Spanish Literature: 17th and 18th Century Masterpieces

Linguistic and Brand Concepts

Slogan

A slogan is formed by memorable words or a phrase.

Logo

A logo is the graphic embodiment of a brand.

Slang and Jargon

Slang and jargon are varieties of languages known and used by specific social groups. The main feature of jargon is the use of a specific lexicon.

The Theater in the Seventeenth Century

Theater companies were formed in open-air courtyards. These courtyards had no seats and a stage for the actors.

Characteristics

• A mix of the tragic and the comic.
• Breach of the rule of the three unities (time, place, action).
• Division of the work into acts.
• Metric variety, with works written in verse.
• Introduction of a funny character (the gracioso).
• Inclusion of songs in the work.

Lope de Vega (1562–1635)

Plays by Lope de Vega include:

Historical and Legendary Dramas

• Fuenteovejuna
• Peribáñez y el Comendador de Ocaña
• El caballero de Olmedo

Comedy of Manners

• La dama boba
• El perro del hortelano
• El villano en su rincón

Calderón de la Barca (1600–1681)

Unlike Lope de Vega, Calderón de la Barca tends toward intellectual and philosophical reflection, and the action focuses on the contrast between characters.

Themes and Works

• Philosophical Dramas: La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream)
• Dramas of Spanish History and Legend: El alcalde de Zalamea (The Mayor of Zalamea)
• Dramas of Honor: El médico de su honra (The Physician of His Honor)
• Swashbuckling Comedy: La dama duende (The Phantom Lady)
• Sacramental Acts (Autos Sacramentales): El gran teatro del mundo (The Great Theater of the World)

Literature of the Eighteenth Century

The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment was a reform movement that spread from France to the rest of Europe during the eighteenth century.

Characteristics

• Confidence in reason, observation, and experience.
• Tolerance for different religious tendencies and currents of thought.

Spanish Literature in the 18th Century: Neoclassicism

Literature was used as a means of diffusing the themes and ideas of the Enlightenment, with a function to be useful to society; it is critical and didactic. New literary genres were introduced, like the essay and the newspaper article.

Prose of the Eighteenth Century

The main feature of prose was didacticism. For this reason, the genres cultivated in prose were the essay and social and literary criticism.

Authors

• José Cadalso
• Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos

The Theater in the Eighteenth Century

Theater adopted the three unities (action, place, time). Works were intended to convey a lesson, and the story represented had to be credible. The most important author is Leandro Fernández de Moratín (with his work El sí de las niñas).