Spanish Golden Age: 17th Century Society, Art, and Literature

The 17th Century in Spain: A Period of Transformation

Economic and Political Landscape

The 17th century in Spain, under the rule of the Austrias (Philip III, Philip IV, and Charles II), was a period marked by significant decline and continuous military conflicts with other European powers. Monarchs inherited a country teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. By the end of the century, Spain had lost its hegemony and experienced population stagnation.

Economically, Spain was predominantly rural (approximately 80%). The largely illiterate peasant population faced widespread disappointment and discontent. A powerful and dominant noble class further exacerbated social inequalities. The era was also plagued by devastating epidemics, including the plague, which caused over a million deaths, and the expulsion of the Moriscos, further impacting the nation's social and economic fabric.

Artistic and Philosophical Shifts: Renaissance vs. Baroque

The Renaissance Worldview

The Renaissance embraced an anthropocentric view of existence, idealizing youth and the enjoyment of life before the inevitability of death. The human being was considered the measure of all things.

In literature, recurring themes included love and inspiration drawn from Greco-Roman mythology. Concepts like Locus Amoenus (pleasant place), Carpe Diem (seize the day), Beatus Ille (blessed is he), and Descriptio Puellae (description of the maiden) were prominent.

The Baroque Worldview

In stark contrast, the Baroque period was characterized by pessimism, negativity, and an obsession with the transience of life and the omnipresence of death. The human being was often depicted as unable to find happiness in a world rife with poverty, disease, and mortality.

Baroque thought often consecrated a divine, ascetic posture, despising the purely human and advocating for stoic resignation to life's misfortunes. Literature reflected this pessimism, focusing on the fleeting nature of life, the passage of time, and often employing irony, though sometimes also idealization.

Literary Innovations: The Picaresque Novel

The Picaresque genre emerged as a significant innovation in prose. Key works include:

• Mateo Alemán's Guzmán de Alfarache: An autobiographical narrative from an adult or mature perspective, offering a socially critical moral evaluation.
• Francisco de Quevedo's El Buscón: Also autobiographical, featuring an adult antihero, primarily intended for recreational purposes to entertain readers.

Baroque Literary Styles: Conceptismo and Culteranismo

Conceptismo

Represented prominently by Francisco de Quevedo, Conceptismo was an expressive style characterized by its contrived nature, aiming to convey the maximum meaning with the fewest possible elements. This often resulted in poems rich in metaphors and hyperbole.

Culteranismo

With Luis de Góngora as its foremost exponent, Culteranismo prioritized form over content. It sought a highly cultured language, replete with Latinisms and hyperbaton (inverted word order). This style deliberately distanced itself from vulgar speech, frequently resorting to classical mythology in its themes.

Baroque Artistic Perfection and 17th-Century Innovations

Baroque authors pursued absolute perfectionism in form, often overriding core content. Formal complexity became synonymous with beauty. The 17th century witnessed several significant innovations:

• Prose: The birth of the modern novel.
• Theater: The emergence of the New Comedy (Comedia Nueva) pioneered by Lope de Vega, which revolutionized Spanish theater.
• Lyric Poetry: Evolution thanks to writers like Quevedo, Góngora, and Lope de Vega, with two distinct tendencies: Culteranismo and Conceptismo.

The New Comedy: Lope de Vega's Revolutionary Theater

The New Comedy is considered the most innovative genre of its time because it introduced new themes and adapted plays for public premises specifically designed for theatrical performances.

Lope de Vega was the driving force behind this movement, with his prolific output reflected in an astonishing 314 plays.

Key characteristics and innovations of the New Comedy include:

• Division of the work into three acts.
• Mixing of tragic and comic elements.
• Introduction of a new, often humorous character (the Gracioso).
• Disruption of the Renaissance rule of three unities (unity of action, time, and place).