Key Themes and Authors of 20th Century Spanish Literature

Lorca and Spanish Theater Themes

• In The House of Bernarda Alba, the central theme is the struggle against tyranny.
• In Yerma, the theme is motherhood.
• Lorca's theater frequently uses symbols of water, moon, blood, and the horse.
• In Lorca's theater, the protagonists are usually frustrated women.

Playwrights and Movements

• Carlos Arniches wrote farces, presenting a picturesque vision of a region and focusing on the comic and popular class in the theater. Most of his works are set in Madrid.
• Valle-Inclán was an initiator of the renewal of avant-garde theater.
• The author of Between the Carnation and the Sword is Rafael Alberti.
• The author of The Painting is Alberti.
• Lorca and Valle-Inclán, as playwrights, share common ground.
• Ramón Gómez de la Serna and Pedro Salinas share concerns regarding the picturesque.
• Bécquer, Antonio Machado, and Vicente Aleixandre share a connection to Seville.
• The style of poetry of the Generation of '27 highlights formal simplicity.
• The 'ism' associated with Gómez de la Serna is Ramónism.

Analysis of Historia de una escalera (A History of a Ladder)

Timeline and Setting

• The action of the first act develops around 1919–1920.
• The action of the second act develops around 1929.
• There are four doors on the landing.
• Sra. Generosa lives at Door 1.
• Don Manuel lives at Door 2.
• Doña Asunción lives at Door 4.
• The Bale family lives at Door 3.

Characters and Relationships

• Fernando is the son of Urbano and Asunción.
• Fernando is the brother of Rosa.
• Elvira is the daughter of Don Manuel.
• Don Manuel helps his daughter Elvira and their neighbors.
• Fernando is a handsome man, lazy, and dreamy.
• Elvira is a beautiful woman, spoiled, and pampered.
• Urbano is a man of the people.
• Carmina is a beautiful, humble, simple, and low-class woman.
• Elvira seeks Don Manuel to offer him a job.
• Elvira is crazy for Fernando, whom Don Manuel considers the most handsome man on the staircase.
• Trini Bale is the daughter of the neighborhood gossip.
• Doña Asunción failed to pay the bill, and Elvira says Trini is a gossip.
• Carmina is an elegant, beautiful, and debonair girl.
• Doña Asunción asks Fernando why he has not gone to the stationery store.
• Fernando spends some time on the stair landing. Urbano offers him a cigar; both discuss how their lives are different.
• Fernando approaches Urbano and engages him in conversation in a place they call the 'stair casinillo.'
• What Fernando says he suffers from is real.

Later Plot Points

• Over time, Rosa was involved with a man named Paco. Paco is a pimp and an independent flame.
• Urbano threatens Paco, saying he will throw him down the stairwell.
• Urbano does not like the kind of man Fernando is, so he mentions this to Elvira.
• Fernando, Urbano, Don Manuel, and Elvira know that Fernando's gesture of disgust is real.
• Don Gregorio is the father.
• Carmina is clean, pleasant, and gentle.

The Vanguard and Generation of '27

Literary Movements (The *Ismos*)

• The literary movements of the vanguard years (1910s and 1920s) are called the Ismos.
• The primary objective of the avant-garde is creation.
• The creator of the Greguería is Ramón Gómez de la Serna.
• The founder of the Creationism movement is Vicente Huidobro.
• The Greguería is defined as a mixture of humor and metaphor.
• The novels of Gómez de la Serna are full of joy.

The Generation of '27

• The authors of the Generation of '27 were born at the turn of the century.
• Their poetry shows the influence of Surrealism.
• The poet used metaphor extensively in the Generation of '27.
• In the Generation of '27, Andalusia plays a greater role than the landscape of Castile.
• In the poetry of the Generation of '27, Lorca's work is quite influential.
• Rafael Alberti, Luis Cernuda, Lorca, and Neruda are poets.
• The predominant theme in the poetry of Pedro Salinas is love.

Works and Authors

• The author of Sailor on Earth is Alberti.
• The author of The Voice Owed to You in Life is Salinas.
• The Sonnet to Cypress of Silos is by Gerardo Diego.
• The Romance of the Duero is by Gerardo Diego.
• The Sleepwalking Ballad is by Lorca.
• Blessed Chairs is by Jorge Guillén.
• The author of The Vested Interests is Jacinto Benavente.
• Impressions of a trip to the U.S. are reflected in Lorca's Poet in New York.
• The light of the Atlantic coast of Andalusia appears in Alberti's poems.
• The Cabin is the title of a novel by Ibáñez and the name of Federico Lorca's theater troupe.
• Lorca and Alberti were also interested in painting.
• Federico Lorca wrote Poem of the Cante Jondo.

Historical Context

• The Silver Age is defined as the first third of the 20th century.
• In 1972, the tercentenary of Góngora was marked.

Authors Who Wrote Books with the Word 'Love'

Gerardo Diego, Altolaguirre, Salinas, Aleixandre, Lorca.