Adapting formulas from the cinematographic techniques of the United States, the literature of the Spanish post-civil war obtains objectivism that keeps its authors safe from the prevailing caesura of the moment. Behaviorism (John Watson 1878-195810) reduces the study of the individual to the acts that he/she performs in the outside world. Following these parameters, the post-war omniscient narrator only transcribes the actions of the characters in the novel. 

Nowadays, the reader is accustomed to this type of narrative, but at the time writers were criticized for the fact that this literary style structures a human life made up of unconnected moments, lacking a unit of motivation that gives meaning to the narrative. This kind of objectivism was however intentional in post-war authors, whose dispassionate and impassive narration, without comment on reality, made their work less vulnerable to censorship.

Cela, Delibes, Fernández Santos and Matute are some of the most relevant writers of this period. Their works narrate a raw, cold, gray, and soulless reality, which nevertheless moves the reader because that identifies with it. These literary works denounce the social injustice from a dialectical conception of history, very close to Marxist positions. In short, they sought to make a kind of  'megaphone-novel' of the injustices that could not be denounced through normal channels, reaching the consciences of the largest possible number of readers.

The omniscient narrator

The influence of Behaviorism in Spanish postwar literature

La Celestina was published in the last year of the fifteenth century, a work that many critics agree in qualifying as the first proper novel of literature in Castilian. This is a brief romantic tragicomedy of a markedly realistic nature, where the author imitates without concealed cynicism the past courtly refinement, intermingled with the roughest environment of marginal society. It was because of this mixture that Cervantes judged that La Celestina would have been  "a divine work had it concealed more the human element".

In a lively dialogue the protagonists, the young lovers Calisto and Melibea, are torn between their unbridled feelings of love and the need to comply with the strict social norms of humanism. The pedantry formalism of courtly love that Calisto uses when addressing Melibea can barely hide his stark erotic desire. The young couple finally consummates their loving passion without the required bond of marriage. 

There have been several possible explanations for this fact, from the possible Hebrew origins of Melibea to the fact that love without social control is a more authentic and unconditional representation of love. In any case, once the transgression occurs, tragedy ensues. Melibea's early death and her father's despair interlace emotional realism with classical Petrarchan pessimism. The curated ingenuity of the medieval individual gives way to the emerging individualism of the Renaissance.

From courtly love to individualism.

The tragic love in La Celestina.

Castille in the Middle Ages lived immersed in the battles of the Reconquest and the struggles of the nobility. It is in this rough context that an epic poem of extraordinary representation of the human appears, the Cantar de Mío Cid. The poem contains a clear historical base, narrating events that occurred at the end of the 11th century, and its content was spread orally through medieval minstrels that travel from town to town retelling the popular stories. It is a typically epic poem, that is,  a poem of the exaltation of victory in great battles and conquests. Undoubtedly, his type of poem also provided a kind of propaganda message at the time. Alfonso X in his Siete Partidas, a  compilation of all the legal material of his time in work in Castille, provides a description of the sense with which these oral tales were expected to be received.  As a way of a modern motivational speaker, the minstrel had an ethical mission to spread these texts because their stories made the knights who heard them more anxious to achieve conquests in such a noble way (Las Siete Partidas, Partida II, Ley 4)

Similar to the French Chanson de Roland or the German Nibelungen among other European medieval epics, it nevertheless stands out for the singular delicacy with which the noblest feelings are expressed in the harshest and most violent environment. For example, in the scene of the exile, the Cid and his people, his army, pass through towns whose inhabitants, frightened, hide in their houses for fear of the deadly reprisal with which the king threatens anyone who dares to help the exiles. In the midst of so much contained fear and expression of strength,  only a girl dares to have a few words with the terrifying Cid and his army. After the brief conversation, El Cid leaves the city unassisted. That is, he maintains the ways of civilized life even though the advantage of the strength of his army would have allowed him to raze the city and take what he needed to feed his men. That is, Although the Cid is brave and strong, he is also pious and fair, marking of his person a type of nobility that is the product of brave deeds, as opposed to the traditional hereditary nobility that punishes him.

The deed of the Cantar de Mío Cid.

The great epic poetry of Medieval Castile.

The extraordinarily difficult work of the poet Luis de Góngora y Argote represents the pinnacle of 'conceptismo' in Spanish literature. Góngora took to its maximum expression the conceptual development of the mythological poem, albeit burlesque in tone. His style gradually became more complicated with the studied artifice of twisting the phrase, which unfolds in a multitude of allusive Latinizing periphrases and superimposed tropes.

 His poetry, a reflection of the dissatisfied and somewhat sullen character of the author, departs from reality with a somewhat stoic longing, seeking a refined world whose contemplation is only reached by deciphering the intellectual difficulty of his poetic writings. In landscapes such as Soledades, between fields, riverbanks, and jungles, he shows a radically secular vision of nature, in keeping with Renaissance aesthetics, where the ultimate goal is the perfection of poetic expression.

Soledades simply describes the pilgrimage of a beautiful young nobleman, disheartened by love. The real protagonist of the story are, however,  the landscape, meticulously described, the ordinary objects, and the ordinary people that happen to interact with the nobleman. The author enjoys the display of poetic artifice and the high conceptual complexity of every minute detail of the writing in a very simple and humble atmosphere. Góngora consciously gives full prominence to the landscape, objects, and ordinary people that the pilgrim encounters along the way and leaves the young man and his nobility in the background, advocating, well ahead of his time, the aesthetics of the aesthetic movement later known as modernism.

Triumph of the concept in the poetry of the Spanish Golden Age.

Góngora or the heyday of difficult poetry.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Spain began to develop an incipient taste for a new type of realistic novel, partly as a reaction to the stagnant bourgeois aesthetics of the previous century. This is a so-called ‘modernist’ narrative, of a more sentimental and even romantic character, as opposed to the mere objective description of the reality of the preceding authors. Modernist writers reject the ugly and prosaic view of the reality of realist writers of the previous century.  On the contrary, their prose seeks to imprint spirituality to the landscape, looking for an intimate emotion in the description of reality.

It is with Valle-Inclán that the modernist movement reaches its peak. His prose is distinguished by a refined, sensual, and rhythmic style, which brings an unusual beauty to the text. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of his prose in relation to his contemporaries is the ironic distance with which he separates himself from the typical modernist heroes. It is in part the author's own life trajectory that leads to this result. An individual of intense feelings, if as a young man he adheres to reactionary right-wing positions, at the end of his life his values ​​are those of a revolutionary extremist.

He's overall an author of singular sensitivity and intelligence. In his Sonatas, a collection of narratives, he develops the distinctive character called  Marques de Bradomín, a Don Juan who he describes as ‘ugly, catholic and sentimental’, perhaps the residue that reflects the intellectual maturity of the author himself. Throughout the series of books, the character's personality unfolds in an exquisite, chivalrous, and romantic world, the author's wink to the reader expressing his longing for better times that, however, the author himself knows never existed. It is all the fruit of the exuberant and brilliant imagination of this extraordinary writer.

The decadently refined aesthetic of Valle Inclán

Modernism in Spanish literature.

The failure of the liberal revolutions at the end of the 18th century produced a deep malaise in the intelligentsia and an approach to escapist positions, in rejection of the mediocrity that surrounds them. In Spain, feelings of social renewal are channeled through the Institución Libre de Enseñanza, founded by Julián Sanz del Río. In it, a practical and active pedagogy was introduced for the first time, which broke the traditional teacher-student scheme. At the center, reason is valued above all else, while at the same time considering consciousness as the engine of all human activities. In short, it is about promoting tolerance to obtain social harmony.

This institution will be of paramount importance in the development of talent in all areas of Spanish culture, from science and the figurative arts to philosophy and, of course, in literature. Today world-renowned students will pass through its classrooms, Alberti, García Lorca, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Ortega y Gasset, Unamuno, Dalí, among many others. That is why the renewal that occurs in the literature of the nineteenth century cannot be understood without making a reference to the principles that this institution successfully instilled in its students. They will be in charge of criticizing in their literary writings the political evils that haunted the country, many of which have their origin in radical economic and cultural differences of the Spanish people. They all share a sincere interest in the regeneration of the country and will go down in history together as the Generation of 1914.

The Institución Libre de Enseñanza and the Generation of 1914

The literary revival of the XIX century

The topic locus amoenus, a literary device from classical literature, was used very often in medieval literature for the purpose of finding emotional tranquility through mental contemplation of an idyllic landscape. Both the reader and the writer know that the landscape is not real, what is sought is the inner peace produced by the visualization of the idyllically described place.

In Spain, this resource was developed mainly by writers on religious themes, such as Gonzalo de Berceo (1187-1264). References abound in Berceo's work to everything that provides a degree of quiet enjoyment of the senses: pleasant shade, green meadows, sound fountains, scented flowers, and the sweet singing of birds, among others. A good example is his  description of the meadow where the weary walker arrives in his Introduction to the book Milagros de Nuestra Señora (Miracles of Our Lady):

Daban olor muy grande las flores bien olientes,

refrescaban lo mismo las caras que las mentes;

manaba cada esquina aguas claras corrientes,

en verano bien frías, en invierno calientes (…)

"Locus amoenus' in medieval Spanish Literature

Finding happiness in contemplation

Modernism was in its essence a literary movement that arises from a deep revulsion towards the bourgeois world. The movement opposes the utilitarianism and vulgarity of its time against a sublime beauty that seeks endlessly refined sensations of the senses brought to a degree of maximum sensual intensity.

The decadent atmosphere is frequent in modernist poetry, in contrast to the industrial atmosphere of modernity. The artist is torn between a world of unbridled luxury and enjoyment of the senses and its opposite feeling of deep melancholy and vital boredom, where autumn, twilight, and nocturnal landscapes abound.

Modernism had its highest representative in Rubén Darío. However, there were many other peninsular authors who were greatly influenced by this literary movement. Authors such as Manuel Machado, Juan Ramón Jiménez, or Valle Inclán, showed a clear influence by modernism, mainly in the first phases of their literary careers.

Modernism in Hispanic literature.

In search of the most sublime beauty.

Starting in the second half of the 19th century, a reaction took place in Spain against the excessive subjectivism of the literary movement known as romanticism. This gave rise to a type of writing focused much more on describing reality in an objective way, through the most impersonal and objective exposition of the facts. A characteristic feature of this prose is the use of an austere style of language, with an almost total absence of epithets and rhetorical figures. The writer generally narrates in the third person, with an almost journalistic style, observing reality with the spirit of an impartial observer, bordering on the scientific exposition of the facts.

In Spain, Pérez Galdós and Alas Clarín are the most prominent authors of this movement. The first writes an extensive series of books called Episodios Nacionales, in which with an almost encyclopedic spirit he dedicates himself to portraying in great detail the most relevant events in the history of the country. In other works of his, such as Doña Perfecta or Fortunata y Jacinta, the writer shows great virtuosity to analyze in a detailed and deep way the psychological profile of the characters he contemplates us. Alas Clarín distances himself from Galdós's style with more critical and combative prose. His writings are not limited to exposing clear scenes of the time, but he injects into his descriptions a sharp denunciation of political corruption, 'caciquismo', and superstition in which life in the small provincial cities is immersed. A masterpiece in this sense is his novel La Regenta, whose atmosphere is largely inspired by the northern city of Oviedo.

More information about the realism movement in Spanish literature, works, and authors, at spanishbit.es

Characteristics and authors.

The realistic novel in Spanish literature.

“Los hombres de corto genio son como los niños de escuela, que, si se arrojan a escribir sin pauta, en borrones y garabatos desperdician toda la tinta”.

                                                                                                                        Padre Feijoo, “Carta 33”

Feijoo, Jovellanos, and Cadalso are some of the most prominent authors who fought with their writings the ignorance and ignorance of the people. Their attitude was in accordance with the renewing spirit rationality and progress of the Enlightenment. These authors were firmly convinced that it was the superstitions and false beliefs of the uneducated people that were the cause of the dire economic and social situation that the country was immersed in. They wrote mainly journalistic essays, as well as a large number of popular science articles. A common characteristic is their exquisite education and refined manners, as well as a fervent yearning for renewal, which led them to habitually preoccupy themselves with matters of political reform and social progress in general.

More information at  https://spanishbit.es/ 

Enlightenment writers combat the ignorance of the people

Spanish Literature of the Enlightenment

Renaissance art, as a movement that includes both the visual arts and literature, is characterized by a marked sense of proportion and harmony. These principles are inspired by the elements of classical culture (Greece and Rome), where balance and harmony absolutely marked the artistic expression. This idea of balance, careful construction, and simplicity of content translates into a perfectly symmetrical distribution of the elements of the literary work, as in the case of Garcilaso de la Vega. In the same way, Juan Valdés'  writings advocate for natural prose and the selection of a vocabulary on the basis of clarity of meaning. In short, an elegant and tasteful language that escapes from affectation without falling into dryness and roughness.

The Renaissance entered into crisis and gave way to the Baroque style, characterized by an intense fondness for refinement and the regular use of a difficult language full of artifice. The baroque themes are of great complicity and the language evolves either towards a high conceptual condensation (Quevedo's conceptism) or towards an elaborate complexity in expression (Góngora's cultism). In short, the Baroque breaks with the Renaissance balance by writing with absolute freedom and notable distortion of forms, all aimed at amazing and astonishing the reader. Harmony and a sense of proportion give way to a hihgly refined art of persuasion.

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The influence of Behaviorism in Spanish postwar literature

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The tragic love in La Celestina.

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The great epic poetry of Medieval Castile.

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Góngora or the heyday of difficult poetry.

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Modernism in Spanish literature.

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The literary revival of the XIX century

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Finding happiness in contemplation

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In search of the most sublime beauty.

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The realistic novel in Spanish literature.

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Spanish Literature of the Enlightenment

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Differences between the Renaissance and the Baroque.

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