Spanish Literary Movements: 1910s to 1930s

Vanguards: Early 20th Century Spanish Literature

Around 1910, avant-garde movements emerged in the European artistic and literary scene. These movements rejected traditional art forms and advocated for experimentation, adopting new forms of expression.

Creationism and Surrealism

• Creationism aspired to create reality within the work itself, employing various language games to achieve this.
• Surrealism, of French origin, aimed to express emotions and subconscious thoughts.

Noucentisme: The Generation of 1914

In the second decade of the 20th century, a group of writers emerged, characterized by intellectualism, a European outlook, and a quest for pure art—an art free of ties with reality and all forms of sentimentality. This group, known as the Generation of 1914, promoted the current known as Noucentisme. The chief representative of Noucentista poetry is Juan Ramón Jiménez.

The Noucentista Novel

The Noucentista novel is characterized by two features: lyrical descriptions of landscapes and the presence of non-fiction elements. The key is not action, but reflection and the portrayal of characters and their environments. Notable authors include Gabriel Miró and Ramón Pérez de Ayala.

The Noucentista Essay

Among the essayists of this generation, José Ortega y Gasset stands out. His work shows the influence of the avant-garde, as he defends originality, a lack of sentimentality, anti-realism, and the dominance of the image.

The Generation of 1927

In the 1920s, a new group of writers, the Generation of 1927, emerged. While admiring the poetry of Juan Ramón Jiménez and the ideas of Ortega y Gasset, they were not content to merely imitate the model of pure, dehumanized poetry and art. Instead, they added new formal and thematic elements. Notable members include Federico García Lorca and Rafael Alberti.

Juan Ramón Jiménez: A Life in Poetry

Born in Moguer in 1881, Juan Ramón Jiménez left for America in 1916 to marry Zenobia Camprubí. He returned there after the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1956, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. His work is characterized by the pursuit of perfection.

Stages of Jiménez's Work

• Sensitive Stage: Marked by the influence of Modernism, the poems in this stage emphasize the sound of the verse and the presence of Modernist symbols and motifs.
• Intellectual Stage: Inaugurated with formal nudity, this stage addresses themes such as loneliness and eternity.
• True Stage: This stage includes books written during his American exile. Jiménez identifies the quest for perfection and poetic purification with the search for God.

Federico García Lorca: Poetry and Theater

Poetry

Born in Fuente Vaqueros, Federico García Lorca moved to the Student Residence in Madrid in 1919. In 1929, he traveled to New York. In 1936, he was shot to death in Víznar. His work, Poet in New York, is heavily influenced by the avant-garde and realism.

Theater

Lorca's first play was a Symbolist text, The Curse of the Butterfly. However, his first major success came with a historical drama in verse, Mariana Pineda. The summit of his theatrical production is contained in three rural tragedies, including Blood Wedding, which portrays an impossible love between a man and a woman from two rival families.