Spanish Literature

D

Non-Fiction

Non-fiction works similar to essays were a major development in 17th-century Spanish literature. Some of the best works of this type are the Empresas (1640; The Royal Politician, 1700) by Diego Saavedra y Fajardo, which discusses the character of the ideal Christian ruler; the satirical Los sueños (1627; Visions or Hels Kingdome Strangely Displaied, 1640), by Quevedo, a series of phantasmagorias intended to scourge the vices of society; and the allegorical novel El criticón (1651-1657; The Critick, 1681), by Baltasar Gracián, which presents a pessimistic interpretation of all human experience except intellectual endeavour. All these works are written in the style that is known as conceptismo, in which the author's ideas are compressed into extremely concise sentences.

A figure of great importance in the history of Spanish literature is Quevedo, whose brilliant writings deal with the political, economic, and social ills of Spain. Political works such as Política de dios (1635; The True Character of a King and of a Tyrant, 1715) and La vida de Marco Bruto (1644, The Life of Marcus Brutus) represent only one aspect of his prose, which also includes ascetic, philosophical, and burlesque works. Obsessed with the grandeur of the past and the decadence of the present, Quevedo expressed disillusionment, grotesqueness, and violence. His poetry is rich and varied, ranging from amorous to political and satirical. He wrote successfully in both the Classical and popular veins.

E

Drama

In the Spanish Golden Age, drama was chronologically the last literary genre to reach full development. Among the best early dramas are the lyrical plays written in the first decades of the 16th century by the founder of the Portuguese drama, the poet and dramatist Gil Vicente, a number of whose works were written in Spanish. The comical sketches of Lope de Rueda and of Cervantes are also noteworthy among the dramatic works of this early period. A number of plays were written in imitation of the Italian comedies of the Renaissance. In addition, the dramatist and poet Juan de la Cueva de la Garoza, who used Spanish medieval subjects as well as themes from classical antiquity, wrote classical tragedies. Another important playwright of the Golden Age was Guillén de Castro y Bellvis. His best-known play is Las mocedades del Cid (1618; The Youthful Deeds of the Cid, 1969).

No writer represents the genius of Spain better than the dramatic poet Lope Félix de Vega Carpio, usually called Lope de Vega, or simply Lope. All of his works, including his poems, his prose fiction, and especially his numerous dramas, are permeated with the charm and directness of popular art, although he was a man of letters greatly admired for his superbly varied literary technique.

The Spanish comedia, defined and perfected by Lope de Vega, is a three-act play in which comedy and tragedy are blended. It is written in verse in a variety of metrical patterns and does not follow Classical rules of dramatic construction. Dynamic and poetic, rather than psychological or philosophical, this type of drama was intended to please all social classes, including both the learned and the unlearned. Although Lope's plays have an extreme diversity of themes and backgrounds, most involve historical subject matter derived principally from the old romanceros, rural settings, and conflicts involving the assertion of personal dignity. About 500 of Lope's plays are extant, but he wrote many more. Among his most outstanding plays are Fuenteovejuna (1612-c. 1614; trans. 1961), Peribáñez y el Comendador de Ocaña (1614-c. 1616; Peribáñez, 1961), and El caballero de Olmedo (1620-1625; The Knight of Olmedo, 1961).

Certain aspects of the comedia were improved by such gifted followers of Lope de Vega as Tirso de Molina (pen name of Fray Gabriel Téllez), whose El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra (1630; The Trickster of Seville and His Guest of Stone, 1959) is the first formal literary work in which the Spanish legendary hero Don Juan appears as a character; and Juan Ruiz de Alarcón Mendoza, who gave a moral content to his urbane comedies of manners.

The theatre of the Golden Age culminates in the works of Pedro Calderón de la Barca, the great dramatic poet of the Baroque period. His plays have complicated, symmetrical structures and a degree of coherence lacking in the works of Lope de Vega. In the best-known masterpiece of the Spanish theatre, a philosophical comedia called La vida es sueño (C. 1635; Life is a Dream, 1925), Calderón shows what is ephemeral in existence and, at the same time, demonstrates the divine origin of life. His El alcalde de Zalamea (1642; The Mayor of Zalamea, 1906) is the perfect example of a rural drama centring around a conflict of honour. Calderón is also the undisputed master of one of the most interesting creations of the Golden Age, the auto sacramental, which is a form of religious drama based on the use of allegory. Among the writers influenced directly by Calderón, the only notable dramatists are Francisco de Rojas-Zorrilla and Agustín Moreto y Cabaña.

IV

From 1700 to The Generation of 1898

Spain declined politically and economically in the 17th century; towards the end of the century it suddenly began to decline in artistic creativity as well. The decline continued throughout the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) and the reigns (1700-1759) of the first Bourbon monarchs in Spain. The only Spanish writer of genuine merit in the first half of the 18th century was the Benedictine monk, critic, and scholar Benito Jerónimo Feijoo y Montenegro. A champion of freedom, reason, and scientific knowledge, he wrote essays in an unremitting struggle against the ignorance and narrow-mindedness of his contemporaries.

A

Neo-Classicism

During the reign (1759-1788) of the enlightened Spanish monarch Charles III, French influence in Spain led to the adoption of Neo-Classical forms of art and a new outlook on life. These trends, never wholly accepted by the people, were introduced into Spanish dramatic literature by Nicolás Fernández de Moratín and were continued by his son Leandro Fernández de Moratín, notably in El sí de las niñas (1805, When the Girls Say Yes). On the other hand, the dramatist Ramón de la Cruz followed the Spanish tradition in his one-act comedies on popular subjects.

The Spanish Neo-Classicists generally demonstrated a very limited understanding of the art of the Golden Age; their lyric poetry reflected both foreign influences and those of certain Spanish Renaissance poets, especially Ponce de León, and they used traditional Spanish metrical forms.

The most durable contributions to literature during this period are found in the poetic works of Nicolás Fernández de Moratín and his son Leandro, Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, and Juan Meléndez Valdés. José de Cadalso y Vázquez was notable both for his poetry and dramatic works and for his essays, such as those included in Cartas Marruecas (Moroccan Letters, 1793), which present a critical view of Spanish society. Polemical writings centring around the merits of Spanish tradition and culture are also characteristic of the period.

The invasion of Spain (1808) by Napoleon and the absolutist regime (1814-1833) of Ferdinand VII inhibited literary activity during the first three decades of the 19th century. The best poets of the period, such as Manuel José Quintana, expressed Romantic attitudes in works of Classical form.

B

Romanticism

Although the Spanish Golden Age had served as an inspiration and a model to Romantic authors of other countries, Spain did not produce notably significant Romantic writers until the 1830s. Romanticism was introduced successfully into Spanish drama by Ángel de Saavedra, duque of Rivas, in Don Alvaro o la fuerza del sino (1835, Don Alvaro or the Force of Destiny). Among the followers of the duke was the poet and dramatist José Zorrilla y Moral, who also shares with Rivas the distinction of having revived the use of legendary and historical subject matter in brilliant narrative poems. The Romantic spirit of revolt is represented by the revolutionary and poet José de Espronceda, whom a number of critics consider the best Spanish poet of the period. It is generally thought, however, that the works of Espronceda are surpassed by those of Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, who composed probably the most delicate Romantic poems in the Spanish language.

The best Romantic prose is to be found in the writings of the costumbristas, authors who described familiar types of people and popular customs with a new feeling for the picturesque. This type of prose is infused with a sharp satirical note in the periodical articles of Mariano José de Larra, who also wrote several dramas and a novel. Although his works do not rank among the most notable ones written by Spanish Romantic authors, Larra was nevertheless one of the most interesting of those writers because of the high degree of introspection and self-torment expressed in his work.