Ramón Gómez de la Serna, Greguerías & Spanish Creationism

Ramón Gómez de la Serna: Spanish Avant-Garde Pioneer

Ramón Gómez de la Serna was a main introducer of the avant-garde (vanguardia) in Spain, starting at only 20 years old. He founded the Prometheus magazine, where he defended new European trends. He created a body of work that broke with conventions due to its originality.

Characteristics and Ramonismo

As a major literary figure, Gómez de la Serna helped shape his own movement, Ramonismo. This way of understanding literature is conceived as a phenomenon transcending genres. Its key features include:

• Fragmentary vision
• Objectification and dehumanization
• Unusual associations
• Humor

Major Works

• Theatre: Seres y medios (approximate title based on original text 'beings means')
• Novel: El novelista
• Ramón: El alba
• Biography: Automoribundia

Greguerías

His most lauded creation, the Greguerías, are short phrases where the author reinterprets everyday life through surprising partnerships of lyrical images, metaphors, wit, and humor, aiming to surprise the reader. He defined them as "humorismo + metáfora" (humor + metaphor). He employed various techniques:

• Literary Devices: Using simile, metaphor, hyperbole, and putting forth hitherto inconceivable thoughts.
• Paronomasia: Placing two words with similar sounds but different meanings close together in a sentence.
• Humor: Reinterpreting sayings and idioms humorously and originally.

Creationism in Hispanic Literature

Creationism (Creacionismo) became established in Hispanic literature through the works of several poets, such as Vicente Huidobro, Gerardo Diego, and Juan Larrea. Huidobro achieved a poetic work of great quality that influenced later literature. He conceived of Creationism based on these principles:

• A New Art: A lyrical movement that calls for the creation of reality, pretending to create a world that understands itself within itself.
• The Poet as God: The poet moves from being a mere imitator of reality to a creator of it; the new world created exists only in the poet's mind.
• Unique Poetic Language: The poet invents images, words, and relationships that have no connection whatsoever to existing reality.

Vicente Huidobro

Huidobro exhibited unusual creativity and a great capacity for inventing new images. Among his most representative poetic works are Poemas árticos and El ciudadano del olvido (interpretation of 'Ciudadanod arctic and oblivion'). However, his masterpiece is the 1931 collection of poems Altazor, considered the poet's finest work.