sensational and melancholy stream originating in the last third of the 17th century.

Key Characteristics of Neoclassicism

• Works aimed to attain a universal objective and air of verisimilitude.
• Strict maintenance of style and genre separation, avoiding the mixing of tragic and comic elements, prose and verse, or elevated and familiar tones in the same work.
• Works had a dual purpose of work and moral education.
• Informative prose and essay genres were preferred.

Prose

Didactic prose and essays gained unusual splendor with figures like Fray Jerónimo Feijoo, who collected critical universal theater volumes whose intention was to bring cultural advancements to Spain and destroy remaining European superstitions. Feijoo used a simple, natural style without rhetorical artifices.

Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos best represented the synthesis of the period's currents. His production focused on the problems of Spaniards with didactic intention, written in sober yet elegant prose with notable literary qualities, such as in his Informe sobre la ley agraria and Plan general de instrucción pública.

Spanish Literature of the Nineteenth Century: Realism

Around the mid-19th century, the second great nineteenth-century movement began: Realism. This aesthetic emerged against Romanticism, assessing the thorough observation of contemporary reality. As a consequence, the predominant genre became the novel, which was properly adjusted to the realist aesthetic presumptions.

Main Characteristics of Realist Literature

• Objective Observation: Unlike romantic subjectivity, the realist work arose from a prior analysis and observation of objective reality.
• Contemporary Setting: Writers reflected the moment in which they lived, set in their own society. Bourgeois characters dominated, though proletarian and marginal characters occupied more important places as the century progressed.
• Thesis Writing: Writing was guided by ideological theses that authors tried to defend, sometimes reducing characters to "good" or "bad" to convince the reader.
• Psychological Analysis: Character descriptions carried a thorough study of familiar environments, education, and past events to explain conduct.
• Style: A natural, sober language far from effusions and exaggerations. A distinction was made between the narrator's cultivated language and the characters' colloquial dialogue reflecting their status.
• Omniscient Narrator: The narrator controlled the story at will, intervening frequently to make judgments or hint at future events.
• The Periodical Channel: Many realist works were published in installments in newspapers with monthly periodicity, affecting the novelistic structure.

Representative Realist Authors

• Leopoldo Alas "Clarín" with La Regenta
• Benito Pérez Galdós with Fortunata y Jacinta and Episodios Nacionales
• Emilia Pardo Bazán with Los pazos de Ulloa
• Vicente Blasco Ibáñez with Cañas y barro
• Pedro Antonio de Alarcón with El sombrero de tres picos
• José María de Pereda with Sotileza
• Juan Valera with Pepita Jiménez

Poetry and theater were also cultivated during this period. In poetry, Ramón de Campoamor stood out with an anti-rhetorical and prosaic style. In theater, José de Echegaray blended realism and grand romantic prose, making him a successful author and Nobel Prize figure.

Twentieth Century: From 1939 to 1975

1. Until 1939

• Marked Modernism
• Generation of '98
• J. Ramón Jiménez
• Noventismo and the Generation of '27
• Avant-garde
• Theater until 1939

2. 1939–1975

• Novel since 1939
• Poetry since 1939
• Theater since 1939
• Essays since 1939

Modernism and the Generation of '98

At the end of the 19th century, Spanish Modernism coexisted with a group of intellectuals called the Generation of '98. Both literary movements coincided in perceiving the country's historical pass with dissatisfaction. While Modernists sought an escape from reality through the fantastic, luxurious, and sensual, the '98 writers tried to renew Spanish style and sobriety.

Modernists sought a cosmopolitan and extravagant rhetorical effect through sophistication and cultisms. The Generation of '98 sought clarity and even archaic elements to give a greater sense of authenticity and popularity.

Modernism is usually represented by Rubén Darío, Villaespesa, and Manuel Machado. The '98 generation is represented by Miguel de Unamuno, Azorín, and Pío Baroja. Other writers like Antonio Machado and Valle-Inclán are difficult to classify as they share characteristics of both groups.

Modernism

Modernism originated in Spanish America in the last quarter of the 19th century and spread to Spain through Rubén Darío. Influenced by French Parnassianism and Symbolism, it was primarily a poetic movement, though it also cultivated novels, stories, and theater.

Modernist poetry split into two main lines: an escapist line focusing on exotic cities, ancient times, palaces, gardens, swans, and nymphs; and an intimate line reflecting melancholic moods, autumnal landscapes, and twilight gardens rooted in romanticism. Modernist poets exploited language through chromatic adjectives, rich lexicons, and musical metrics like the alexandrine, dodecasyllable, or ennea-syllable.

The Generation of '98

The '98 writers manifested their protest against decadent customs and proposed a total reform of Spanish social and moral conduct, defending subjectivity and personal vision over objective reproduction. Key themes included:

• The Theme of Spain: Focused on the Castilian landscape and anonymous history (termed intrahistoria by Unamuno), alongside a rediscovery of medieval and classic literature (amuedo, Manrique, Gracián, Góngora, Cervantes, and Larra).
• Existential Themes: Covering the meaning of life, religious doubt, and psychological conflicts.

Stylistically, they rejected rhetorical bombast, striving for precision, simple syntax, and juxtaposition.

Antonio Machado

Born in Seville in 1875 into a cultured family, Antonio Machado's father was an important promoter of folklore studies. After moving to Madrid, Machado studied at the Institución Libre de Enseñanza. He later spent time in Paris and worked as a French professor at the Soria institute, where he married Leonor Izquierdo. Following her premature death in 1912, he moved to Baeza and later Segovia. During the Civil War, he sided with the Republic, eventually dying in exile in Collioure, France, in January 1939.

Poetry

In 1903, Machado published Soledades, modified in 1907 as Soledades. Galerías. Otros poemas, which leaned toward Modernism. His definitive work Campos de Castilla (1912) marked a transition toward Generation of '98 objectivity, toning down modernist introversion to observe external reality and Castilian landscapes.

Generation of '14 or Noventismo

The Generation of '14, or Noventismo, was characterized by university-educated intellectuals who embraced European attitudes, analytical rigor, and rigorous historical research. They advocated for "pure art" focused on formal and objective aspects to produce aesthetic pleasure. Key figures included José Ortega y Gasset, Gregorio Marañón (essayists), Gabriel Miró and Ramón Pérez de Ayala (novelists), poets like Juan Ramón Jiménez, and Ramón Gómez de la Serna.

Generation of '27

The Generation of '27 consisted of poets who published around 1920 and commemorated the third centenary of Góngora's death in 1927. Key figures included Pedro Salinas, Jorge Guillén, Vicente Aleixandre, Rafael Alberti, Luis Cernuda, and Federico García Lorca.

They successfully integrated new avant-garde trends with traditional and classical Spanish literature (such as Bécquer and popular folklore). Their evolution can be divided into three stages:

1. Until ~1927: Pursuit of pure poetry stripped of rhetoric, influenced by Juan Ramón Jiménez and Ultraism.
2. From 1927 to the Civil War: Humanization of poetry influenced by Surrealism, introducing chaotic imagery, subconscient exploration, and social/political protest.
3. Post-War Exile: Following the Republican defeat, many authors went into exile, dispersing and following individual poetic evolutions.

Twentieth-Century Vanguard Movements

The early 20th century saw an explosion of avant-garde movements across Europe, including Futurism, Cubism, Expressionism, Dadaism, and Surrealism, characterized by a willingness to break with tradition. In Spain, Ramón Gómez de la Serna introduced avant-garde writing through his novels, theater, and signature greguerías (comining metaphor and humor).

Spanish avant-gardes also included Creationism (originated by Vicente Huidobro) and Ultraism, which sought new metaphoric forms and typographical arrangements.

Theater Until the Civil War

Early 20th-century theater was dominated by the commercial género chico and traditional plays by Echegaray and Galdós. Jacinto Benavente introduced modernist-symbolist touches, while Eduardo Marquina explored poetic historical drama. In the comic genre, Carlos Arniches created the tragedia grotesca, blending the comic and the pathetic.

Valle-Inclán revolutionized Spanish theater with his creation of the esperpento—a style distorting reality to reflect the absurdity of contemporary society, best seen in Luces de bohemia.

Federico García Lorca integrated avant-garde and popular theater, famously writing tragedies such as Bodas de sangre, Yerma, and La casa de Bernarda Alba.

Literature After the Civil War (1939–1975)

This period is generally divided into three stages:

• 1940s: Characterized by postwar scarcity, cultural isolation, and divided writers (regime supporters vs. dissidents).
• 1950s: Social realism aimed at reflecting dramatic country circumstances and transforming society.
• 1960s: Exhaustion of social realism and a turn toward formal and linguistic renovation.

The Postwar Novel

Existential Novel (1940s)

Marked by postwar disorientation, isolation, and Francoist censorship. Existential novels focused on distress, anguish, and absurd life experiences, giving rise to tremendismo—a trend representing violent and crude situations with torn language. Key works include Camilo José Cela's La familia de Pascual Duarte and Carmen Laforet's Nada.

Social Novel (1950s)

Influenced by Italian Neorealism, social novelists adopted an objective, testimonial stance to denounce social injustice, poverty, and bourgeois prejudices. Key authors include Miguel Delibes (El camino), Camilo José Cela (La colmena), and Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio (Jarama).

Experimental Novel (1960s)

Recognizing the limits of social realism, authors turned toward formal and structural experimentation. The milestone work was Luis Martín-Santos's Tiempo de silencio, followed by works like Juan Goytisono's Señas de identidad and Miguel Delibes's Cinco horas con Mario.

Poetry After 1939

• Postwar Poetry (1940s): Divided between traditional, classicist, and orderly poetry (Garcilaso magazine, featuring Dámaso Alonso and José García Nieto) and "disrooted" poetry expressing existential anguish and social protest (Spadaña magazine).
• Social Poetry (1950s): Focused on solidarity, denouncing injustice, and reaching a broader audience, with authors like Blas de Otero and Gabriel Celaya.
• Poetic Renovation (1960s): The "Children of the War" generation focused on personal experience, intimate daily life, and meticulous poetic language, featuring poets like Jaime Gil de Biedma and Francisco Brines.

Theater After 1939

Commercial theater dominated the 1940s and 50s, alongside innovative and absurd works like Miguel Mihura's Tres sombreros de copa and Enrique Jardiel Poncela's plays. Antonio Buero Vallejo broke with traditional drama in 1949 with Historia de una escalera, introducing existential and social concerns. Alfonso Sastre and Lauro Olmo also advanced social theater. From the 1960s onward, independent theater groups embraced experimental staging and collective creation.