Spanish Essayists of the Early 20th Century: Key Figures & Themes

Spanish Essay in the Early Twentieth Century

Writers of the Century

The Spanish writers of the century appear immersed in a general crisis, which in Spain coincides with the decline of the political system of restoration, based on the chieftaincy and the alternation of parties. The authors proposed solutions to the problems of Spain related to the search for a national cultural identity in the service of a liberal project. These authors developed an extensive body of literature, in many cases published in the press, which presented their views. These writings will contribute to the modern test setup, in which critical thinking is attached to subjectivity, autobiographical elements. The most prominent essayists:

• Miguel de Unamuno: His essays operate primarily through his journalism and reflect, on one hand, the evolution of his thinking, and on the other, a strong and contradictory personality. The debate between faith and reason will be the most used in their reflections. In 1913 he published The Tragic Sense of Life.
• Azorín: He developed a thought that goes from its initial position to anarchist ideology, leading to pragmatic, skeptical, and conservative views. His two main themes are descriptions of landscapes, people, life raised from a melancholy observation, and literary criticism, impressionistic and subjective in nature.

Novecentismo

In the first decades of the century, there emerged a new class of liberal thinkers who had a reform project in Spain. The aim was to modernize the country and obtain a change of moral individuals. This is an elite group, linked to the gentry whose members displayed a notable public event in newspapers, politics, teaching, magazines. Its salient features are:

• Europeanism: It is necessary to fight the scientific backwardness of Spain closer to Europe.
• Scientists: Requires rigorous training led by reason and science.
• New sensitivity: Propose an optimistic view of life against the pessimism of previous authors.
• Political Reform: Trying to rationalize political life.

The most outstanding are Ortega y Gasset and Manuel Azaña, as well as Ramón Gómez Ayala, Salvador de Madariaga, and others. Ortega y Gasset was the most influential figure of culture and thought in the first decades of the century, from his chair, from their books, from magazines such as West, held the role of intellectual guidance. Among his philosophical writings, Quixote Meditations highlights, a work that defines the essay as "the science, unless explicit proof." Ortega y Gasset recorded his concerns about aesthetic issues in numerous articles, but the most important work was The Dehumanization of Art. Finally, on the socio-political ideas include books Invertebrate Spain and The Revolt of the Masses.

Essayists During and After the Spanish Civil War

The forty were subject to the political, ideological, and moral dictatorship. His themes were safe, with no depth in the reflection. In the fifty ideological changes occurred in a context of economic and social transformations, which allow criticism and treatment of issues different from official positions. Among the essayists featured in this period: Pedro Lain, Julian Marias, and Tierno Galvan.

Essayists in Exile

The fact that these writers settle in Latin America is suitable for contact and exchange between Spanish and American cultures. They influenced Ortega y Gasset. María Zambrano was his disciple, and author of works on various subjects unique and beautiful. Her texts deal reflections on the history of Spain, the civil war. Francisco Ayala is the author of numerous essays in sociology, literary criticism. The overarching themes of his reflections are liberalism, the situation in Spain.

Experimentation in the 60s and 70s

There was a series of cultural events that provided a great impetus to the essay genre: development of the human sciences, reception of European thought and American magazines such as notebooks foundation for dialogue, triumph and West emergence of publishers like Anagram, Laia.