Noucentisme: Spanish Literary Movement, Essayists, and Novelists

Noucentisme: A Spanish Literary Movement

Noucentisme designated a group of writers active between the Generation of '98 and the Generation of '27 in Spanish literature. This movement emphasized a return to classical ideals, intellectualism, and aesthetic purity.

Key Aesthetic Principles of Noucentisme

• Serenity, beauty, and balance as fundamental values of a pure art, whose sole aim is aesthetic pleasure.
• Intellectualism, prioritizing reason and thought over emotion.
• Conceptual rigor and precision of ideas in literary expression.
• In poetry, a rejection of romantic sentimentality and modernist motifs, favoring clarity and form.
• In the novel, a contempt for realism; art should not be confused with life, and the faithful reproduction of reality is not the writer's task.

The Essay in Noucentisme

The essay occupied a central place within Noucentisme, with prominent figures such as José Ortega y Gasset.

José Ortega y Gasset's Vision

According to Ortega, the new art of the twentieth century is a pure art in which formal qualities count more than its human or real elements. The function of art, for him, is not to express feelings or copy reality. It is also an intellectual art, appealing to intelligence rather than emotion.

Regarding the novel, the traditional concern for a human argument, reflecting social realities, must yield to other values better suited to provide aesthetic pleasure, such as style and language.

The Novel in Noucentisme

Noucentista novelists often explored new narrative techniques and intellectual themes.

Ramón Pérez de Ayala: An Intellectual Novelist

Ramón Pérez de Ayala is considered an intellectual and experimental novelist, known for his innovative use of narrative techniques. His work can be divided into three stages:

• In the first stage, autobiographical novels featuring a common protagonist, Alberto Díaz de Guzmán, predominated. Notable works include Tinieblas en las cumbres (Darkness on the Peaks) and Troteras y danzaderas (Strollers and Dancers).
• The second stage includes novels that reflect a poetic transition in Spanish life: Prometeo (Prometheus) and Luz de domingo (Sunday Light).
• The third stage comprises his most intellectual novels: Belarmino y Apolonio, starring two shoemakers and exploring language as a relevant topic; and Tigre Juan and El curandero de su honra (The Healer of His Honor), which explore themes of love and honor.

Gabriel Miró: Lyrical and Formal Prose

Gabriel Miró is the author of a lyrical and formal type of novel, where action and plot are secondary to style and atmosphere. His best-known novels include Nuestro Padre San Daniel (Our Father San Daniel) and El obispo leproso (The Leper Bishop).

Ramón Gómez de la Serna and the Greguería

Ramón Gómez de la Serna transformed literature into a game full of inconsistencies, reaching his closest approach to avant-garde irrationalism. His most original creation is the greguería, a clever association of ideas. It is a vision of things expressed briefly, often as a proverb or a pithy definition.