Spanish Literature in the Early 20th Century: Key Authors and Movements

Spanish Literature in the Early 20th Century

Key Authors and Movements

José Martínez Ruiz (Azorín)

Works: Towns, Route of Don Quixote, Castilla, Clásicos. Apart from these, he shows his personal style, characterized by simplicity and precision, along with the employment of short sentences and a wealth of lexicon. His three fundamental issues are time and meditations on the transience of things, the landscape of Spain (described with great lyricism and emotion), and literature.

Pío Baroja

A constant critic of cruelty, stupidity, and the evil of society. His memoirs include: Youth, Ego Trip, and Since the Last Round of the Road.

Antonio Machado

Excels as an essayist with his work Juan de Mairena, where he outlines his religious, philosophical, and aesthetic ideas.

Novecentismo and Ortega y Gasset

This group has a solid intellectual formation as a result of their interest in European contributions concerning all areas of knowledge. The members of this group consider that intellectuals have to take a stand committed to society, speaking steadily through articles, conferences, etc. The essay becomes the optimal channel for ideological transmission.

José Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955)

One of the most important figures of 20th-century Spanish philosophy and essay writing. His production has two stages: the first, until 1915, shows a clear intention in its literary style, and the second is more contained in form.

In his philosophy, it is noted that he acquired an interest in the idea of circumstance, set out from his first Musings of Don Quixote, and the concept of perspectivism, according to which the world's conceptions vary depending on the perspective employed. The concern for Spain is a driving force in his thought. For Ortega, the problem of Spain is based on the absence of elites and the anarchic rebellion of the masses. As for aesthetics, he argues that art must abandon human subjects (dehumanizing) and tend to be artificial in style, moving away from the masses because art is for minorities. His prose is often of great beauty and introduces abundant rhetorical figures.

Works: Invertebrate Spain, The Dehumanization of Art, Ideas About the Novel, The Revolt of the Masses, and Studies About Love.

Eugenio d'Ors (1882-1954)

Primarily cultivated the "gloss," an essay outline that arises from some anecdote or fact of a literary, artistic, or political theme.

Works: The Glossary, Three Hours in the Prado Museum, Studies on Cultural Morphology.

Gregorio Marañón (1877-1960)

In addition to being an eminent physician, he was one of the most prominent essayists. His prose style is endless in erudition, scientific exposure, and literary prose.

Works: Three Essays on Don Juan: Sexual Life and the Origin of his Legend.

Spanish Theater at the Beginning of the 20th Century

Social Conditioning and Limitations

Bourgeois public, the poverty of Spanish theater, unchanging theater, major limitations.

Background of Theater in the Second Half of the 19th Century

High comedy. Key features: contemporary ambiance, observation of real-time, educational purpose. Representatives: Adelardo López de Ayala and Manuel Tamayo y Baus. José Echegaray (Neoromanticism).

Theater in the Early 20th Century

• The Benaventian Comedy: Jacinto Benavente (1866-1954). Issues: some conflicting issues. Works: bourgeois comedies (Roses of Autumn) and rural dramas (The Unloved, Vested Interests).
• The Comedy of Manners: Carlos Arniches, thinking grotesque tragicomedy (The Saint of Isidro, Miss Trevélez). Serafín and Joaquín Álvarez Quintero (Courtyard, Love and Romance, Malvaloca).
• The Poetic Drama: plays in verse. Eduardo Marquina (In Flanders the Sun Has Set), Hermanos Machado (La Lola is Going to the Ports).
• The Renewed Attempt of the Generation of '98: Jacinto Grau (The Trickster Who Does Not Laugh, The Lord of Pygmalion).