Realism and Naturalism in Spanish Literature: Galdós and Clarín

Realism

Characteristics

• Scrutiny and faithful reproduction of life.
• Custom-paint and environments: characters and settings in rural or urban areas.
• Authors: refined or popular (Galdós, Balzac, Dickens).
• Painting of characters: description of the nature of the characters, resulting in the psychological novel, which delves into characters' temperaments (e.g., Flaubert).
• The novelist as a historian: telling a story and giving an account of incidents.
• Importance of alerts, precise vocabulary, detailed descriptions, and language elements.
• Sobriety in style: adapting language to the characters.

Naturalism

Features

• Themes, environments, character types: sick characters who obey their genetic tendencies and base passions; their feedback on the environment.
• Observation as a method.
• Popular writers and naturalists aim for a complete portrayal of reality.

Galdós

Episodios Nacionales

They portray recent Spanish history. It is an ambitious project starting from the novel Trafalgar. There are 46 battle groups in 5 sets of 10 episodes, except for one set with 6. Some pieces were custom-made for specific publications.

Novels

Texts

Galdós published several novels presenting ideological clashes between progressive and traditional-minded people. He combats intolerance and fanaticism, using religious and social themes to create conflicts with tragic endings.

• La fontana de oro
• Doña Perfecta
• Marianela

National-Spanish Novels

• El 2 de mayo
• Zaragoza
• Trafalgar

Contemporary Spanish Novels

His 24 novels reflect the society of his time and class differences. He uses narration to recount events. A repeated theme is the desire for social mobility.

Clarín

Narrative, Criticism, and Work

He wrote many critical articles sharing his insights into the novel and promoting Naturalism. His work is divided into short stories and novels.

La Regenta

Clarín describes provincial society. It is a work of great complexity and richness. Main aspects:

• Psychologically important character analysis.
• The social panorama of Oviedo, but it sums up old Spain.