Spanish Post-War Literature 1940-1960

Spanish Literature 1940-1960

In the post-war period between 1940 and 1960, two great currents emerged in poetry. Poesía Arraigada, collected in the journal Escorial, is the most representative. This poetry is created by those who have no worries in a harmonious and orderly world. It acquires a tone that values classical forms like the sonnet, focusing on themes of love, religion, and patriotism. Its main representative is Luis Rosales.

Poesía Desarraigada and Social Poetry

Poesía Desarraigada, a term introduced by Dámaso Alonso, manifests an existential and tragic tone. It expresses the disgust and desperation of the human being and their anguish before the world. It has a castizo and social tone to express collective suffering. The style uses colloquial, direct, and passionate imagery. This alarmist movement opposes Poesía Arraigada. Its representative is José Hierro.

In the 50s, poetry evolved from existential to social. It passes from expressing individual anguish to showing solidarity to reach a wider public. It uses a simple, colloquial, and expressive style that wants to represent the vast majority. Key figures include Blas de Otero and Gabriel Celaya. Themes include injustice, solidarity, political considerations, and the issues of Spain.

Post-War Narrative and the Novel

There are three types of narrative: the ideological novel, the realistic novel, and the humorous classic novel. Significant works include The Family of Pascual Duarte by Camilo José Cela and Nada by Carmen Laforet. These works feature an existential tone that contrasts with triumphalism and evasiveness, reflecting the post-war world from a desolate and dismal perspective. Personal and existential themes abound, featuring disoriented, sad, and frustrated characters.

Camilo José Cela

Camilo José Cela reflects much pessimism in his works, often masked under black humor. He is noted for his style, richness of expression, and description of types and environments. He wrote poetry, short stories, and novels, offering a distorted, grotesque view. His humor shines through with bitter pessimism, which is sometimes cruelly torn, yet he maintains a tone of tenderness with some characters. He takes a lyrical path. His work La familia de Pascual Duarte tells a story of many atrocities; it was alarmist and caused a furor due to the author's cruelty. La Colmena (The Hive) is an existential novel where the most original aspect is the collective protagonist, featuring over 300 characters.

Miguel Delibes

Miguel Delibes maintains an ethical and humanistic tone, combining a love of nature with a rejection of dehumanization. His work features a simple style and abounds with helpless characters, such as humble old people and children living in the countryside. His literary path includes:

• La sombra del ciprés es alargada: Focused on infancy, childhood, and death.
• El camino and Las ratas: Depicting the hard life in the countryside.
• Cinco horas con Mario: A work of socio-ethical concern and formal renovation. It incorporates an interior monologue of a woman revealing all her secrets to her dead husband during his wake.

Humorous Theater of the 1950s

The humorous mood responds to a possibility of comedy, leveraging intellectual language while hiding a bitter vision of the world. Key representatives include:

• Enrique Jardiel Poncela: Uses crazy, ironic humor and chains together improbable situations. He offers an unsentimental critique of reality in works like Cuatro corazones con freno y marcha atrás and Eloísa está debajo de un almendro.
• Miguel Mihura: Uses language dislocation and offers a different vision of marginal characters and society. His unbiased characters face a corny and conventional world. Notable works include Maribel y la extraña familia and Tres sombreros de copa.