Spanish Realist Novel: Themes, Subgenres and Style
Spanish Realist Novel
The characteristics of the Spanish realist novel are:
- Following the principle that the novel has more value the more faithful it is to the reality around it; novelists consider direct and vivid reality as aesthetic objects of first order.
- To achieve the above, authors aim to reflect in their novels the reality closest in time and space, i.e., the reality they know best.
This emphasis on fidelity to everyday life results in two major subgenres within Spanish realism: novela regional and novela urbana.
Novels are usually developed in contemporary time; when events are set in the past, they are used to explain the present. The writer seeks to approach reality from a position of impartiality, devoid of value judgments about the facts related. Clearly, this ideal of objectivity cannot always be met, because often authors choose the plots, characters, or situations from reality that best suit their way of thinking. This tendency gives rise to another subgenre: the thesis novel, which serves to support diverse ideological positions. A perfect example is Benito Pérez Galdós.
The ideology of the period values the realistic, collective, social group; the character is always a product of the environment — the human and social context cannot be ignored.
Themes in Realist and Naturalist Novels
The Love Theme and Its Problems
The love theme has several concrete manifestations. Impossible love reaches extreme situations that cause unprecedented tensions. In love plots, one case may be incest, discovered when it is consummated. Another frequent extreme situation involves a cleric. Although the problem can sometimes be resolved without excessive trauma, the most frequent outcome is often far more miserable. Additional problematic situations arise within couples due to differences in age, social status, or ideology.
Marriage and Adultery
If difficulties arise in marriage, love becomes a privileged subject in the novels of the second half of the 19th century: adultery. The tragic outcome for the adulteress is the most common portrayal. This focus is reinforced by the social condemnation of the time when the affair is discovered, especially when it involves a woman. Given this social reality, it is not surprising that, across Europe, literary figures such as Madame Bovary (Flaubert), Anna Karenina (Tolstoy), Effi Briest (Theodor Fontane), and the figure of Ana Ozores in La Regenta by Clarín occupy central places in the literature of the period.
The depiction of men involved in adultery often differs from that of women. If a man is single, he may be marked with traits of the traditional Don Juan — privately charged with a less glorious halo than in earlier literature. If he is an unfaithful husband, his behavior appears as libertine and morally reprehensible, yet sometimes treated with a degree of apology as one enslaved to natural tendencies.