Spanish Literary Vanguards and the Generation of '27
Spanish Vanguards: Ramón Gómez de la Serna
Ramón Gómez de la Serna founded "Ramónismo" due to his individualism. He is best known for his Greguerías: short texts focusing on everyday life, offering associations that do not respond to the logic of reality and cause surprise. These works offer a fragmented vision of reality through brushstrokes, ideas, judgments, and sensations.
Techniques and Styles
- Metaphors and sometimes hyperbolic comparisons.
- Ingenious associations, pseudo-etymologies, paronomasias, and dilogy.
- Automatization of clichés.
Ultraism and Creationism
These movements were characterized by the prevalence of lyric poetry and a rejection of art that mimics reality.
Ultraism
Born under the guidance of Rafael Cansinos Assens, Ultraism rejected narrative and emotional elements, utilizing only irony. It prioritized perception and metaphor while including typographical innovations.
Creationism
Founded by Vicente Huidobro, Creationism viewed symbolism as a way of creating the poem's own reality, capable of moving the reader. Key resources included the superimposition of images without real referents, the creation of rhythm through typographical arrangement, and the careful selection and positioning of words.
The Generation of '27
Generational Traits and Members
The Generation of '27 is defined by poets born on close dates, sharing deep fellowship, friendship, and cultural exchange. A pivotal moment was the 1927 tercentenary (300th anniversary) of the death of Góngora. Key members include: Pedro Salinas, Jorge Guillén, Gerardo Diego, Federico García Lorca, Rafael Alberti, Vicente Aleixandre, Luis Cernuda, Emilio Prados, Manuel Altolaguirre, and Dámaso Alonso.
Tradition and the Avant-Garde
This generation valued and rescued past authors and styles, blending them with modern vanguards:
- Traditional Poetry: Songs, ballads, and neopopularismo.
- Golden Age (Siglo de Oro): Góngora (poetic reality), Garcilaso de la Vega, San Juan de la Cruz, Quevedo, and Lope de Vega.
- 19th Century: Bécquer (intimism), Rubén Darío (metrics and imagery), Unamuno, and Machado (reality as thought, dreamed, or imagined).
- Symbolism: Mallarmé and Valéry.
- Vanguards: Gómez de la Serna, Juan Ramón Jiménez (pure poetry), and José Ortega y Gasset (dehumanization of art, minority art, irony, and the dominance of the metaphor).
Subjects and Poetic Methods
Core themes include Love, Universe, Destiny, and Death. There is a profound sense of freedom expressed through:
- The City: Optimism (comfort, cinema, advertising) vs. Pessimism (urban development).
- Love: Fullness of the individual, encompassing both homosexual and heterosexual themes (which often bring pain).
- Arts: The process of poetic creation.
- Nature: The environment as a part of the poetic experience with a pantheistic vision.
Methods involve a combination of traditional metric forms with free verse and rhythm.
Stages of the Generation of '27
- 1927–1929: The splendor of the avant-garde balanced with literary tradition (Pure Poetry).
- 1929–1936: Surrealism and the rehumanization of poetry. This stage involved the exploration of self and emotions, coinciding with a complicated political situation and the influence of Pablo Neruda (impure poetry committed to communication).
- Since 1939: The Generation of '27 decays as a cohesive group, but the subject of commitment remains.