Realism and Naturalism: Key Literary Movements of the 19th Century

In the final decades of the nineteenth century, Realism evolved into Naturalism, largely driven by the French novelist Émile Zola. Zola posited that humans were products of heredity and social circumstances, leading him to depict the more sordid and raw aspects of reality in his works.

Key Narrative Techniques of Naturalism

• Scientific Method: Writers aspired to present reality using the scientific method. This approach allowed them to analyze society and family dynamics, determining behavior based on environmental and hereditary factors. Descriptions were often stark, portraying even the cruel and harsh aspects of life without softening.
• Objective Narrator: The narrator was typically disembodied, striving for objectivity and impersonality.
• Fleshed-Out Characters: Characters were often depicted as products of their physiological and social conditions, sometimes using raw and direct language to convey their realities.

Leopoldo Alas "Clarín" and "La Regenta"

Leopoldo Alas, known as Clarín, was renowned for his articles on literary criticism. His seminal novel, La Regenta, set in the fictional city of Vetusta, presents the complex conflict between its protagonist, Ana Ozores, and Fermín de Pas, who is dominated by his desire for her, all within a hostile and hypocritical environment.

Other Notable Naturalist Authors

Emilia Pardo Bazán

The novels of Emilia Pardo Bazán offer a detailed study of the Galician countryside, depicting its decadent nobility alongside the lives of its peasants. Her work, Los Pazos de Ulloa (1886), vividly portrays the social, moral, and physical decay of the feudal Ulloa estate, representing a world on the brink of extinction.

Vicente Blasco Ibáñez

The naturalist novels of Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, often set in Valencia, explore the world through three socio-economic areas: agriculture, trade, and fishing. His characters are frequently dominated by primitive forces that determine their behavior, set in violent environments, without omitting raw and harsh aspects of life.

Understanding Syntactic Relationships

Syntactic relationships describe how words and phrases are connected within a sentence.

Coordination

Coordination is a syntactic relationship that links elements located at the same syntactic level, meaning they do not depend on each other. Types of coordination include:

• Addition: Summation (e.g., "and")
• Exclusion/Restriction: Expressing incompatibility or reservation (e.g., "but," "however")
• Alternate: Presenting alternatives (e.g., "or")
• Explanation/Distribution: Providing clarification or distribution (e.g., "that is," "either...or")

Subordination

Adjectival Subordination

Adjectival subordinate clauses (also known as relative clauses) function as adjectives, modifying a noun phrase. The noun to which an adjectival subordinate clause refers is called the antecedent.