THE GENERATION OF 1898 --
A NEW RENAISSANCE fiN SPANISH LETTERS

Thesis for flu» Dog!» 9? M. A.
MQCHIGAN STATE UNEVERSITY
Sheila Yvonne Caner
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THE GENERATION OF 1898 --

A NEW RENAISSANCE IN SPANISH LETTERS

By

Sheila YVonne Carter

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department of Romance Languages

196Q

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
ACKBIOVJIJEDGEPMTSOOOO00.000.000.000... iii

INTRODUCTION 1
Chapter
I. BACKGROUND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Precursors

Literary Influences
‘What was the Generation of 1898?

II. LITERARY GEE-IRES AND TMLES o o o o o o o o o o o 0 1,4"

The Novel and Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

History
”Voluntad”and”abulia"
Time

El paisaje

Literary Criticism

Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Nachado's themes

Drama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

III C STYIJE MID TECIHQIQUE . O O O O O C O C O O O O O O O O 63

Unamuno

Pio Baroja

Azorin
Valle-Inclén
Maeztu

Antonio Hachado
Jacinto Benavente

CODICLUSIODIoon.00000000000000.000000107

BIBLIOGRAPIIYoso.0.000000000000000000115

 

This thesis is dedicated to my husband,
Kenneth, whose assistance and understanding

made its completion possible.

Ho
Ht

 

ACKIIOE‘EEDGEE EEG TS
The writer wishes to express her appreciation
to her committee chairman and adviser, Dr. John A. Ramsey

for his assistance in the preparation of this thesis.

Thanks is also extended to Dr. Stanley E. Howell

and Dr. Ella N. Cowles for their helpful suggestions.

iii

 

INTRODUCTION

In the war between Spain and the United States in 1898, Spain
lost the last vestiges of her overseas colonial empire. This disaster
caused a subsequent reappraisal of the country's total philosophy.
Spaniards set themselves to the task of investigating the various
factors that were responsible for their country's dilemma and the
means by which a remedy could be effected.

The forces of the Generation of 1898 had been building up in
Spain for a long time. Even before the catastrophe, the origin of
Spain's sad national condition was becoming a subject of much specula-
tion. The war, therefore, merely crystallized tendencies that had been
forming for some time. Indeed, as far back as the seventeenth century,
Quevedo, satirist of that era, and Larra, early in the nineteenth
century, had written about Spain's deteriorating condition. Benito Pe-
rez Galdos, after the middle of the nineteenth century showed himself
to possess many of the ideas that were later to be emphasized in the
somewhat varied program of the Generation of 1898. Other important
precursors were Joaquin Costa, Giner de los Rios and Angel Ganivet.

Costa's chief idea was that Spain needed to break with the past,
and he also appealed for Europeanization of the country. His famous
phrase that Spain should give a ”doble llave al sepulcro del Cid" became
something like a slogan of the new generation. He wanted Spain to as-
similate from other nations those ideas and methods which were
responsible for their success, but in order to do this, he felt that
she must first break with the dead past. Giner de los Rios was mostly

interested in education. He put his ideas into practice by founding a

2
national institution, the Institucidn Libre de Ensefianza. Almost all
the members of the Generation felt the direct influence of this school.
Angel Ganivet investigated the causes of Spain's problems, and he
emphasized the importance of the will-—a subject which became one of
the literary themes of the Generation of 1898.

Moreover, there were influences not only from within Spain itself
but also from abroad. For there was an increased collaboration between
Spain and the rest of the world in intellectual and moral progress, as
within the country appeared a great curiosity to learn and assimilate
modern ideas--ideas of such thinkers as Nietzsche, SchOpenhauer,
Kierkegaard, Hegel and Tolstoi. There was also a deep probing in all
aspects of Spanish life and this situation gave birth to an era of
general reform--a political, social, economical and intellectual renova-
tion.

The writers that were most intimately connected with this reform
and who seem, therefore, most typical of the Generation of 1898, are
Miguel de Unamuno, José Martinez Ruiz (Azorin), Pio Baroja, Ramon del
Valle-Inclén, Antonio Nachado, Jacinto Benavente and Ramiro de Maeztu.
Essays, novels, plays and poems poured from their pens and the pro-
found impact of their work was instrumental in bringing about the
recognition of Spain as having new importance in European letters.

1y fundamental purpose here is to investigate the conventionally
held opinion regarding the literary and intellectual program of the
Generation of 1898. The period is often regarded as a time of protest
during which the members of the movement were united in their desire
to break with the recent past, to analyze their culture and destiny
and to diagnose the sickness which had paralyzed their country. This

spirit of protest and self—examination is certainly present, but often

3
critics, in my Opinion, do not sufficiently emphasize that this period
was a reawakening of literary values.

I shall investigate the genres cultivated especially by this group,
paying attention to the subjects about which the writers were concerned
and to the manner in which they expressed their ideas. In this way, I
shall attempt to show that the Generation of 1898 was as much a new re-
naissance in Spanish letters as it was a movement of protest and reform.

First, I shall show how the movement began with protest. I shall
deal in turn with the writers I have mentioned, pointing out the aspects
of Spanish life against which each one protested, and what, if any,sug—
gestions he made for reform. Then, it will be shown how protest became
less significant as the writers progressively emphasized original expres-
sion. They consciously sought a revival in Spanish literary art, and
in so doing introduced new themes in the novel, created a new style and
technique in this genre as well as in the drama, and made several
innovations in poetry. In Chapter II, I shall discuss these new themes
that were developed, and in Chapter III, I shall deal with style and
technique. Thus, I hOpe to demonstrate that the Generation of 1898 was
much more than a period of protest, that it was a new renaissance in

Spanish literature, and that this aspect, indeed, overshadows the

importance of "protest."

CHAPTER I

BACKGROUND

Precursors

The Generation of 1898 was the heir of those men who before them
had seen the deteriorating condition of the country, and in their
works had made various criticisms suggesting the desperate need of
changes. Benito Perez Galdds, in the nineteenth century, possessed
similar attitudes and many of the underlying ideas of the Generation.
He was deeply interested in the affairs of his day, was progressive
and modern in his ideas and advocated social and political reform.
Another precursor was Joaquin Costa who was the leader of the school
which fought for EurOpeanization of Spain. His central idea was that
Spain needed to break with the past, to deAfricanize itself and to
adopt modern ideas from Europe. Then there was Giner de los Rios who
was very interested in education and founded the Institucién Libre de
Ensehanza through which literature and the arts were promoted. He was
convinced that Spain's main problem lay in education and he sought to
reform it. The most important and immediate precursor was Angel Gani-
vet who is considered, by some critics, as a member of the Generation.
He believed that what was really wrong with Spain was a weakening of
the will.

The members of the new generation did not all readily submit to
the influence of their predecessors. On the contrary, being disil-
lusioned by the recent disaster of 1898, some of them.were inclined to
reject their country as being unworthy of recreation. They regarded

4

5

Spain as being an "historically inconsistent nation," or as Laih En-

tralgo puts it:

Todos sienten con amargura, con ferocidad a veces,

la terrible inconsistencia histérica de aquella

Espafia: aquella Espafia no les gusta.l
The members of the Generation viewed their country with great pessimism,
but when the initial disillusionment had passed, they decided that she
was worth saving, that she was indeed a part of their own lives. In

one of his nivolas, Unamuno wrote:

Pues si, soy espahol, espahol de nacimiento, de edu-

cacidn, de cuerpo, de espiritu, de lengua y hasta de

profesidn y oficio, espahol sobre todo y ante todo,

y el espaholismo es mi religidn. . .
The writers then, henceforth)sought in various ways to suggest correc-
tions for the ills of Spain. They wanted to renovate their country
and, influenced by their precursors, they were to carry on the work
which they had initiated.

The nineteenth century novelist, Galdds, has been called master3

rather than a precursor because of the great influence which he had
on the Generation of 1898. These writers are indebted to him for the

significance of Spain as a literary theme. Azorin, in this regard,

makes the following comment:

 

lPedro Lain Entralgo, La generacién del noventa y ocho (hadrid:
Diana, Artes Grificas, 1945), p. 301.

Zruguel de Unamuno, Niebla (Buenos Aires: Espasa-Calpe, 1929),
p. 171.

3Robert Kirsner, ”Galdds and the Generation of 1898." His ania,
XXXIII (August 1950), 240.

o
D. Benito Perez Galdds, en suma, ha contribuido
a crear una conciencia nacional: ha hecho vivir
Espana con sus ciudades, sus pueblos, sus monu—
mentos, sus paisajes.

In the beginning, the attitude towards Spain was negative, and
the novels of Galdds were considered scarcely worthy of literary
appreciation; but when attention was directed towards the artistic
endeavours of Spaniards, he was not only appreciated but also imitated
because, as Azorin said, "él (Galdds) ha realizado la obra de revelar
Espafia a los espafioles."5 Galdds is important also because of his
treatment of Spain's problems and because of his literary technique.
The members of the Generation of 1898 found in his novels a relation-
ship towards Spain which they expressed in their own individual ways.

One of the immediate precursors of the Generation is Angel
Ganivet. His Idearium espafiol is almost the manifesto of the group
because the ideas expressed in this work later served as a focus for
speculation about Spain's strength and weaknesses and her r81e in past
and future history. In the Idearium, Ganivet attempted to explain
what was wrong with the country. He concluded that the chief fault of
Spain was a weakening of the nation's will (1a voluntad). Spaniards
must cultivate the will to achieve progress or the nation was lost.
From here originated the theme of la voluntad and its significance
which became one of the central tepics of Azorin and Pie Baroja, and

others to a somewhat lesser degree. Ganivet pointed out that the true

strength of Spain lay not in territorial expansion but in internal

 

“Azorin, Lecturas espafiolas (Paris: T. Nelson, 1937), p. 248.

51bid., p. 249.

7
reconstruction. The country must intensify itself intellectually and
spiritually. horeover, he said that there continued to be too much
emphasis on the glorious past and this caused a lack of assimilation
of new ideas. This, according to him, was one of the reasons for
Spain's weaknesses.

as I . u o o
In his Espana filosofica contemporanea, which is con51dered a

 

companion-volume to the Idearium, Ganivet describes what was to be the
real preoccupation of the intellectuals of his time. He says that
society, in any given period, possesses ”una idea directiva" which he
defines as "la idea que flota en todos los espiritus e imprime cierto
sello de unidad a cada época histdrica."6 Ganivet felt that one must
first refer to this prevailing outlook and modify it where necessary
before the ills of society could be investigated and cures sought.
After examining the basic, vital attitude of his time, he concluded
that Spain was sick not only politically and economically but also
metaphysically. This sickness, he felt, was the real problem of Spain
and everything else only symptoms. The chief cause of Spain's dilemma
was the absence of ideas madres. The members of the Generation of
1598, who were greatly influenced by this work, show reflected in
their writings the search for these ideas madres which Ganivet had
believed lacking in Spanish society.

The year 1898, then, was not the beginning of the Spanish regenera-

tion; the members of the new movement were greatly influenced in their

work by their predecessors. From Galdds they learned the importance

 

6Angel Ganivet, Obras completes, II (Madrid: Aguilar, 1943), p. 589.

8
of the country as a literary theme and also new literary techniques;
from Costa the idea of Europeanization; from Ganivet, the concept of
the power of 1a voluntad and from Giner de los Rios and his friends
they got an Institution through which liberal education could be

encouraged and literature promoted.

Literary Influences

There existed among the Generation of 1898 a great intellectual
curiosity. They felt that communication with EurOpe and the incorpora-
tion of new ideas were necessary, for "Spain had to abandon sterile
traditionalism and Open her windows to ventilation from abroad."7
Although love of Spain was expressed throughout their works, it was
felt that if the country was loved because of the spirit of the land,
"e1 espiritu territorial" as Ganivet called it, then this Europeaniza-
tion of the culture would be in effect a means of "e1 espaholizarse
mésvd' Therefore, the Generation had no intention of denationalizing
their country, but rather wished to enrich and to understand better
her problems. They saw in Europe "un surtido de afiladas herramien-
tas con 1as que se podria reparar 1a maquinaria mental espafiola de
modo que aprendiéramos a pensar mas claro."8

Of all the foreign thinkers, Nietzsche is perhaps the one that
exercised greatest influence on the Generation, and on Baroja in
particular. Naeztu and Baroja read Nietzsche's Also sprach Zara-

thustra in French and Spanish translation. Moreover, a book

 

7Beatrice P. Patt and Martin Nozick, eds., The Generation of
1898 and After (New Ybrk: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1961), p. 5.

8Pedro Salinas, Literatura espafiola, siglo XX (Mexico: Seneca,
1941), p. 19.

9

published in Paris in 1898 by Henri Lichtenberger called La philosophie

de Nietzsche was read by many of the group. Azorin, who in 1902 wrote

 

about Graciin, calling him the Spanish Nietzsche, says that Lichten-
berger's book ”corri6 de mano en mano;" Naeztu also frequently expres—
sed the Nietzschean credo. In Vida NUeva of August 1899, he published
an article entitled "Nietzsche y'Naquiavelo.” Azorin calls Eaeztu "e1
mas exaltado de los Nietzscheanos" and Baroja says that Naeztu aspired
to be the Spanish Nietzsche. Luis Granjel quotes Azorin as saying
that this German philosopher gave the Generation a lesson in "rebel—
dia" that "hizo brotar en Espaha muchos gestos de iracundia y multiples
gritos de protesta."9

The group read avidly other writers -- Tolstoi, Ibsen, Renan,
Schopenhauer, etc., and each member shows in his work the influence of
one or two of these men in particular. For example, in Unamuno it is
Kierkegaard and Pascal; in Azorin, Montaigne and Flaubert; in Baroja,
Nietzsche, Dickens and Schopenhauer. The bitter pessimism of Schopen-
hauer had a great impact on Baroja who confesses in his hemorias that,
while he was a medical student, he read Schopenhauer's Paregg und Para-
1i omena, and that after his first clinical experience he inclined
towards this pessimistic attitude. In El arbol de la ciencia, he tells

that Andres ”se inclinaba a creer que el pesimismo de Schopenhauer era

una verdad casi matema’tica."10

Some of the members of the Generation subscribedalso to the

Krausist philosophy which contains the belief in self-education and

 

9Luis Granjel, Panorama de la generacidn del '98 (hadrid: Guada-
rrama, 1959), p- 133.

loPio Baroja, E1 arbol de la ciencia (hadrid: Espasa-Calpe,
1932), p. 56.

 

‘ ‘Arvlgl. ALP-flip). is! Isl. In‘il'fb

10
seeks to maintain a balance among reason, science and religion. The
stress which this system lays on the all—round human being appealed
to the Spaniards. This philosophy had a great impact on Giner de
los Rios, the founder of the Institucidn Libre de Ensehanza which
influenced all the members of the Generation. Luis Granjel, moreover,
mentions Azorin as saying that the French poet, Verlaine "contribuyd
a formar en ellos una nueva sensibilidad poética," and that Gautier
"ayudd a la juventud de 1898 a ver el paisaje de Espafia. Su Viaje a
ggpgfig fue leido yreleido."ll Unamuno, in Azorin's opinion, shows
the influence of Tolstoi and Kierkegaard while in Benavente is mani-
fested that of Russet and Shakespeare.

Moreover, simultaneously with foreign influence, the Spanish
influence was gradually becoming stronger. The members were greatly
inspired by their precursors, most important of whom were Galdds,
Costa, Giner de los Rios and Ganivet, and also some of the group re-
examined certain Spanish classics such as Don Quijote, the.§1§ and
the Celestina. Unamuno, Azorin and.Maeztu gave their interpretations

of Don Quijote, as they saw in him the embodiment of the true Spanish

character.

What'Was The Generation of 1898?
In the last third of the nineteenth century, there was develOping
in Spain a more critical attitude, for Spaniards realized that things

were not going well in their country. Spain had lost many of her

 

llGranjel, Panorama de la generacidn del '98, p. 133.

11
colonies, there was the internal strife of the Carlist wars, the poli-
tical system was inefficient. In literature, things were at a stand-
still. The War of 1898 merely came as the final blow. It was only
natural, then, that a pessimistic soul-searching was inevitable, that
many wanted to break with the immediate past and seek a complete re-
generation for Spain. This was to become the outlook of the Genera-
tion of 1898.

The movement had nothing of an organized drive. It was a
spontaneous and natural mood which manifested itself in varied
activities. The young writers, using their native sources and those
of foreign erudites, sought some historical constant in Spain's
heritage. A new renaissance was taking place in Spain. Some writers
emphasized more the Spanish tradition, others called for Europeaniza-
tion and more pragmatic approaches to Spain's problems. Their program,
literary and otherwise, was not a united crusade.

Critics of the Generation of 1898 disagree on its "composition,
its tenets and its right to be called a Generation.”12 Some include
Ortega y Gasset and Perez de Ayala in the group and others insist
that these two belong to a later generation. Jeschke sees a unity in
the Generation's skepticism and pessimism. Melchor Fernandez Almagro
views its concern as the "problema de Espafia" as different from that
of the Nodernists who were interested in aesthetics. Lain Entralgo,
Chandler and Schwartz tell us,13 divides them into two groups, one

whose work ”esti muy directamente afectada por la situacidn histdrica

q .lZRichard E. Chandler and Kessel Schwartz, A New History of
Eganish Literature (Baton Rouge: Lousiana State University Press,

1961)) P0 556-

132929 . pp. 556-557.

12
de Espaha de que el desastre es simbolo” and another whom he calls "li-
teratos puros y'mas influidos por el modernismo." My thesis will be
based on this latter description although the division into two groups
will not be emphasized. Concerning the members of the Generation, I
shall use the well-known anagram of Corpus Barga (VABUNB — Valle—Inclin,
Azorin, Baroja, Unamuno, Naeztu and Benavente), which has been accepted
by most authorities on the Generation. I shall, however, also include
Antonio Nachado as representative of the poetic genre. It was Azorin
himself, in 1913, who called the movement the "Generation of 1898" not
because of the actual effect of the War but because of the symbolic
significance of that date as a turning point in Spanish life.

In regards to the disagreement of many critics as to whether or
not there was a Generation of 1898, it seems clear, when one considers
the term "generation;” that the movement in Spain bears all the
characteristics of this concept. The literary concept of "generation,”
as it is known, was created by Dilthey14 about 1865, and has since
been used by many as a literary classification. According to Juan
Chabis, the following characteristics determine the existence of a
generation:15

1. Writers born about the same time.
2. A homogeneity of education.

3. Common friendships and influences.
4. A generational experience.

5. A leader within the group or a predecessor
who serves as a guide.

193 )luWilhelm,Dilthey, Das Leben Scheleiermachers, Chapter V (Berlin,
5 .

l5Juan Chabas, La literature egpafiola contemporinea (Habana: Cul-
tUral, 1952), p. 6.

13

6. A generational language - repeated use
of words, style and expression.

7. Paralysis of the former generation.

Pedro Salinas16 has applied each of these characteristics to the move—
ment in Spain and has concluded, as have many other critics, that there
was at least some justification for the concept of a Generation of 1898.

Concerning the characteristics of the Generation of 1898, most of
the writers, regardless of their disparate backgrounds and vieWpoints,
seemed united in a protest against the traditional ideas of the imme-
diate past and in a demand for a new interpretation of history and a
critical look tOWards the future. Moreover, although many of them
were from the provinces, they sought inspiration in Castile and in the
spiritual qualities of the Cid and Don Quijote. There were some who
wanted a fusion of Spanish tradition with the modern EurOpean while
others wanted a completely new outlook. The Generation sought to
create not only a new vision of Spain but a new Spain. Therefore, in
all the various genres -- novel, essay, drama and poetry, the authors
attempted an interpretation of the Spanish soul. They sought also to
create a new style. Thus, as Lain Entralgo points out, the men of
1898 left a three-fold impact on future generations --that of language,
esthetic sensibility and patriotism. koreover, they all wanted to
"reformar la conciencia espafiola;" in style, all had a common aim:

"dignificar 1a forma literaria, crear un estilo."17

l6Pedro Salinas, ”E1 concepto de generacidn literaria aplicada en
1? del '98." Literatura espahola del siglo XX, 2nd ed. aumentada. (he-
Xico: Antigua Libreria Robredo, 1949), pp. 26-33.

l7Chabas, La literatura espafiola contemporéneg, p. 8.

 

 

CHAPTER II

LITERARY GET-RES AND THEEES

The movement of the Generation of 1898 produced an outpouring of
novels, poetry and plays. Through these various literary media,
writers voiced their protest against the ills of Spain and implied
suggestions for the solution of the country's problems. But, in my
opinion, the Generation of 1898 was not merely a movement of protest,
it was more than this. The members consciously sought to renovate
Spanish literary art, with the result that they created new forms,
new formulae, and developed the existing genres, thus producing a new
renaissance in Spanish letters. The purpose of this chapter is to
attempt to show and examine the dominant themes expressed in the
various literary productions. Chapter III will deal with their
method -- their style and technique. Since what is important here is

about what these writers were concerned and how they wrote, attention

 

will be paid to literary themes and techniques rather than to the
individual authors themselves. Moreover, although authors will be
mentioned as representatives of a particular type of literary produc—
tion, it must be pointed out that most of them, although their fame

rests primarily on one type, also published works in the other fields.

The novel and essay will be discussed together Since, in some cases,
important works were produced in both areas by the same writer and

sometimes works were part novel and part essay.

14

 

15
The Novel and Essay

The chief novelists of the Generation of 1898 are Pio Baroja, Una-
muno, Azorin, and valle-Inclin. The essay is represented by Unamuno,
Azorin and Maeztu. Although all these writers shared the basic ideas
of their movement, each had his individual approach to the solution of
Spain's problems.

Seeking the true soul of Spain as a means to solving her problem
was the principal preoccupation of the Generation. The movement chose
three ways by which to arrive at the essence of Spain -— history, pg;-
EEEE (the countryside) and literature. But seeking the soul of the
country was merely one aspect of the solution of its problems. The
members of the Generation were concerned also with the security and
origin of the formation of ideas, ideals, and beliefs on which their
society rested. J. Garcia Ldpez quotes Unamuno as stating that "lo
que el pueblo espafiol necesita es... tener un sentimiento y un ideal
propios acerca de la Vida y de su valor."l Therefore, their works

reflect the search for these ideas madres, as Ganivet called them in

0 ~ . In. ’
his Espana filOSOiica contemporanea.

History

"History," according to the Generation, means not the great events
of the past, but rather "la historia intima," "1a intrahistoria,” as
Unamuno calls it, in which is revealed the essence of the Spanish

People. Garcia Ldpez also quotes Azorin as saying: "no busqueis e1

1J. Garcia Ldpez, Historia de la literatura espahola (Barcelona:
Editorial Vicens—Vives, 1962), p. 545.

l6
espiritu de la historia y de la raza en los monumentos y en los libros,"
and adds that what is important is only "un mundo desconocido de peque—
hos hechos."2

In the beginning, the writers were negative in their attitude
towards their country, for, in their frustration, they could see only
the things that were wrong with Spain. They wanted to begin afresh,
to create a new Spain. But following this period of disillusionment,
in which they sought to Europeanize the country, they realized that
there were some traditions worthy of being kept, and they all
demonstrated a deep love for Spain which they now considered deserv—
ing of recreation and renovation. They set about to find the Spanish
soul.

Unamuno seeks the essence of Spain in her history. In his five
essays, collectively entitled En torno a1 casticisno, he seeks to
interpret Spanish history and the meaning of her culture. For him,
Castile is the great symbol of the Spanish spirit and, in determin-
ing the essence of Spain, he feels that language is important since
it is through this medium that a people's ideas are made known. He
looks forward to a new Spain, one of an eternal tradition sought in
the present, not the past, but vitalized by foreign ideas. Here, I
think, lies the essential difference between Unamuno and Baroja, for
whereas Unamuno always maintained faith in Spain and believed that
there was a solution to her problem, Baroja implied that there was no

answer. Unamuno's solution to the problem of Spain is:

~
A

El porvenir de la sociedad espanola espera en
0 O I O ’

1a intrahistoria, y no surgira potente hasta

que lo despierten vientos o ventarrones del

1?
ambiente europeo...Espaha esté por descu-
brir y 5510 1a descubririn espaholes euro-
peizados.

This formula for the regeneration of Spain —-Eur0peanization-- is
shared by many of the Generation of 1898. Faeztu, in his Hacia otra
EEEEEE! compared Spain unfavourably with England and insisted on the
necessity of EurOpeanization and of copying England and Germany.
Europeanization was particularly the cry at the beginning of the move-
ment. The phrase of Unamuno ”muera a Don Quijote" is descriptive of
this period, but later the Generation gave thought to Various other
possible solutions to Spain's problem, such as through improvements in
education and politics. But, as the period progressed, the Generation
became less preoccupied with criticizing Spain and protesting against
its ills, and the writers emphasized literary expression instead.
Protest, then, was eventually subordinated to artistic creation, and
such was the renewed interest in literature and the resultant outpour—
ing of works in all the areas of writing, coupled with a conscious
effort to dignify literary expression, that the Generation brought
about a new renaissance in Spanish letters.

But, let us return to this initial period of protest. Unamuno
also voices his protest, in En torno a1 casticismo, against the
triviality of the Spanish life of his time, against the press, politics,
literature, etc. In his La vida es sueho: Reflexiones sobre la regene-

racidn de Espaha (volume II) Unamuno states that Spain has to awaken

 

from the idea that life is a dream and emulate the modern EurOpean

man for whom life is life, it is action, with faith in intellectualism

and culture. Paradoxical as is the spirit of Unamuno, he was to

3Unamuno, Ensa 5, volume I (Nadrid: Aguilar, 1942), p. 121.

18
continue to suggest the deAfricanization of Spain and the "espaholiza-

cidn" of Europe (as a formula for the assimilation of ideas), but he

still believed that the following was important:

abriendo 1as ventanas a vientos europeos, em-
papandonos en el ambiente continental, tenien-
do fe en que no perderemos nuestra personalidad

a1 hacerlo...

 

In his interpretation of Cervantes' masterpiece, in Vida de don
Quijote y Sancho, Unamuno emphasizes the human and Castillian soul of
don Quijote and he urges Spaniards to accept the concepts of haggp
£322, glory, action and longing for immortality, the characteristics
of Quijote and Sancho who are, for him, spiritual symbols of hope and

redemption for the Spanish soul.

Azorin devoted many works to analysis of the soul of Spain. He

is regarded as "a splendid example of the Generation of 1898's
scrutinizing attitude towards Spain and the problem of personal adjust-
ment to the world."5 In 1900 he published El alma castellana, in which

he shows that tradition and the soul of Castile are seen across Spain's

human types, the classics and history. He, therefore, sought the

essence of Spain in her literature and in the daily life of her

citizens. Azorin interprets Spanish life in a new way, for he empha-

sizes the importance of little things. For him, while many great and

important things pass away with time, the small, humble, everyday

objects continue to exist. He sees in the Spain of today, the Spain

of yesterday. Patt and Nozick quote him as saying: "Espaha se repi-

te, repite lo de ayer hoy, lo de hoy mahana. Vivir aqui es volver a

“Ibid.

5walter T. Pattison, Representative Spanish Authors, vol.II
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1960), p. 480.

l9
hacer lo mismo."6 He feels that although individuals die, Spain
itself does not change or die. here than any of his Generation,
Azorin looked to the past of Spain to justify or accuse for his
country's problems. But, unlike Unamuno and Baroja, his feeling for
Spain has no agony, violence or grief; he always demonstrates a deep
love for Spain although he feels its sadness and decadence. For him,
as it was for Unamuno and Machade, Castile was a symbol of the Spanish
spirit, and he thought that its ruins of past greatness signified an
eternal, positive Spirit.
Azorin believed that the regeneration of Spain must be the work

of "sensibilidad.." Chabis quoted him as saying:

E1 ideal humane -- 1a justicia, el progreso --

no es sine una cuestidn de sensibilidad. Un

poco mas de sensibilidad, eso es el progreso

humane. Es decir: un poco mis de inteligencia.7
Horeover, intelligence for Azorin means tolerance. He feels that it
is necessary to raise the level of Spanish culture in order to enrich
sensibility, to cultivate intelligence, to create the spirit of
tolerance. Barja calls Azorin "a la vez...un artista...un critico y
un refermador, un verdadero pedagogo de la escuela de Costa--educaci6n
y economia, escuela y despensa, come remedies a1 mal...”8 Like the
men of the Renaissance of the fifteenth century, also, Azorin looked
to the classics for some models. In the classics of Luis de Ledn,

Cervantes, Garcilaso, hanrique and Vives, Azorin sought this spirit

of tolerance.

6Beatrice Patt and Martin Nozick, eds., The Generation of 1898
and After, p. 141.

7Juan Chabas, La literatura egpahela centemporinea, p. 103.

8Cesar Barja, Libros y autores contemporaneos (New Yerk: V. Sui-

rez, 1935), P0 276-

20

Chabis points out that Azorin wanted progress for his country and
that he meditated on its decadence: "La idea de la decadencia es an-
tigua, si, han colaborado en la creacidn del concepto de decadencia
hombres eminentes, erudites, historiadores, literatos."9 Azorin
studied the works of writers such as Gracién, Feijdo, Jovellanos, Ca-
dalso, Larra, Costa..., he wrote many pages on them, and shared their
views regarding the causes of the decadence of Spain. These include
the error of the wars of conquest, feudal propriety of the land and
misery of the peasantry, religious intolerance, absolute governments,
lack of culture and instruction and the backwardness of science and
technology. But, optimistically, Azorin saw a remedy in Costa's "es-
cuela y despensa." He agreed with Jovellanos that lands should be
properly distributed. He thought that action of the masses could
renovate the life of the towns which were then permeated by inertia
and resignation. He states: "He sentido, en este ambiente de iner-
cia y resignacidn, una tristeza intima, indefinible."10

Pie Baroja, a voluminous writer, is considered by many critics
to be among the most important Spanish novelists. Baroja was a bitter
pessimist in his protest against the defects of Spanish society. He
saw the prejudices and lack of vitality, he criticized its cruelty and
its injustices. But, unlike Azorin who seemed to feel with nostalgia
and sadness the decadence of Spain, Baroja regarded the life of Spain

as ugly and ruinous. His criticisms of Spain are, perhaps, the most

 

I . ~ I
9Chabas, Literatura espgnola centemporanea, p. 104.

loAzorin, Las confesiones de un pequeho filésofe (Madrid: Caro
Reggie, 1920), p. 189.

21

severe ever made by a Spaniard. In El irbol de la ciencia, which Azo-
rin considered the one work which summed up best the spirit of Baroja,
and Valbuena Prat called "1a novela mis tipica de la generacidn del
'98," he says of the customs of Alcolea:

...eran espafielas puras, es decir, de absurdo

complete...por falta de instinto colectivo el

pueblo se habia arruinado....el pueblo acept6

la ruina con resignacid .
Concerning its politics, and this is a criticism which was made by
many of the Generation to apply to Spanish politics in general, he
states:

La pelitica....respondia perfectamente a1 esta-

do de inercia y desconfianza del pueblo. Era

una politica de caciquismo, una lucha entre dos

bandos contrarios, que se llaman el de 105 Rate-

nes y el de les Hochuelos ... Aquellos bandidos
eran les sostenes de la sociedad.

Baroja saw that one of the first things to be done was to shake the
Spanish people out of that inertia which was the result of the power
of the caci ues, churchmen and the inefficiency of many officials.
Some other instances of his sharp criticism of Spain appear in gala
lhiggpg where, speaking of the giants in the sculptor's studio, giants
that represent toilers exhausted by their labour, he says: "poco
Oportuno e1 asunto para ESpafia."13 Later in that same work, when

Manuel tells Robert that he is waiting for some job to turn up, the

latter replies: "iQué espafiol es eso! Estar a lo que salga. Siempre

esperando..."14

llPio Baroja, E1 irbol de la ciencia, pp. 194-195.

12Ibid., p. 196.
13Baroja, Kala hierba (Madrid: Caro Raggio, 1904), p. 13.

14
Ibid. ’ p. 124’.

22

Concerning Spain's education system, Baroja, in E1 érbol de la

 

ciencia, implies that no research was being done in his country and
that Spain needed to improve her antiquated education system and to
cease believing that everything Spanish was good.

Baroja, therefore, sums up one aspect of his generation —- that
of protest. He spoke against all areas of Spanish life, he was anti—
clerical (the worse evil for him was clericalism), anti-militarist,
seemingly anti—everything. But, in spite of his pessimism, Baroja
was an idealist with a desire for reform; he felt, however, that the
restrictions of society inhibited action. A cynic and agnostic, he
had no spiritual orientation which permitted him to establish principles
on which to base reforms for his country. He saw no salvation for
Spain through art, religion or social conscience, but he had some
faith in philosophy and science. Moreover, Baroja saw life as an
absurd chaos: "La vida era una corriente tumultuosa e inconsciente,
donde todos los actores representaban una comedia que no cemprendian..?l5
and a ”caceria horrible"16 in which the only possibility of salva-
tion was "la lucha," He thouglt that a life without struggle was not
worthwhile, there must be "una lucha per la vida."17

Like Azorin, he admitted that the Spanish essence lay in the

great figures of its literature —- The Cid, den Quijote -- but he

 

l5Bareja, E1 irbol de la ciencia, p. 60.
léIbid., p. 114.

17Ibid., p. 111.

23
felt that action was the remedy for Spain's ills. Being a virile
Basque, it was natural for Baroja to turn to action as a solution,
and indeed some of his characters are, therefore, men of action, men
with voluntad who escape the futility and frustration of life. Follow—
ing the concept of Nietzsche's superman, he presents such characters

: ’ u .
as hartin Zalacain, of Zalacain, e1 aventurere, and Eugenio de AVi—

 

raneta, the protagonist of his twenty-two volumes of Femerias de un

 

hombre de accidn. Like all members of the Generation of 1898, he

 

thought that inaction was ruining Spain. He shows the meaningless,
futile life of men without the strong will to act, such as Andres, in

’ o o - - o , p o 3
El arbel de la CienCia, and Lanuel, in lala hierba. Silvestre Paradox,

 

in Aventuras inventos ' mixtificaciones de Silvestre Paradox and Juan
J 3

de Labraz, of El nayoraggo de Labraz are other characters who are in-

 

capable of action and, therefore, live without aim or purpose. Patt
and Nozick state that Arcelu, of E1 mundo es ansi sums it up in this
way: ”...ahora, come no tengo voluntad ni perseverancia, no 10 he po-
dido realizar nunca."18 I find particularly interesting Baroja's
thought regarding the limits of action. He has Iturrioz state, in
’ a . . . . . . ,
El arool de la CieECia, that one solution may be action limited to a
small area:
.2,“ .__._,_I‘ I
. . . la accion lilitiliose a un Circulo peque-
he. Es decir, que se puede tener el quijotismo
I

contra una anomalia; pere tenerlo contra una re-

gla general, es absurdo.

Therefore, although Baroja placed so much emphasis on action, he
seemed to believe that one should have specific, limited objectives
18 T . - 1 fl

Patt and Nozick, The Generation of 1898 and After, p. 06.

19Baroja, E1 irbol de la ciencia, p. 113.

24
in order to maximize one's probability of success.

Like Unamuno and Antonio Machado, he combined bitter criticism
with real patriotism. He felt the anguish of Spain and wanted to
eliminate from her all that was absurd. He detested superstitions,
the Catholic sentiment, the concept of honour, and donjuanism,
violence and religious dogma. His ideas are often criticized as
being destructive and valueless, but Baroja felt that Spaniards must
become self-critical and conscious of their country's faults before
a remedy could be effected. He thought that not to recognize these
faults was unpatriotic. Lain Entralgo quote him as saying, in QEZEE‘

, I
tud, egolatria:

 

Yo parezco poco patriota, sin embargo, lo soy.

Tengo la preocupacidn de desear el mayor bien

para mi pais, pero no 61 patriotismo de mentir.20
In all his work, emotion and pain for Spain are his deepest emotions.
As in Unamuno, he thought it necessary to "carry Spain to EurOpe" at
the same time that Spain was being EurOpeanized.

Valle—Inclan, the prose stylist of the Generation, unlike the
other members, does not have the spirit of protest and demolition.
He was, above all else, a stylist and, unlike Baroja and Unamuno, he
seemed indifferent to the problems of his country. He, however,
viewed Spain with a feeling of tragedy and agony, as is seen in his
Lgpes de Bohemia, where he describes the miserable life of Spain
which he considered a caricature of EurOpe. He captured the mystery

of Galicia in his works. He contrasts sharply with the other members

of the Generation of 1898 in that he dwells little on the problem of

20 , '
Pedro Lain Entralgo, La‘generacion del noventa y ocho (Buenos
Aires: Espasa—Calpe, l9h8), p. 93.

25
Spain, he rather escapes into a poetic, unreal world.

We have seen in the foregoing, then, one aspect of the work of
the movement, that of protest against the things which the writers
thought were responsible for Spain's perplexing situation. But, in
these same novels and essays, the authors deal with new subjects and
themes. Whereas, formerly, the Spanish novel treated such topics as
chilvalry, love, the Moors, the picaro and, in the nineteenth century,
cuadros de costumbres of particular regions in Spain, with this new
renaissance in Spanish letters, these well-worn topics were replaced
by new ones. The most important of these are the will, time and
countryside. Of course, this does not mean that these subjects had
never before appeared in Spanish literature, but not until now were
they developed so fully as to be outstanding in the same way as the
other tOpics such as chilvalry, love, etc. The countryside had long
been a subject of interest to poets but now it becomes an important
source of inspiration for the novelists as well. I shall first

discuss the theme of the importance of the will, and present the

various interpretations that the novelists and essayists of the

Generation gave to this topic.

" Voluntad"and"abulia "
Angel Ganivet, in his Idearium espanol,sees the chief Spanish
defect as paralysis of the will, abulia, which can be counteracted
only by a strong exertion of will or voluntad.21 This concept of the

will became one of the most dominant themes in the works of the

k

2L4? 81 Ganivet, Idearium 6381351501 (Madrid, F' Beltran, 1923)’

pp. 165- 5:.

26
members of the movement of 1898, who, although they had been influencedtnr
the phiIOSOphy of such preachers of the will as Schopenhauer, Nietzsche
and Ibsen, also lend their own individual interpretations to the
concept. I should point out here, in brief, the difference between
the thoughts of SchOpenhauer and Nietzsche regarding the will, for
these were views which dominantly influenced the movement of 1898.
The former believed that the will was a force which pervaded the
world with suffering, and he saw no relief for desire except ascetic
denial. This idea, therefore, led to pessimism and negation.
Nietzsche, on the contrary, exalted the person of will and made way
for the concept of the "superman".

Unamuno, Baroja and Azorin are all more favourably disposed to
the Schopenhaueran idea of the will. In her essay on this subject,
Doris King Arjona explains why:

They were tempted by the vision of a desire

forever renewed, forever unsatisfied, by a

universe without rest or finality...each

sought to satisfy the demands of the will in

' whatever way would make his individual and

momentary life bearable, since the whole scheme

of things was irreparablywrong.22
Whereas Ganivet had seen the will as a force in man stronger than
Nature, capable of leading him to great achievements, Unamuno, Bare-
ja and Azorin concluded that in order to satisfy the demands of the
will, one often had to subordinate the intellect, ignore the truth

and resort to illusions.

Unamuno states in Del sentimiento trégico de la vida that he

 

2‘2Doris King Arjona, "Voluntad and abulia in Contemporary
Spanish Literature." Hispanic Review, LXXIV {December, 1928), p. 612.

27
agrees with SchOpenhauer's conception of the force of la voluntad
pervading the Universe, in which each creature partakes of each other,
so that the highest morality is compassion. horeover, for him, as for
SchOpenhauer, volition means eternal suffering.23 Unamuno sees la vo-
luntad opposed to the intelligence because, whereas the will absorbs
the world, the intelligence is absorbed by the world. 'We see in Eigg
Egg, in which Unamuno creates fictional characters independent of their
author, the power of the will to evoke what it desires. Augusto Pérez,
the protagonist, falls in love with Eugenia, but she deserts him and
runs off with a former sweetheart. Augusto wants to commit suicide
but is told by the author, his creator, that he is not free to do so
because he is a mere entity of fiction, an idea in the author's mind.

)1
2* He places

Augusto exerts his will as an independent individual.
himself and his creator on equal ground by arguing that since the idea
of creation is enveloped in a mist (niebla) the author and his

characters are of equally questionable reality. He eventually dies of

some mysterious cause. The chief characters of Tres novelas ejemplares

y un_pr610go are persons of great will. In Nada menos que todo un hom-

 

[233, for example, Alejandro G6mez, the protagonist, personifies
indomitable will. He dominates all around him until his will is
finally thwarted by the death of his wife.

we see men of will and those with lack of it (Egalig) in most of
the characters of Pio Baroja. Perhaps the most definite expression of

the will is exemplified by Roberto, in the trilogy La lucha por la vida,

 

23Unamuno, Del sentimiento tragico de la vida (hadrid: Renaci—
miento, 1931), pp. 147, 148.

4Unamuno, Niebla, p. 91.

28
who is the opposite in character to the ambitionless Manuel. Roberto
possesses a strong will, one that is consciously achieved. He knows

that "la accidn es todo..."25 and this necessitates la voluntad; he,

 

therefore, preposes a course of gymnastics to develop it in the petty
details of life.26

For Baroja, Spain needs men of will. Men of will are men of
action and action converts a static life into a dynamic one. He shows
us such men in Zalacain, of Zalacain, e1 aventurere, and Eugenio de Avi-
raneta, of Hemorias de un hombre de acci6n. These are men of energy,
capable of achieving great heights. Zalacain, born of humble peasant
stock, is leader of the country boys against the town dwellers. He is
instructed by his uncle, Miguel de Tellagori, who knows the realities
of life. He eventually marries the daughter of an aristocratic family
and dies after living a heroic, adventurous life and winning for him-
self an honoured memory. Baroja also shows us men without la voluntad
in such characters as Silvestre Paradox who had an "ingenious mind
but no will,"27 so he has a meaningless life of constant starvation.
Then, there is César Moncada of Cesar o nada who, after having been
aLmost successful in his political battles, is defeated and settles
down to a life of futility. Yet another, Fernando Ossorio, 0f.2éE222

d6 perfeccidn, perhaps Baroja's best novel, is a neurasthenic and an

 

aimless wanderer. These are all men who are adversely affected by the
25Pie Baroja, Aurora roja_(Madrid: Caro Raggio, 1910), p. 331.
26Pio Baroja, La busca (Madrid: Caro RaggiO, 1904), p- 230-

27Pic Baroja, Aventuras, inventos y mixtificaciones de Silves-
_:re Paradox (Madrid, 1901), p. 32.

29
kind of action that they take, or do not take, in shaping their
environments to their ends.

Azorin's ideas on the power of will appear chiefly in the series
of autobiographical novels entitled La voluntad, Antonio Azorin and
Las confesiones de un pequeho fil6sofo which form a detailed study of

a abulia. Pablo, of Doha Inés, is another example of an abulico or
a man suffering from paralysis of the will to act. Azorin, of‘ng

confesiones... is a man too developed intellectually and too analytical

 

to have the will for action. He says:

Yo no he ambicionado nunca, como otros mucha-

chos, ser general u obispo; mi tormento ha si-
do—-y es—-no tener un alma multiforme y ubicua
para poder vivir muchas vidas vulgares e igno-
radas...

Azorin considered this abulia characteristic of the youth of his time

and type. Doris King Arjona explains this writer's concept 0f.l§

abulia:

It is quite different from the general complaint
characterized by idées fixes and violent, unco-
ordinated action which Ganivet had described in
the Idearium espanol, an abulia, less purely
Spanish, of less exaltation and more depression,
...an abulia proceeding from an excess of, rather

than a lack of, thought.29

 

This is why his Azorin is an abulico, he has such an excess of thought

that he spends his time in contemplation rather than in purposeful

action.

Azorin, besides, seems to have been impressed particularly by

one fact about the course of the Spanish will, that is, its tendency

to anti-climax. In La voluntad, he tells ‘15 the great enthusiasm

 

 

28

Azorin, Las confesiones de un pequefio filosofo, p. 159.

29Doris King Arjona, "Voluntad and abulia in Contemporary

Spanish Literature", p. 633-

30

with which the building of a church in Yecla was undertaken, only to
decline and eventually die, how too, none of its great public works
were ever completed. He describes this course of the Spanish will:

... en el pueblo yeclano hay un comienzo de

voluntad, una iniciacidn de energia, que ago-

ta rapidamente, que acaba en cansancio inven-

cible.3
In La ruta de Don Quijote, Azorin wonders: "LQué hay en esta patria
del buen caballero de la Triste Figura que asi rompe en un punto...
1as voluntades mas enhiestas?"31 In La voluntad, he tells of the
effect of la abulia: "Aqui... 1a falta de la voluntad ha acabado por
arruinar 1a inteligencia."32

Valle-Inclan also deaksindirectly'with this topic of the will.

He depicts the hero of gigantic will, although cd‘ decadent personality,
in the character of the Marquis of Bradomin, the central figure of the

Sonatas. His will increases throughout the work until in the Sonata

de invierno we see him, as a Carlist chief, fighting heroically.

 

Maeztu sees la voluntad as purposeful energy. He says in one of
his works33 that God has given man a will, not as an end in itself,

but to enable him to compel Nature, who has no will, to serve the good

as far as possible.

 

30Azorin, La voluntad (Madrid: Renacimiento, 1919), p. 301.

3lAzorin, La ruta de Don Quijote (hadrid: Renacimiento, 1919),
p- 87.

32Azorin, La voluntad, p. 202.

33Ramiro de Maeztu, Authority, Liberty and Function (New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1916), p. 43.

31
Since for him any undertaking which could not be productive would be
a disaster, he considered Spain so exhausted by gigantic enterprises
that its greatest need was to be told to cease from Quixotic activity.34
He sees in Don Juan "una voluntad que nada quiere fuera del inmediato
antojo..."35 His was a tremendous energy not properly directed.
It can be seen from the foregoing, then, that the concept of the

will presents itself in different aspects and interpretations in the

novels and essays of the Generation of 1898. In the new renaissance

that these writers produced in Spanish letters this was one of the

dynamic themes variously interpreted and developed by them. Another

was the preoccupation with time which will be discussed next.

Time
Of all the members of the Generation of 1898, the one who seemed

most preoccupied with this theme was Azorin. The mystery and tragedy

of time is the most constant leitmotif of his work. He was acutely

conscious of the passage of time, and seemed to have had a great

desire to capture a moment of time and.make it last forever. He

always had the feeling that "es ya tarde." He says: "Yo os digo

que esta idea de que Siempre es tarde es la idea fundamental de mi
vida..." 36
Azorin believed that Spain would not change with time, he

says: "Espafia se repite, repite lo de ayer boy, 10 de hoy manana.

 

3“Ramiro de Maeztu, Don_Quijgte, Don Juan y la Celestina (Ma-
drid: Espasa-Calpe, 1926), p. 103.

35Ibid., p. 178.

36Azorin, Las confesiones de ungpeggefio fildsofo, p. 38.

32
Vivir aqui es ver volver."37 Azorin here seems to believe in the

Nitzschean doctrine of eternal recurrence. This theme is repeated often

in his works, notably in Castilla and Doha Inés.

In the essays Las nubes and Una lucecita roja, we have illustra-

tions of the double phenomena of temporality and eternity, of the

variety and sameness of things across time. Cesar Barja quotes Azorin

as saying in Las nubes:

Las nubes nos dan una sensacién de inestabilidad
y de eternidad...Son--como el mar--siempre varias
y Siempre 1as mismas. Sentimos, mirandolas, como
nuestra ser y todas las cosas corren hacia la nada,
en tanto que e11as--tan fugitivas—-permanecen eter—

nas.3
The same thing happens in Una lucecita roja, when Azorin tells of a

train that passes every evening at the same place and at the same time,

carrying in its capoose a little red light. So, to this writer, as

Chandler and Schwartz tell us, everything "changes but returns, too,
in a kind of reincarnation, even though it may not be physically

identical."39

Azorin was always interested in the past. In his preoccupation

with this subject, he deals with the landscape, history and soul

of Spain as well as with its authors and its literature. Chandler

and Schwartz also explain how he treats these last two:

He tries to relive the author's work and his
life, and he often creates a feeling of im-
mediacy as though the author were with us and
had just left the room for a moment.

37Azorin, La voluntad, p. 33.

38César Barja, Libros y;autores contemporaneos, p. 268.

39Chandler and Schwartz, A New Histopy of Spanish Literature,
p. 567.

40Ibid.

33

This is seen in Las nubes where Azorin attempts to recreate the story

of the Spanish classic, La Tragicomedia de Calixto y'Nelibea. Azorin

also believes that there is an eternal reality which serves as a com-

mon bond between past, present and future. He sees this reality in

the little things of everyday life and throughout his works he gives
the idea of the passage of time by showing how small things continue

even though men pass away. For Azorin, there is tragedy in time,

because if we all pass away, of what importance are our hopes, our

desires of happiness? His is similar to the tragedy in Unamuno except

that, whereas Azorin resigns himself before Destiny, Unamuno pleads

for immortality of his soul.
Unamuno gives some of his thoughts concerning time in one of his
writings where he states that a moment "esta dentro o debajo del cur-

so del tiempo, no fuera o sobre él."ul For to him, time and eternity

are co-operative, with the former as an auxiliary contributing to the

unity of both.
In Baroja's Zalacainliel aventurero, there is a suggestion of the
Nietzschean theme of eternal recurrence in the way in which the hero

meets his death. For he dies at the hand of a member of the Ohando

family who had before killed a relative of Zalacain.
This concept of time was, therefore, considered variously by the

members of the Generation of 1898. Another topic which they discus-

sed was the countryside to which I shall turn next.

figupaisaje

The countryside was another subject which was introduced into

hlUnamuno, "Cartas de Unamuno a warner Fits...” Revista Hispani—
ca Moderna, XXII (January 1956), 90.

3a
the novel with new meaning and interpretation by the Generation of 1898.

Although it had been a subject for the poets, now it became an import—

ant one for the novelists. An important characteristic of these

writers' work is its "sentimiento de la naturaleza." Whereas the

novelists of the nineteenth century had described Spain in its various
regions -—- Andalucia, Galicia, Asturias ..., the men of 1898 are
unique in that their interpretation of the landscape takes two direc-

tions. Carola Reig describes it in this way:

Para evocar, para recordar, para sentir nostal-
gia,...este sentimiento del paisaje toma dos di-
recciones: la consideracidn de su paisaje natal,
de la region en que se deslizd la infancia y ju-
ventud del escritor y la del paisaje de Castilla,
intenso, profundo y austere, de repose y de con-

templacidn.
So the writers of this movement interpreted the landscape of Castile

as well as that of their native land. They were particularly

interested in the former because they felt that it represented the

physical and spiritual values of Spain as a whole. But even more

unique is their attitude towards the countryside, for it is not

viewed realistically as in the preceding century, but the members of

the Generation project their own spirit into their interpretation. So

the landscape of Spain now became an important tepic for the novel,

and contributed greatly to the rebirth brought about in this genre

by the writers of this Movement. This tOpic was important chiefly

because of the manner of treatment. Northup sums it up in the

following lines: ”Never before have the physical and spiritual values

 

uzCarola Reig, "El paisaje en Azorin." Cuadernos Hispanoame-
ricanos, XXII (May 1955), 209.

35
of the nation been so admirably portrayed."43
The Generation of 1898 showed great fondness for landscape and,

with aesthetic delight, the writers viewed and described the arid
plains of Castile with its picturesquely delapidated, stagnant, old
cities. Azorin tells of the importance of this topic:

Lo que da la medida de un artista es su sen-

timiento de la naturaleza, del paisaje...Un

- I o o
escritor sera mas artista cuanto mejor sepa
interpretar la emocidn del paisaje.

So these writers considered portrayal of e1 paisaje to be an essential

part of their art, and their work bears ”el sentimiento intimo de la

Naturaleza."

Los paisajes abound in the works of Baroja, Valle—Inclan and

 

Azorin. But Unamuno himself also wrote about the Spanish countryside

in such works as E1 sentimiento de la Naturaleza Paisa'es Por tie—
, 9

rras de Portugal y Espana and Andanzas. Like all the other members

of the Generation, he showed a great sensibility for the CastiDian

landscape. Garcia L6pez quotes him as saying of the countryside:

Yo no he encontrado todavia paisaje feo ni
comprendo como hay quien lo encuentre...
Hay tierras tristes, tristisimas, desoladas,

saharicas, esteparias, pero muy hermosas, so—
lemnemente hermosas ... 5

Therefore, Unamuno, like the others, demonstrated a deep love for 31

paisaje of Spain, in spite of the ruins and the sad aspect that he

 

“BGeorge T. Northup, An Introduction to Spanish Literature (Chi-
cago: University Press, 1955), p. #21.

uHAzorin, La voluntad (Barcelona: Henrich y Cia., 1902), p. 95.

 

u5J. Garcia L6pez, Historia de la literatura espahola, p. 555.

36
viewed, he saw a solemn beauty in all this.
Many critics have commented on Baroja's treatment of landscapes.
De Onis calls it "ultra realistic impressionism,"b’6 John Dos Passos
states:

The natural history that gives the pictures
etched with vitriol of Spanish life...which
you get in these novels of Baroja'E is very
near the highest sort of creation. 7

Here Baroja gives us a glance at Spanish life:

En lo alto de la loma, una recua de mulas
tristes, cansadas pasaban a lo lejos, le—
vantaron nubes de polvo...El aire cada vez
era mas pesado, mas quieto. En algunas par-
tes estaban segando. Eran de una melancolia
terrible aquellas lomas amarillas, de una
amarillez, cruda calcarea, y la ondulacidn
de los altos trigos...

His descriptions are even more lyrically emotive when he deals with
his own Basque country:

c o ’ 0

...En la primavera, e1 camino prox1mo a1
rio era una delicia. Las hojas nuevas de
1as hayas comenzaban a verdear...los man-
zanos y los perales de 1as huertas osten-
taban sus c0pas nevadas por la flor, y se

I o
Oian los cantos de los ma1v1ses y de los
ruisenores en las enramadas. E1 cielo se
mostraba azul, de un azul suave, un poco

I . I
palido, y 5010 alguna nube blanca...apare-
cia en el cielo."Lg

Throughout his voluminous work, Baroja pictures practically all of

 

uéFederico De Onis, "Pic Baroja." Nosotros, LIV (October 1926),
171-182.

u7John Dos Passos, Rosinante to the Road Again (New York: Knopf,
1922), p. 99.

“Brio Baroja, Obras completas, v1 (L'iadrid: Biblioteca Nueva,
1948), p. 56.

ugPio Baroja, Zalacain, e1 aventurero (Buenos Aires: Editorial
Losada, 1961), pp. 27—28.

37
Nature. Particularly beautiful are his descriptions of seaside towns,
as that of the harbour of Marseilles in El laberinto de 1as sirenas.
Baroja often presents his views as seen through the eyes of his
many ambulant protagonists, and this adds a personal note to the
descriptions. Another technique which he uses is that of describing

the paisaje as seen by painters, such as Tarrafiaga in Agonias de nues-

 

tro tiempo and Mister Bothwell in El mayorazgo de Labraz. Rosa

 

 

Seeleman sees Baroja's paisaies as "a sort of moving picture" because
in his descriptions "mountains, high at a distance, flatten out as
one nears: meadows come into view in the valleys, are passed and
replaced by others."50 This serves to show how exact a COpy of
reality Baroja tries to give us in his novels. Rosa Seeleman con-
eludes:

His descriptive pattern, his leisurely sight-

seeing, his bulk of descriptive detail, have

a casual recording of impressions that is un—

matched in Spanish literature.5l

There appears a contrast between the description of paisaje in

Baroja and Valle-Inclan in that whereas the former includes much
detail and presents the scene as it appears, adding an emotional or
lyric note at times, Valle-Inclan‘s treatment of the landscape has a
much greater personal note. Moreover, Valle—Inclan seems fond of
describing the Galician landscape, and shows great originality in his

portrayal of it. He presents this region with its archaic traditions

and its folklore, full of mystery, superstition and magic.

 

50Rosa Seeleman, ”The Treatment of Landscape in the Novelists
of the Generation of 1898.” Hispanic Review, IV (July 1936), 232.

 

511bid.

38
Chiefly a literary artist and influenced by the Modernist and
Symbolist movements, Valle-Inclan is fond of evoking emotions and
selects paisajes for their pictoral and emotional effects, and for
the kind of mystery that they seem to present. He selects the exotic
and the rare as a means of self-expression. In the Sonatas, which
represent four seasons of the love life of the Marques de Bradomin,

we see the use of e1 paisaje to great effect. The first Sonata, of

 

Spring, depicts the sensation of the waking of a love. Here April
bathes the hills with its sun, the rosebushes permeate the air with
their fragrance and all nature is full of intrigue. In the second,
of Summer, he tells how "e1 horizonte relampagueaba...," love is then
at its height. Then in Autumn, there is the remembrance of a past
love: "Las hojas que caen de los arboles, estén amarillas..." With
the coming of Winter, the sensation of age is represented ”color Opa-
co y gris en el paisaje," and the Marqués feels that his soul is "co-
mo e1 viejo nido abandonado." So we see here how Valle—Inclan uses

well-chosen parts of e1 paisaje for the season as well as for the

 

type of mood and feeling that he wants to convey.
In another of his descriptions, a moonlight scene, we can see
how he selects those elements of the environment that will evoke a
mood of fear and mystery. This is from his Flor de Santidad where
Adega and the ventera, wishing to undo the evil spell that is causing
the sheep to die one by one, have driven the flock one midnight to
drink of the waters of San Gundian:
Era una noche de montaha, clara y silenciosa,
blanca por la luna. Las ovejas se juntaban
en mitad del descampado como destinadas a un
sacrificio en aquellas piedras célticas que

doraban liquenes milenarios. La vieja y la
zalaga bajaron por el sendero: e1 rebaho se

39

apretaba con timido balido y el tremante

campanilleo de las esquilas despertaba un eco

en los montes lejanos donde dormian los lobos.

La ventera llevaba encendido un hachon de paja,

porque e1 fuego arredrase a los lobos. Las dos

mujeres caminaban en silencio y, sobrecogidas

por la soledad de la noche y por el misterio de

aquel maleficio que las llevaba a la fuente de

San Gundién.
Typical of Valle-Inclan, he describes the sound, movement, colour,
light and emotion of the scene rather than the tOpographical details.

Azorin, in his portrayal of landscape, often fixes his attention
on small, humble things, and is fond of describing minutely every—
thing in a landscape——— a street, or a room or all the utensils in a
farm kitchen. He describes these minutiae because he believes that
they are representative of the whole scene.
Besides, in his definition of el‘paisgje, he equates it with the

spirit of man. He says:

...el paisaje somos nosotros: el paisaje es

nuestro espiritu, sus melancolias, sus pla-

cideces, sus anhelos, sus tartagos.53
His vision is full of nostalgia and melancholy, he describes Castile
with its ruins of past greatness in such a way that he evokes a pro-
found tenderness and love for Spain. Like the other members of the
Generation, two countrysides are described in his work, that of his
native land and that of Castile. Descriptions of Alicante appear in
La voluntad, Antonio Azorin, Superrealismo, Valencia and Madrid. He

pictures the interior areas of this region as:

montanoso y gris,...oloroso de plantas
montarcas, surcado de blancos caminos que

52Ram6n del Valle—Inclén, Flor de santidad,_Qpera omnia II (ha-
drid: Espasa-Calpe, 1913), p. 87.

53Azorin, Ia voluntad, p. 95.

 

40
se pierden a lo lejos entre el verde de
las vifias y el gris de los olivos y al-
mendros...
Like Valle-Inclan, Azorin uses colours, scents and sounds to enhance

his descriptions of 61 paisaie. He also often uses onomatopoetic words

such as the croa-croa of the frogs, the tic—tac and the cu—cfi, cu—cu

 

of the clocks...
With great tenderness he describes the country-town of Yecla
where he attended school. This is the town which he describes in

detail in La voluntad. Two themes appear throughout the work-——first,

 

the sky, nature and the countryside give a feeling of hOpe, and
second, those who live in Yecla speak of a life of sadness and pain.
Azorin concludes: "Espana es un pais triste con una hermcsa natura-
leza."55

Complementary to Azorin's definition of landscape, mentioned

above, is the symbolism.which he sees in losgpaisajes. In the

 

scenery of Castile, which he regards as the most significant section
of Spain, he sees re—enacted entire pages from Quevedo and Cervantes.
He expresses the subjectivism typical of the Generation in their

attitude towards elgpaisaje as he asks:

 

LNG esta en estas iglesias, en estos calvarios,
en estas ermitas, en estos conventos, en este
campo duro y raso, toda nuestra alma, todo el
espiritu intenso y enérgico de nuestra raza?5

5uCarola Reig, "El paisaje en Azorin," p. 211.

55Antonio de Hoyos, ”Yecla en la literatura del '98." Clavileho,
V (September—October 1954), p. 53-

656Azorin, Espana, hombres y paisajes (hadrid: F. Beltran, 1909),
p. l 3.

#1
Carola Reig states57 that Unamuno has expressed this same subjecti-
vism in Del sentimiento tragico de la vida, when speaking of the sad-
ness of the Castillian countryside he says:
La tristeza de los campos, testa en ellos
0 en nosotros, que los contemplamos? LNo

es acaso que todo tiene un alma, y que esa
alma pide liberacién?

The Generation of 1898, then, were greatly preoccupied with the
literary possibilities of the topic of el naisaie. Although Nature
had been dealt with before in the novel, the contribution of the
hovement to Spanish literature in this area is the great subjectivity
with which they viewed the countryside and the very detailed treat-
ment which they gave it, so much so that for the first time in the
Spanish novel, elgpaisaje becomes the protagonist. In his novel,
Madrid, Azorin says:

Nos atraia e1 paisaje. Prosistas y poetas
que hayan descrito paisajes han existido
Siempre. No es cosa nueva, prOpio de estos
tiempos, e1 paisaje literario. Lo que si es
una innovacién es el paisaje por el paisaje,
el paisaje en sf, como unico protagonista de
la novela, el cuento, el poema. Si a un cla-

sico se le hubiera dicho que el paisaje podra
constituir la obra literaria, no lo hubiese

entendido.58
Although such writers as Gil y Carrasco in his Senor de Bembibre, and
more recently Valera, Alarcdn, Pardo Bazan and, above all, Pereda,
have given magnificent descriptions of the countryside, there is
hardly any intimate feeling for Nature in their work and elgpaisgje
certainly is never the protagonist. So here we have another contribu-

tion of something new to Spanish letters by the Generation of 1898.

 

57Carola Reig, "El paisaje en Azorin," p. 210.

58Azorin, Obras Completas, VI (Madrid: Aguilar, 1962), p. 215.

#2
It is noticeable in the portrayal of the countryside that there is
seemingly an absence of protest, because now the writers centered
their attention on artistic expression -—-’on breaking with the
immediate past and effecting a revival in Spanish literature.

Another way in which they tried to renovate Spanish letters was

by writing about the literature of the past. They, therefore, devoted

themselves to literary criticism involving many phases of literature

and the profession of writing.

Literary Criticism

The greater part of literary criticism appeared in essays, and

through the work of the Generation, this genre became established as,

perhaps, the best vehicle for literary criticism in Spain. Besides

this, Wary E. Buffum, writing in 1935, says:

Through the journalistic essay, printed on the
front page of the daily newspaper and signed by
some one of the best contemporary writers, a
pOpularization of the arts has begun similar to
the popularization of material consumption which
so rapidly raised the standard of living in the

United States.59
In their effort to renovate Spanish literature, the members of 1898

discussed various tOpics. The most outstanding subjects examined

include the erudite, academic type of study in preference to the
works of creative and emotional value, the current type of literary'criticism,

criticism of the conservatives by the modernists and vice—versa, and

the relative importance of content and form. But, like much of the

criticism of the Generation, literary criticism, for the most part,

59Mary E. Buffum, "Literary Criticism in the Essays of the
Generation of 1898.” Hi ania, XVIII (October 1935), pp. 290-291.

43

merely stated the problems. Some of the writers felt that destructive

criticism.would open the eyes of the public to Spain's problems and

cures could then be sought.

The writers expressed their ideas as to what the purpose of

literary criticism should be. Unamuno states:

Hay quienes escriben doctrinales de conjunto
y hay quienes hacemos ensayos sueltos, mas
para suscitar y sugerir problemas que para
desarrollarlos.60

Unamuno, therefore, seemed to believe that literary criticism should

deal with how and for what purpose an author writes.

Azorin felt that there was too much effort on the part of

Spaniards to establish the fact of their personality. He agreed.with

Ortega y Gasset who said that almost half of the Spanish books
published in the last centuries were dedicated to showing that the
other half of the books were admirable.6l But Azorin saw some
importance in sentimental homage written by authors about other

authors. He used this argument to su oort his re uest for a histor
Q pi q y

of Spanish literature written by a Spaniard and of a kind similar

to the then best existing accounts, both of which had been written

by foreigners, Fitzmaurice-Kelly and Ernest Merimée. He wanted one

written by a Spaniard because he believed that there were certain
subtle aspects of Spanish literature that would inevitably escape

the best foreign critic. Unamuno also felt that there was too much

criticism for the sake of criticism. He says:

 

60Wilfred A. Beardsley, Ensayps y sentencias de Unamuno (New
York: The Macmillan Company, 1932), p. #0.

6J'José Ortega y Gasset, El Espectador,vol. II (Madrid, Espa—
sa-Calpe, 1921), p. 136.

LL14»

...hay criticos que no han ido de la poesia

asi sentida y gozada a la critica, sino que

hgn venido’de la critica, de la critica en

81 y por 31, de la critica por la critica,

a criticar poesia...
hary E. Buffum tells how he begged the young literary men to
"leave off criticism, stop writing histories of Spanish literature,
and start making this history."63

There is criticism, too, of conservatism, aimed particularly at
those writers who consistently patterned their own works after those
of past generations or who preferred to write the academic type of
study instead of works of creative or emotional value. Unamuno ac-
cused "1a juventud intelectual" of inertia, lack of will and spirit.
He said that, unlike the young men of France who, in their anxiety
to create new forms, found new magazines and investigated new paths,
in Spain the young minds were filled with everything old--old
phrases, formulas and customary dogmas. Because of this, magazines
that are founded have vestiges of everything old. Unamuno felt that
one'wgy to destroy "dogmatic literary religion" and so gain real
literary appreciation and revaluate literature was to admit when one
was bored by a famous author.
Azorin, in Ios valores literarios, advocates what he calls "la

revisidn de los valores literarios." This, according to him, consists

in judging the classics in the light of contemporary sensibility.

He states:

 

62Higuel de Unamuno, Ensayos, vol. VI (Madrid: Residencia de Es-

tudiantes, 1918), p. 106.

63Buffum, "Literary Criticism in the Essays of the Generation of
1898, N p0 2814‘.

45

No exists mas regla fundamental para juzgar

a los clasicos que la de examinar si estan

de acuerdo con nuestra manera de ver y de

sentir la realidad; en el grado en que lo

esten oono lo esten, sauese mismo grado es—

taran V1VOS o muertos.
Azorin wrote many pages discussing the ideas of the great writers of
the past and so produced material for the investigation and examina-
tion of old Spanish literature. He, moreover, studied such subjects
as realism in the picaresque novel, the classic theatre, and wrote,
too, about some writers of his own time, such as Pic Baroja, Ruben
Dario, Juan Ramon Jimenez, Antonio hachado, etc. Although the latter
material is not as detailed a study as that done on past authors, yet,
through his own works of literary criticism, Azorin contributed much
material for the understanding and appreciation of Spanish literature.
Literature, to Azorin, has value only if it conveys a message to the
present generation; he detested the drama and seemed narrow in his
judgement of this genre.

Azorin objected to the state of literary criticism at that time

because he believed that language and style had been the only
concern of the critics so far in their study of the classics. Unamuno
thought that one should not give too much attention to form because
not only are ideas important but also moods, emotion and tones. In
his essay, La locura del Doctor Kontarco, he further criticized the
dominant didactic character of Spanish literature. He says:

Aqui todos tienen alma de domine; no comprenden

que se escriba sino para probar algo o defender 5
o atacar alguna tesis, 0 con segunda intencidn.

“Azorin, Clisicosgy'modernos (hadrid: Renacimiento, 1919), p. 261.

6 O
5Beardsley, Ensaygs y sentenc1as de Unamuno, p. 40.

#6

Unamuno believed that if a work had vehemence, passion and spirit,

that was enough.

0 ’ O D O 0
Like Azorin who wrote critical essays on the Spanish ClaSSlCS,
Ramiro de haeztu also made some penetrating literary studies on such
personages as Don Quijote, Don Juan and la Celestina.

As mentioned at the beginning, the greater part of this literary

criticism appeared in the essay. With the Generation of 1898, the

essay as a vehicle of thought was, in a sense, a new form. These

writers followed the example of Angel Ganivet who showed them how

effective a tool for the expression of ideas was this genre. Although

the essay had long existed in Spanish literature, with the hovement

of 1898 it became a very important form. The writers added their

own individuality and intimate perception to their ideas which they

expressed in the essays. Moreover, even their novels, which were

often plotless, many times appeared as half novel and half essay in

form; so the essay was used as a very effective medium for the

expression of ideas in this era and has continued to be so.

POETRY

This period in Spanish letters represented, too, a great revival

in poetry. Azorin, writing in 1913, told how there was taking place

in his day a vigorous blossoming of lyric poetry. 7 The poets of
this era undertook to rejuvenate the form and thought of poetry which

they considered as being then antiquated. Some were influenced by

 

67Azorin, Clasicos y modernos, p. 223.

47

the French lyricists, Baudelaire and Verlaine, and by the Spanish
Americans, Ruben Dario and Rodd.

The greatest representative of this genre in the Generation of
1898 is Antonio Hachado, who, like the novelists and essayists of
this group, shows his fondness for landscapes and simplicity and
sincerity in writing. He also played an important r61e in producing
the renaissance in Spanish literature at this time for he introduced
He,

new themes into its poetry and renovated its style and form.
particularly, develOped the ballad form and made it the very expres-
sive, flexible form which it now is.

Critics differ as to the literary classification of Machado's

For Diaz-Plaja, he is "noventaiochista puro" whose work

68

poetry.
exemplifies the opposition to the school of Dario. Pedro Salinas

states: "hay en algun caso leves acentos modernistas," but not so

much that Eachado cannot be considered "un tipico poeta de '98." 9
This Opinion is shared Guillermo de Torre and Cesar Barja. Gabriel

Pradal-Rodriguez, however, feels that "la influencia de Ruben Dario

sobre Kachado es preponderante."70 Juan Ramdn Jimenez and Ortega y
Gasset see in this poet the unidn of Ruben Dario and Unamuno.
Indeed, although hachado's first poem, Almas de violeta (1900),

is in the Modernist style, yet he quickly reacted towards simplicity,

retaining only the exquisite elegance of the school.

C .- 1 .
6UG. Diaz-Plaja, Eodernismo frente a noventa y OChO (nadrld? 35-
pasa-Calpe, 1951), p. 183.

9Pedro Salinas, Literatura espahola, siglo XX, 2nd ed. (lexico,
Seneca, 1940), pp. 143-147.

7OGabriel Pradal-Rodriguez, "Antonio hachado: su vida y obra."
Bgyista Hispanica Noderna, XV (January 1949), 57.

UQ

Bachado's Themes

Although some critics have tried to divide Machado's works into
isolated epochs, his poetry is characterized by a distinct unity of

themes typical of the Generation of 1898. The dominant subjects are

preoccupation with Spain, his evocations of the countryside and

nature, time, love, God and death.

But, above all, he is the poet of the "campos de Castilla." He
is a great interpreter of the Castillian landscape, and by his work,

e1 paisaje became a principal topic in Spanish poetry. He found in

 

the countryside not only a motive for metaphysical reflection but

also a stimulus to purposeful action. He eXpresses the pessimistic

concept of the national reality, the abulia, the nostalgia of the

past:

Castilla miserable, ayer dominadora,
envuelta en sus andrajos, desprecia cuanto ignora...

But he hopes for a better Spain. Machado is a lover of Castile, as

were the others of the Generation. He regards this land as one of
infinite possibilities which have hardly been realized. His Campos

_d§ Castilla (1912) which is considered his best work, reflects the

 

somber and barren landscape and indignation at Spain‘s lethargy.
Chandler and Schwartz describe this book of poems as follows:

...definitely a book of the Generation
spirit where he sums up his tragic appraisal
of his land with "Castilla miserable, ayer
dominadora, envuelta en sus andrajos, des-
precia cuanto ignora"72 and then stirs it to

71Antonio Machado, ”A Orillas del Duero," Obras completas de
flannelgy'Antonio Machado (Madrid: Editorial Plenitud, 19575, p. 735.

721bid.

49

action with "Tras e1 vivir y el sofiar
I I . I"!
esta lo que mas importa: despertar."fé

It is in the harsh contours of the Castillian landscape that Nachado
sees the essence of Spain, and, like Azorin, he views its timeless
austerity.

Like Unamuno, he pleads with Spanish youth to shake off their
apathy and to work towards a better Spain:

Ti, juventud mas joven, si de mas alta cumbre

1a voluntad te llega, iras a tu aventura,

despierta y transparente a la divina lunbre, 7

como el diamante clara, como el diamante pura.
Like Unamuno too, he searches for God. In his quest for ”intra-
historical" Spain, hachado, as does Azorin, returns to the Spanish
classics, to such works as the.§l§9 to Gonzalo de Berceo and the
verses of Don Sem Tob.

Kachado received his intellectual formation in the Institucidn
Libre de Ensefianza and was influenced by such thinkers as Kant and
Schopenhauer. Angel Valbuena Prat points out his ”franciscanismo
gineriano,” of love of all things, shown particularly in his La novia
where we see his affection for the "mula vieja."75 hereover, like
Azorin, Nachado demonstrates his interest in the little things of
everyday life.

Machado seemed deeply interested in the concept of time. Indeed,

73Richard E. Chandler and Kessel Schwartz, A New History of
Spanish Literature, p. 366.

74Antonio Kachado, "A una Espafia joven," Obras completas, p.

847.

:75Angel Valbuena Prat, Historia de la literatura egpafiola
(Barcelona, Editorial Gustavo Gili, 1937), p. 494,

50

he has referred to himself as a "poeta del tiempo,"76 and Zubiria
has stated that "el tiempo esta la semilla desde 1a cual surge es-
plendoroso e1 arbol magnifico de su poesia."77 This critic further
points out that time concerned Hachado not as a mere abstraction but
rather as something vivid, lasting and personal.78 The former does
appear in his work but this is extremely rare, as in the poem which
he called ”A Narciso Alonso Cortes, poeta de Castilla." Zubiria also
quotes Kachado as stating that the life of a poet "...no es, fuera
del tiempo, absolutamente nada,"79 and that his definition of poetry
is "e1 dialogo del hombre, de un hombre con su tiempo."80 Therefore,
hachado writes poetic dialogues with the morning, evening, night,
water, the fountain... all of them time or symbols of time. Here he
speaks with a spring morning:

he dijo un alba de la primavera;

yo floreci en tu corazon sombrio

ha muchos ahos, caminante viejo
que no cortas 1as flores del camino

Pero si aguardas la mafiana pura

que ha de romper el vaso cristalino,
quizas e1 hada te dara tus rosas,

mi corazdn tus 1irios.(XXXIV, 69) 81

 

76Antonio hachado, Obras (Lexico: Seneca, 1940), p. 388.

77Ramdn de Zubiria, La poesia de Antonio Yachado (Madrid: Gredos,

1959), p. 18.

Q
7°Ihid.

 

79Ihid, p. 24.

80Ihid.

81Antonio hachado, Obras (kéxico: Seneca, 1940). (The Arabic
numbers refer to the page in this volume, the Roman numerals refer to
the number with which these poems are usually marked in other editions).

51

In this poem we see a sad man longing for his past and looking with

illusion towards the future. The following takes place in his

dialogue with the night:

10h, dime, noche amiga, amada vieja,
que me traes el retablo de mis suefios
Siempre desierto y desolado, y 5610
con mi fantasma dentro,

mi pobre sombra triste

sobre la estepa y bajo e1 sol de fuego

o sonando amarguras

en las voces de todos los misterios,

dime, si sabes, vieja amada, dime

si son mias 1as lagrimas que vierto. (XXXVII, 70)

Machado shows his confusion in distinguishing between his own

personality and his dreams. He wants to know if the creature he

creates in his dream corresponds exactly to his real self. Through—
out his work, dreams seemed important to Hachado, a possible way of
arriving at self-knowledge, "una especie de clave reveladora del se-
creto de la prOpia alma,"82 and a refuge from the pains of life.
Besides, evening for him is a time of melancholy, a time which seems
a combination of horror (the shadows) and hope (the light) of a new
day.

Kachado, moreover, sees certain objects as symbols of time. To
him, water is time, and life, which is also time, passes away with
the samerimflxmlas that of the waves and rivers. The fountains, to
him, sing the sadness of lost love or the pain of existence:

1as fuentes de piedra
.....................
y dicen tristezas,

tristezas de amores
de antiguas leyendas. (VIII, 47)

SZZubiria, La poesia de Antonio Pachado, p. 29‘

52

Another more obvious symbol of time and the brevity of life is the
clock, which he sees marking with cruelty the passage of time. we
see this in his poem "El viajero" in Soledades. Lachado also sees
time in things and vice-versa, that is, regarding the former, he sees
things as representing various phases in the passage of time. In his
poem entitled "Las Moscas" (XLVIII, 86), he writes:

hoscas de todas las horas,

de infancia y de adolescencia,

de mi juventud dorada;

de esta segunda inocencia,

que da en no crer en nada,

de Siempre...
Here we see flies as symbols of the various periods of his life ....
of infancy, adolescence, adulthood. Concerning things in time, in his
preoccupation with Spain, he sees his country with a past, a present
and a future but with the three united, for he believes that yester-

day is in today and on this depends the future. He says:

IY este hoy que mira a ayer: y este mafiana
que nacera tan viejo! (CXLIII, 257).

For he feels a deep "melancolia histdrica de la vida espafiola.”83
Together with his concern for time is his interest in death,
because time is:

... el tiempo, el homicide
que nos lleva a la muerte... (327)

and he seemed to believe that with death disappeared all men's
dreams.
hachado, therefore, shared many of the new themes develOped by

the Generation of 1898. With him, as with the prose writers, g;

’3
8’Pedro Lain Entralgo, La generacién del noventa y ocho (Buenos
Aires: Espasa-Calpe, l9h7), p. 133.

53‘

paisaje became a central tepic in Spanish literature. His chief
contribution was through the emphasis which he laid on order and form;
because of this, great attention was henceforth paid to these elements
of poetry and this resulted in an enrichment and develOpment of this
genre. He is also considered to be one of the first to introduce the
abundant use of symbols in modern Spanish poetry. These aspects of

style will be dealt with in the next chapter.

DRAEA

The greatest dramatist of the Generation of 1898 is Jacinto Be-
navente who infused new life into the Spanish theatre. He freed it
of the melodramatic tone which the romantic playwrights had given it
and which had been revived in the works of Echegaray. His work
constitutes a true renovation of Spanish dramatic art and represented
a new renaissance in this genre of SpaniSh letters because of its
sinceri y, its politeness, its excellent technical skill and the
many innovations which Benavente introduced. These elements all
modernized the drama, made it new, fresh, cosmOpolitan, and his work
also resulted in the breaking down of Spanish resistance to the
modern stage. Concerning the renaissance which the Generation
produced in Spanish literature, Federico de Onis quotes Juan Ramdn
Jimenez as referring to Benavente as "Principe de este Renacimiento"84
and this critic also states:

I cierto es que a la honda transformacidn

I o
que en la poeSia, la novela y las ideas
I
llevaron a cabo... Valle-Inclan, Unamuno,

_ 'Federico de Onis, Jacinto Benavente (New York: Instituto de las
ESpanas en los Estados Unidos, 1923), p. 15.

 

54

Ganivet, Azorin, Baroja, Harquina, Juan Ra-

mdn y Machado, corresponde la que Benavente

llevd a cabo en el teatro.8
Indeed, like the representatives of the novel, the essay and poetry,
Benavente transformed the drama, as we shall see in the following
pages.

His work is very extensive, he wrote some 180 dramas of various

kinds, with one, two, three and four acts. Besides his plays, he

wrote a five—volume collection of articles on dramatic criticism, 22

sobremasa (1910-16), and a series of papers on the theatre,Teatro del

 

pueblo. Benavente has also translated various foreign works, among
which are Moliere's Don Juan and Shakespeare's King Lear. He was
influenced in his work by these writers to a greater extent than by
the classic Spanish theatre, for Benavente deliberately broke with
Spanish tradition and often sought his models outside of Spain, in
Shakespeare, Moliere, Ibsen and the contemporary French dramatists.
He reacted against the traditional Spanish forms because of the
desire and the necessity to free the drama of its well-worn mold,
and to modernize it in keeping with the spirit of the new age. This
1 o o . I q .
was wnat Benavente accomplished in this genre. De Onis describes
his achievements in this way:
. O O O I I
Con independencia y agilidad de espiritu
admirables ha creado él solo toda una
literatura dramatica, que es espanola por
ser suya y que es a1 mismo tiempo universal

por haber logrado asimilar originalmente lag6
mas diversas tendencias del teatro europeo.

85Ibid,

Bélbid, p. 17

fl

55

So we have for the first time this cosmopolitan element in Spanish
drama; this art is no longer essentially Castillian as before, but
now has been permeated with the elements of other dramas. For Bena—
vente's theatre was capable of assimilating he influence of the
various EurOpean literatures without losing its originality. Through
the assimilation of these influences, he effected a new renaissance
in Spanish drama, by completely Europeanizing it, making it modern,
rich and varied.

The work of Jacinto Benavente contains the spiritual aspects of
the Generation, but the emphasis is different. Like the other mem—
bers of the movement, he criticized the society of his time, but un—
like them, he attacked chiefly one sector, the upper class. He
chose this class, he said, because it is more charitable to laugh at
those with advantages than at those suffering privations. He
satirized the complacency and hypocrisy of the aristocracy and his
work bears a strong mark of "costumbrismo." horeover, he rarely
considers the historical and political aspects of Spanish life --

La ciudad alegregy confiada is an exception —- and he did not concern
himself greatly with the Spanish problem. However, like the novelists,
he sought to present modern life as it was, and in so doing, got

away from the old romantic love story that had been customarily por-
trayed in plays.

His work includes plays of satire, of fantasy, rural dramas,
psychological studies, romantic comedies, plays of pageantry,
grotesques and children's plays. The first period of his production

may be called satiric, during which he criticized the society of his

kn
ox

day, first that of hadrid, the en ti lat of the provinces. In Gents co-
nocida (1 96), he satirizes the corrupt society of Hadrid and the
spendthrift customs of its aristocracy. The Duque de Garellano
describes the nobility of modern Spain to his mother thus:

En tus tiempos la aristocracia deslumbraba

con el brillo de sus titulos. Hoy un titulo

lo tiene cualquiera; se dan y se venden por
nada, y al que tiene dinero y lo sabe gastar,
nadie 1e pregunta de ddnde ha venido. Ya veras
a hontes una vez casado con Petra, mujer distin—
g“'da; dirigido por ella, sera més estimado en
todo Hadrid que nosotros; su casa sera un centre
de reunidn mas distinguido que la nuestra, y su
hija, esa hija natural, heredera de un capital
inmenso, se ca sara . . . con quien ella quiera,8
con el mas linajudo, con el mas aristocrata...

Hontes is the only character not bored with life because he hears the
quality dear to the hearts of the rembers of the Generation of 189'

-- he is a man of action.

La comida de las fieras (1898) presents the ruined noble

 

families who are forced to sell their heirlooms. Hipdlito brings

out this point:
...En America el hombre significa algo; es una
fuerza, una garantia... Aqui 1a riqueza es un
fin, no un medic para realizar grandes empre-
sas. La riqueza es el ocio; alli es la acti-
vidar. Por eso a1 g e1 dinero da triunfos, y
aqui desastres... U

Benavente here wants to turn the eyes of Spain on itself. He feels
that new ideas must be brought in from abroad and that the anti—

quated conventions in Spanish society must be replaced by new acti—
vities. But he feels that the good qualities in Spanish life should

be maintained, thus there was in him a basis of conservatism. He

87Jacinto Benavente, Teatro, volume I (hadrid : Hernar ndo, 1929),
127.

8
Benavente, Teatro, vol. II (Madrid: Hernando, 1920), p. 272.

shows this in lo cursi (1901) in which he satirizes the new spirit
of freedom which was gradually changing life in his country.
Benavente also wrote plays about the provinces. In La Farin-

dula, La Gobernadora and El crime Benin he exposes the evils of

 

 

caciouisro, the boss-system in politics, the criticism of which

unites him with all the members of the Generation. In La Goberna-

 

d233, also, we see the typically weak Benaventian here, like that
of Baroja, the man of no will, Don Santiago. In contrast are his
wife and hanolo, both characters with voluntad. Later, Benavente
wrote plays of middle-class life in which his satire is milder,

V

such as El :cnhrecito an Rosas de otoho. In these he deals with

 

 

the fundanental causes of the great problems of life. He shows
the falsity of the conventions of society and the egoism of men,
but he states the problems without directly offering any solutions.
It must be noted that although this playwright was pre—eminently a
satirist, his satire is very refined without any intention at
moralizing; rather, he seems to have an attitude of 'ndifference

to the social ills which he criticizes.

Benavente's dramas soon acquired a more moral and human tone
as his vision widened and became more profound, and we see not
only a criticism of society but the ideal of a better humanity,
and a certain compassion for human weaknesses. In his plays of
fantasy, Benavente leaves the confines of the society of hadrid
and enters a cosmopolitan and international world which is arti-
ficial and fantastic. Some of these are La noche del sdcado, .El

3 ’ o
dragon de fuegp, La_princesa Bebe, La fuerza bruta, La escuela de

\n
O)

0 ~ I, u, .
1as hrincesas and Les cacaorros. La noche del sanado deals With the

 

 

lives of princes, and in it,Benavente portrays the amoral and mean-
ingless lives of the members of this branch of society. We see the

ypical Benaventian heroine in the character of Inperia, who is the
personification of ambition or voluntad and achieves power through
her own will and energy. A complement to her is Leonardo who has no
will power, only the longing for an ideal.

Sacrificios, Alna triunfante, Has fuerte gue el amor and Lg§_
ojos de los nuertos are all deep psychological studies. According
to Walter Starkie, the first two;

Eight be called the most brilliant examples

in Spanish literature of that nodern type of

psychological drama to which the public of

EurOpe has become aceustoned.“’
This type of drama was an innovation in Spanish literary art because,
whereas the old authors were not concerned whether methods used to
reach the emotions of the public were good or bad, in Benavente's
psychological plays he attempts to portray the working of the sub-
conscious mind as realistically as possible. Starhie points out the

importance in Spanish letters of the first of these psychological

 

 

dramas:
To applaud Sacrificios meant an apostasy for
the Spanish public; it meant that the era of
red romantic drama, with its glorification of
force and its conventional and exaggerated
painting of passions, was past.
8

Q . . .
”Walter Starkie, Jacinto Benavente (London: Oxford UniverSity
Press, 192Q), p. 117.

901bid., p. 110.

59

Thus, in renovating the Spanish drama, Benavente got away from the
old romantic love story and portrayed life as it really was, whether
in the working of the mind, as these psychological plays or in those
dealing with everyday activities. In these four plays, Benavente
also develops what seems to be his feminist theory that women are
more capable of heroism than are men. He also expresses the SchOpen-
haueran concept of the will, for each heroine discovers that the

will to live requires sufferi-g. Doll, in Sacri_icios, and Isabel,

 

in Alma triunfante, both decide toannflfilate'this will by renouncirg

 

life because of love.
In his rural dramas, the most important of which are Sefiora

ama (1908) and La malquerida (1913), Benavente presents the Spanish

 

folk of old Castile, portraying their customs and their relation-
ship with one another. In the former, he gives us an interpretation
of what is the heart of a woman, in the character of Dominica who is

another of his heroines with a strong will. la malquerida shows the

 

consequence of the incestuous love of a father, Esteban, for his
stepdaughter, Acacia. Raimunda, the wife, is like Dominica and Isa-
bel, another of Benavente's strong heroines, and these female "per—
sonajes" all serve to show how feministic a trend he followed.

Les intereses creados (1907) is considered Benavente's greatest

 

dramatic achievement. In it he resorts to the grotesque masks of

the Italian connedia dell'grte for his types. The puppets, through
their actions, show the good and bad passions which inspire men's
deeds. Halter Starkie believes that "no play shows more completely

the delicate humowrof Benavente, and thus it may be taken as his

60

greatest masterpiece."91 The central character is the licvro, Cris—
pin, astute and wise and is considered by Federico de Onis to be the
great creation of Benavente.92 This is the one who puts into play
all the passions of the other characters, as he works in the service
of Leandro. The plot in brief is as follows: Leandro, having had to
flee from his creditors, allows his servant, Crispin, to obtain
money, food and lodging for them by pretending that he is a servant
of a great lord. he eventually arranges the marriage of his master
with Silvia, the daughter of the city's richest man. Benavente sums
up his phiIOSOphy in the words of Silvia concerning the true meaning
of the play, showing that although he is, in a sense, pessimistic,
yet he always looks ahead to the ideal of Christianity. She states
that in the play, as in life, we see puppets, like human beings,
moved by strings. These strings are their interests, their passions,
their deceits, their miseries. Some, who are pulled by their feet,
wander away hepelessly; others, pulled by their hands, work hard,
save their money and commit murders. But in the life of all of them,
at times appears a fine thread of love which makes us realize that
in life there is something divine, an eternal truth which goes on
even after the play ends.

hany critics say that Benavente's drama is not a pure expression
or portrait of life, but a critical philosophy. Indeed, in many of
his plays he exhibits a tendency towards philOSOphical moralizing.

In his symbolic play, Campo de Armifio, he seeks to restore love to

9llbid., p. 151.

92De Onis, Jacinto Benavente, p. 30.

61
its primitive truth. In El nal que nos hacen, he deve10ps the idea
that in order to accept the evil that is done to us we must under—
stand that it is punishment for evil that we ourselves have committed
He tells us in La ley de los nihos that the past life with its sins
can never be erased. In this play, too, Benavente deals with the
rights of a child. Spanish drama to this time had seldom considered
this subject, but in the program of the Generation of 1898 when all
the new social problems were dealt with, this area received some
attention. This dramatist has also written some plays for children
among which are El_principe_que todo lo_aprendi6 en los libros and
El nietecito.

In his numerous plays, then, Benavente introduced many new
subjects and new themes into the Spanish drama. He emphasized
psychological drama in his country and added the spirit of humour
and feminism which had been lacking in the nineteenth century drama.

Walter Starkie states:

The greatest service rendered by the dramatists
of the 1898 generation, under the leadership of
Benavente, was the gradual restoration of the
spirit of Humour. Benavente reintroduced the
comic spirit which was to correct pretentious-
ness, inflation, dullness, and the vestiges of
rawness and grossness to be found among men.

hereover, whereas most of the dramatists of Spain before Benavente
portrayed reality as something rigid and the characters adepted a
constant, unchanging manner; with this playwright life is presented
as it is and the personages change as they do in real life.

In the foregoing I have tried to present some of the new

 

93

Starkie, Jacinto Benavente, p. 201.

62

subjects which Benavente introduced into the Spanish drama, and also

to show how he renovated its material. Even more revolutionary were

his innovations in style and technique. These will be dealt with in

the next chapter.

CHAPTER III
STYLE AKD TECEKIQUE

The members of the Generation of 1898, in general, reacted
strongly against the grandiloquent rhetoric of the preceding era
and the work of most of them is characterized by simplicity,
sincerity and the vivid, expressive sentence. They made a sharp
break with the past because they believed that the worst vices of
Spanish writing —- careless ihprovisation and pompous phrases should
be avoided. Their literary endeavour, which has been called "e1 mo—
vimiento de bien escribir,”l demonstrated two main tendencies: one
towards extreme simplicity, evidenced chiefly in the work of Pie Ba—
roja, and the others, towards enrichment of the language, as seen
particularly in the poetic, highflown style of Valle-Inclan. Indeed,
their chief aim was to dignify Spanish literary expression, to give
the language greater empressive force. Juan Chabas quotes Azorin as
saying: "A los escritores del '98 preocupados por el estilo, por la
precisidn en el estilo, nos interesaba en extreme la precisidn en las
palabras."2 This sense of precision is expressed very strongly in
Unamuno who considered the establishment of a new literary language

to be the most important task of the new writers.

The Generation thought it necessary to establish this new

 

¥N0rthup, Introduction to Spanish Literature, p. #20.

2Chabés, Literatura espafiola contemporanea, p. 16.

63

64
language because, with the Europeanization and modernization of Spain,
it was essential to express the new ideas in a new form. Unamuno
states it in this way: ”Leter palabras nuevas, haya o no 6tras que
las reemplacen, es meter nuevos matices de ideas."3
This is not a problem peculiar to Spain or to that epoch, it has
happened in other literatures. In France, for example, the movements
of romanticism, parnasianism.and symbolism all represented a search
for new forms of expression; and in Spanish America, the influence of
romanticism resulted in the renovation of the language of poetry and
a subsequent transformation of the concept of that genre. Parallel
with this desire for a new language, however, was also recognized the
importance of expressing the new ideas within the old patterns of the
language.
The Generation, therefore, applied itself to a diligent study
of language, stressing its etimological significance as Unamuno did,
and selecting some classical forms but using chiefly those of ordinary
speech as did Azorin; while Valle—Inclan was concerned the enrichment
of Spanish through refinement. The result was a renovation of the
language so that it became more flexible and capable of expressing
modern ideas. The Generation of 1898, indeed, produced a new renais-
sance in Spanish prose by giving it new life and a greater power of
expression.
Concerning literary technique, the tendency was to move away
from the objective and impersonal narrative which characterized the

nineteenth century novelists, and instead to emphasize expression of

 

3Unamuno, El Idioma in Ensavos (Hadrid: Aguilar, l942), p. 310.

65
the author's intellectual or emotional responses to certain things
in his environment. But although each writer, in his manner of
writing, shows the general tendencies of the hovement, yet each
demonstrates a personal style clearly differentiated by certain
features from that of the others.

In this chapter, I shall deal with the style and literary
technique of each writer. I shall attempt to show the diverse
means ty which they sought to renovate Spanish literary art, and by
which they effected a revival of Letters in Spain during this

period.

[hiav1n10

 

Perhaps the most asystexatic and provocative of all his con—
te poraries, Unaruno has stated his indifference to the refinements
of style. He was more interested in the content of his writing, in
his ideas through which he wanted to arouse Spaniards from he
inertia into which they had fallen, and to make them think for them-
selves. About his style he says:

0 o o ’ O

No Siento...supersticion alguna hac1a la
lengua literaria, y buena prueba de ello
es que cuando escribo, escribo por lo ge—
neral, a vuela pluma, huyendo del estilis-

I o o

no, para aSl tener estilo...Yo he aspirado
Siempre a que de mis escrituras se diga:
"Shablan como un hombre2," en vez que de

’ '3. 1‘ ~.- I i
mi se oiga que haolo como un libro.

Unamuno felt, then, that there should be less distinction between

the language used in conversation and that used in writing

0

because,

I think, he believed that a writer's function was not to attract

4Unamuno, Ensa“os,II, p. 630.

66
the reader by his style or technique but rather by what he had to
say. He states:
‘,'0 N ° I. ’ -~.
hi enpeno ha Sido, es y sera que los que
me leen piensen y nediten en las cosas
fundamentales...Yo he buscado Siempre agi-
I ’ o o
tar y a lo sumo sugerir mas que instruir.
’ o a a a a o a
Y lo mas de mi laoor ha Sido Siempre inquie-
tar a mis lectores./
Unam‘no had his own idea of what constituted good writing. To him,
it was not based on grammatical norms and rhetoric but ”el escribir
o I .1 . I o
bien sera escrioir cono se habla -— segun las normas fonéticas."6
He believed in writing "conversacionalmente," "como hombre y no co-
mo escritor."7 He speaks out against modernism:
t sto eso que llaman modernismo. No hay
s que el eternismo...Incluso desde el pun-
. I’ o I
to de Vista estetico...no hay cosa mas deplo-
rable que eso que llaman el estilo de los ec—
tilistas.
He detests it because he feels that this type of literature puts its
readers to sleep whereas the true purpose of the writer or poet is
to awaken the public. He praises Antonio hachado as a Spaniard preoc-
cupied with the task of awakening the national consciousness. He
sees in his work, as he does in that of Kierkegaard, the triumph of
1 ’ o ’ o 0
"el hombre etico" over "el hombre estetico." For Unamuno, man 15

more important than any work of art. He repeatedly voices this idea

throughout his works as he said in his En torno al casticismo: "La

 

5Unamuno, Ensavos II, pp. 300-301.
6Unamuno, Ensayos I, p. 208.

7Ibid., p. 455.

BUnamuno, “nsavos II, pp. LVII, 1156.

6?
vida mas oscura y hunilde vale infinitamente mas que la mas grande
obra de arte."9
host of Unamuno's novels are stories of passion and tragecy based
on conflict in which his characters fight against desti.y. Unamuno

seems to put himself and his own personal interior struggle into

these novels. With him as Cansinos-Assens states in his La nueva li-
9

 

teratura, the Spanish novel ceased to be "un cuadro de costumbres"

 

and is converted into an essay of practical ideology, into "una pro—
pedéutica de las ideas."lo

Unamuno called many of his stories nivolas -- "relates acezados
de realidades intimas" -- in which each character serves as a mouth-
piece for the author's ideas. These tales are almost free of the

usual mechanics of fiction such as physical description of characters,

W o ’
background or setting. Let's take Amer y pedagogia as an example.

4

Here Avito Carrascal wishes by scientifically educating his son, to
create a genius. He, however, through his attempts, causes his son
to commit suicide. In this story, mechanics of style are not the
important factor, but Unamuno seems to want us to think about the
question: Does science have the answers to our doubts and needs for
immortality and for God? In Niebla there appears one of Unamuno's
dominant stylistic traits —- that of creating a character who fights
against destiny and wants to live independently of his creator, the

author. But central in the story are the questions which the author

9Unamuno, Ensayos, I, p. 22.

10Rafael Cansinos-Assens, La nueva literatura, I (hadrid: Edito—
rial Paez, 1925), p. 51.

63

broaches on the subjects of a living idea and reality and the meaning
of existence. Concerning ideas, Augusto says: "una idea es Siempre
inmortal... Los inmortales no vivimos, y yo no vivo, sobrevivo; 3y
soy idea!"11 Then he declares to the author after his death: "aunque
dormido y sofiando afin vivo,"12 and of the meaning of existence, he
reaches the conclusion that the real world is merely the dream we all
dream, the dream we have in connon.

I find particularly interesting the manner in which Unamuno
dispenses with background or setting in this story. He has the prota-
gonist simply appear on a city street as if he has "stepped out of

the misty realm of ideas."13 In Abel Sinchez, which is concerned

 

with the subject of fratricide, Unamuno invites the reader to
contemplate the concepts of hate and envy as he presents the pro—
tagonist Joaquin honegro in his anguish and struggles against these
two passions.

The more existentialist aspects of this writer's work are re-

0 I ‘-
presented by Tres novelas eiemplares, La tia Tula and San Lanuel Ene—

 

 

no, nartir. In these, as in all his work, Unamuno expresses his own
ideas through his characters. In San Kanuel Eueno, nartir, we see
how a priest struggles to find his faith, which was the exact
experience of the writer. The theme here seems to be that the noble

life of a good nan can actually serve to create faith in others even

 

llUnamuno, Hiehla (hadrid: Renacimiento, 1928), pp. 290-291.
lZIbid., p. 302.

13Sherman Eoff, The hodern Spanish Novel (New Yerk: New York
University Press, 1961), p. 191.

though he himself may be incapable of belief. It also illustrates
another of Unamuno's ideas, that it is the martyr who creates faith
rather than vice—versa. He expresses, too, one of his thoughts on
religion:

Todas las religiones son verdaderas en cuanto

hacen vivir espiritualmente a los pueblos que

las profesan, en cuanto les consuelan de haber

tenido que hacer para morir, y para cada pueblo

la religidfi mas verdadera es la suya, la que le

ha hecho.l
The most realistic of his novels is Psz en la grerra, which deals
with the Carlist siege of Bilboa in 1874. Unamuno calls this book
"una historia anovelada," and says that "apenas hay en ella detalle

O ’ O O
que haya inventado yo. Podria documentar sus mas menudos episodios."l5
It is regarded too, as being autobiographical. The author hiaself
T. . :ta. ~ ’ -+ ’ 1 .. ’.~ In ‘ :1 1 * . ' ' J

sags. haul esta el eco...ce los Lao noncos recaeroos ce n1 Vida y de
la vida del pueblo en que naci y he crie'."16 This book, his first,
is written in the tradition of the nineteenth century realistic
novel and as such bears some of those characteristics. Thus, from
the point of view of stylistic techniques, Pas en la guerra can be
considered the most artistic of his novels. There is evidence of a
concise style, and examples of regionalism and costumbrism -- he even

uses some words that are typical of the region and he mentions some

folklore. There are poetic phrases such as "horas muertas," "ojos

 

it I I
Unamuno, San flannel Breno, nartirgy tres historias was (Buenos
Aires: Espasa-Calpe, 1951), p~ @3-

15Unanuno, sz en laflgwerra (hadrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1960), p. 9.

16Ibid.

7O
bovinos," "risueho Valle" and poetic images such as "saboreaba la
miel de sus menorias." Very often he uses exclamations to excite
the reader, and rhetorical questions to show doubt. hetaphors and
siriles are also employed: The crowd looks "cono una serpiente de
mil anillos" and the Carlist insurrection grew "poco a poco cono ve—
getacidn que va ganando suelo."l7 There is also balance and rhythm

in the composition and flow of many of the sentences. Los paisajcs

 

are also important in forming a background for the narration.
Unamuno makes a distinction between the style of this book and
that of those previously mentioned in this discussion. He says that
in these others "no he querido distraer al lector del relato del de-
sarrollo de acciones y pasiones hunanas."13 For this reason, while
there are stylistic details in Paz en la guerra, in the majority of
the others, Unamuno has used what Andrenio calls the theory of "la

, . Q
novela cesnuda,"l’

that is, a novel free of stylistic details.
The lack of artistic impartiality is noticeable in Unamuno's

literary technique for his stories are extremely personal. In San

\r ’ o o n
kanuel Bueng, partir, we see a reflection of his own personal strug-

 

gle in the religious torment of San Lanuel, through whom he also
expresses many of his own ideas such as that the noble life of a

good man can create faith in others and that it is terrible to live
without faith. In Niebla he enters the story as a character speaking

to the protagonist. Chandler and Schwartz quotes Eugenio de Kora as

 

17Unamuno, Pas en ‘0 ~1erra, p. 96.

.J—'.& 3

131mm, p. 9.

19Andrenio, Fovelas‘ygnovelistas (hadrid: Calleja, 1918), p. 2&4.

71

stating thi Unamuno lacks "la objetividad del gran creador." 0 But
I think Unamuno wanted his stories to be personal; that is the best
his

way he could express the ideas with which he wanted to provoke

readers to thought and subsequent action.
Unamuno's characters are often synbolic, as we see in Iiebla

where Augusto Perez represents love. In facing their problens they

seem to have no free will to act, and seem also to follow a course

predetermined by faith or the author.
Throughout his works, Unamuno showed an interest in the power of

words as did the entire Generation. Along with his other thenes of

Spain, nan and religion, language was one of his principal preoccupa-
tions. As a philologist and writer, he felt a passion for the Spanish

language; he saw it as both an instrument of the writer and as one

way of arriving at the soul of the Spanish peeple. He devotes many

of his works to the theme of language. In his five essays of En

torno a1 casticitfo and in Ia reforra del castellaro and Sobre la

rfcla he discusses this subject. The following are some

of his views. Unamuno says that the word is a form of life and when

life changes words themselves must change. That is why he brought

about a renaissance in the Spanish language, he thought it needed to

be renovated since it now had to express new ideas and thoughts of

the time. He insisted upon a scientific study of the language and

on its Ehropeanization so that it would have amplitude capable of

expressing the new. He states in his Ensavos:

. ’
RevoluCionar la lengua es la mas honda revolu—
o 1 . - ’ . ’
Cidn que puede hacerse, Sin ella, la revoluCion

Chandler and Schwartz, A New History'of Spanish Literature, p.234.

'7’)
{La
0 ’
en las ideas no es mas que aparente.21
In renovating the Spanish language, Unamuno was willing to accept

certain barbarisms, some neologisns and other innovations along with

concentration on the traditional language of his people. He, pore—

over, considered the use of foreignisms to be necessary in the

modernization of Spanish:

El viejo castellano, aconpasado y enfatico...
que oscilaba entre el gongorismo y el concep—
tismo, dos fases de la misna dolencia...nece—
sitaba refundicidn. Necesita para eurOpeizar-
se a la moderna mas ligereza y mas precisidn...
algo de desarticulacidn...de una sintaxis nenos
involutiva, de una notacidn has rapida.

The adoption of foreign words was another innovation by which Unamuno

chose to enliven and enrich the Spanish language. He considered their

use necessary'to express new things, he eXplains this in his essay

Sohre la lengua esjafola. One way to renovate the old, tired language,

he says, is to "inundarlo" with "exotismo eurOpeo."23 Besides, since
not everyone could read the original works of such writers as Kierke—
gaard and Ibsen, he thought translations into Spanish of the most
important EurOpean books were one way of bringing new ideas to the

country. He thought, too, that Castillian Spanish should incorporate

sone American fan 5:

- . . I. .-1
b1 futuro language hispanico no puede ni Gene
0’ I
ser una futura expanSion del castizo castella-
I O 0’ V. C
no, Sine una integraCion de hahlas diferenCia-

das sohre su base, retandgasu indole, 0 sin res-

petarla, si hace al caso.
Important to this writer, also, was a knowledge of the language

spoken hy'the people. He based his theory'of style, as Blanco Agui-

 

21Unamuno, Ensayos I, pp. 30b-305.
22ibid., p. 304.

a .
Z/Ihid., p. 394.

24Ibid.

73

naga tells us,25 on the idea that "hay una bastante abierta disiden-

cia entre nuestra lengua hablada y nuestra lengua escrita."26 There-
fore, he wanted to use, in his writings, the language of everyday
speech, but thought it should be used with imagination.” Rafael La—

pesa quotes Unamuno as replying, when accused of employing some words

which did not appear in the Academy Dictionary: "Ila las pondran!

Y las pondran cuando los escritores llevemos a la literatura 1as vo—
ces espafiolas--espafiolas, ieh?--que andan, y desde siglos, en boca
del pueblo."28 In his works he therefore, uses such words from the
spoken language as honddn, redahos, sobrehaz, meollo, and Lednisms
such as renejer, brijar, gggfielno and perinchir.

Unamuno uses the metaphor and the paradox because "la metafora,
la parabola y la paradoja son los elementos didacticos de las ensehan-
zas orales del divino maestro."29 Besides, he feels that the use of
thesefigures of Speech further encourages the reader to stop and

. , . I .
think. He thought that "la paradOJa suele ser el modo mas eficaz de

transmitir la verdad a los torpes y a los distraidos."30
Unamuno, therefore, seemed very sincerely to View literary genres

as media fer expressing his personal ideas. He did not believe that

 

25Carlos Blanca Aguinaga, Unamuno, tedrico del lenguaje (Lexico:
El Colegio de hékico, 1954), p. 57.

26Unamuno, Ensavos’I, p. 309.

27Ibid., p. 725.
28Rafael Lapesa, Historia de la lengua espafiola (hadrid: Esceli-
cer, 1959), Po 235'

29Unamuno, Ensavos, I, p. 719.

 

71,1,
the writer should be bound by stylistic details but that he should
write simply and conversationally. In this way he would impress by
what he had to say, not by how he wrote. This writer also had many
ideas on ways of renovating the Spanish language and, by practising
these and his beliefs on style, he played an important part in the

revival of Spanish literary art and language.

 

Baroja says that the novel "es un saco donde cabe todo."31 To
him, the novel should cover all phases of human life. As he explains
in his "Prdlogo casi doctrinal sobre la novela," the prologue to L2

2 O O
nave de los locos,3 which is usually taken as a text of reference

 

for his novelistic art, the novel is a genre which is "Open", poly-
morphic, undefinable. Typical of his generation, he felt that the
novel should take the haphazard course of the average human life.
Therefore, he wrote his novels without any apparently preconceived

plan. There is no artificially arranged plot in his books; on the

‘l

contrarV, things happen to the characters nore or less haphazardly as

‘d
they do in real life. Juan Chabas describes Baroja's literary tech-
nique in the following way:

El hecho novelable fundamental, para el, es
una vida. El hilo de una vida. Baroja tona
ese hilo, lo enhebra de una vez en su aguja
de marear vidas, y empieza a tejer, sin con-
tar los puntos, la red de su historia. For
todas las mallas se le escapa el personaje,
se le pierde, y él, ese gran tejedor y pesca-

 

71 a . , .I .. .
’ Pio Baroga, hemorias de un honors de aCCion, V (nadrid: Espasa—

Calpe, 1928), p. 153.

32Pic Baroja, "Prdlogo casi doctrinal sobre la novela." Revista
£15: Occidente (x-Zadrid 1925), pp. 258-272.

75

dor de aventuras que es Baroja, se encuentra

1 " _ -

de pronto que en su red...han caido otros per-

sonajes con sus aventuras, sus hazanas, sus

historias. £Qué hacer? Baroja, con sus hilos

de las nuevas vidas, enhebra otras agujas, si-

gue tejiendo y, de cuando en cuando, da un ti-

r6n al hilo primero y tej e un poco 1as de red.

A esa red, Baroja la llama un saco. 33
7-3 .1 ' . .1. ' - w- -. - - ' .
Baroda s novels, then, contain many disgreSSions and inconSistences,
but he has all life as his model which is, indeed, full of inconsist-
ences. Thus, Baroja transformed.the Spanish novel. He developed a
new technique, gave the novel new form by writing instinctively and
thus introducing an element of surprise into the novel.

When he began writing, at the end of the nineteenth century, the
Spanish novel as a genre was at a standstill. The only true creator
was Galdds. The genre needed to be saved by new techniques and new
foras of eXpression had to be found This was what Pio Baroja set
out to do in his novels. He saw it necessary to break with specific
forms, he did not believe there was only one way of writing a novel,
‘ ’ C
out as he has been quoted by Chabas as saying:

I a
La novela hoy por hoy es un genero multiforne,
. .I .’

proteico, en fornaCion, en fermentaCion. Lo

aoarca todo: el libro filosdfico, el libro psi—

c016 gico, la aventura, la utopia, lo epico, to-

do absolutamente.J
This is an apt description of the type of novel which Baroja wrote,
and in the wealth of novels which he wrote, he r n the whole gamut
of human experier ces. His first vo unes deal with Basque regional

life, three of these are La casa de Aizgorri, El mayorazgo de Labraz

I o . .
and Zalacain1 el aventurero. hany of his novels were written in

33Chabds, Literatura esnahola contemporanea, p. 7H.

3141131041

 

)\

,
r

(a

/
I

trilogies; he even wrote one tetralomv His works fall under such

"3|, 0

g

wasado, La raza, Las ciudades,

7",
_J_

headings as La lucha por la vida, El

 

El mar, Henorias de un hombre de accidn, Agonias de nuestro tienpg,
La selva oscura and La_juventud perdida. So we can see that Baroja's
work cover all of life, in all its various aspects. In his trilogy
La lucha por la vida, where he portrays the low life of hadrid, he
wrote in a somewhat picaresque form.

In discussing the composition of Baroja's novels, we shall see
how he effected the rebirth of a genre which had become static. His
novels are loaded with characters and action. He presents many social
outcasts and often shows them as victims of a cruel society. But he
did not wish to preach to the reader, he merely spoke harshly against
a society which he sometimes felt was responsible for the individual's
plight. Above all, he wanted to portray life realistically as he saw
it. He thought that this could be done best through his recounting
the actions of individuals. Because of this, he peOpled his stories
with vagabonds and adventurers, usually peripatetic heroes who have a
panoramic view of life and its experiences. Andrenio, in his Hovelas
_y_novelistas, mentions this "nomadisno" which is characteristic of
many of Baroja's personajes. He calls them ”n6madas, aventureros
errantes, que vagan de unos en otros lugares; seres inquietos que no
hacen asiento en ciudades, ni profesiones ni estados ni siquiera en
sus pasiones."35 In his novels, everything seems to revolve around

he human, for in this way he felt he could best portray life. He
wrote: "Para mi, en la literatura no hay mas que la unidad huhana

o o o u I g o ‘
con su identificaCion, su nomore, apellido, temperamento y denas

 

35Andrenio, Hovelasgy novelistas, pp. 27M—275.

J.

77

C'\

circunstancias."3 In some of his books, he presents the man of action,
the man with vo untad. In one phiIOSOphical passage,37 he discusses
the growth of the fictional hero in modern EurOpe and says that the
man of action was a conscious choice with him. Intrigue and adventure
occupy a central place in Baroja's novels. To him, being dynamic was
the only answer to life's problems. He does not, like Unamuno, limit
himself to the probing of the soul of a few characters, paying no
attention to their surroundings. On the contrary, he surrounds his
personages with a mob of others, and piles action on action to give

a mass picture. He also creates an air of movement by the constant
coming and going of his characters.

Besides his protagonists there are other characters whom Dwight
Bolinger labels as "proxies."38 These are shadowy characters whose
physical traits are slighted or omitted and who appear to serve only
as the author's mouthpiece. These include personages such as Iturrioz

in La dana errante and La ciudad de la niehla, and Arcelu in El mundo

 

e" «poi
D C1..-b..'-—.

 

In tranSforming the Spanish novel, Baroja shows a contempt for
pattern as did Unamuno, Azorin and Benavente. For him, a novel is
not an organized work of art, but a dispersion of action, time and
adventure. He did not believe in a single formula for writing a novel,
but he felt that there were certain elements which constituted a good
novel. D. L. Shaw, in his article on Baroja's ideas on the art of the

06 ’ ' . .‘ .
J Pio Baroga, Obras completas, V (Ladrid: “iolioteca Nueva, lgdé),

Po 715.

QY‘!
Jr ' . q ’
Baroga, El nocturno del hermano Beltran, p. 257.

38Dwight L. Bolinger, "Heroes and Hamlets: The Protagonists of
Baroja's Novels." Hispania, XXIV (February 1941), 91.

78
novel,39 mentions these elements: Baroja believed that the real enemy
of artistic creation is conscious technique which kills spontaneity.
He Opposes Ortega y Gasset chiefly on this point, for whereas Ortega
y Gasset believed that the "realidad vivida" of life and the "realidad
contemplada" of art are at Opposite extremes, as he eXpresses in his

0 . ’ . I I I
La deshumanizaCion del artes Baroga inSists that art is a spontaneous

 

creation arising directly out of "lived reality," that is, observation
of experience. D. L. Shaw points out that Baroja describes his novels
as "de observaci6n de la vida" and as "reportaje" and that he feels
that a novel should consist, as far as possible, of "costas vistas"

40 Shaw

and its description should arise from direct impression.
further relates how Baroja, in an article in Insula (no. 82), and
also in conversation with him, strongly criticized Galdds for having
used, in one of his Enisodios, a description of a town which he had
not visited.

Baroja himself,true to his theories, was a spontaneous, instinc-
tive writer. He proceeds with a jerky, rapid, direct style to pro-
duce unorganized stories. The essential elements in them seem to be
action, intellectual reflection, and description. I already have
discussed the first at length in Chapter II and further in this
section. Through the intellectual reflection of his characters Ba-

rOja could express many of his own ideas. We see an example of this

in the character of Iturrioz, in El arbol de la ciencia, who always

 

engaged in reflections on life, serving as Baroja's mouthpiece and

revealing the author's own pessimism and skepticism.

39D. L. Shaw, "A Reply to Deshumanizacidn--Baroja on the Art of
the Novel." Hispanic Review, XXV (Harch I957), 107.

h

0
Ibid.

79

Baroja displays his magnificent descriptive power in his portrayal
of characters and paisaie . For him, a character, if he is to seem real,
must live in a definite place and must have a known circumstance. Juan
Chabas quotes him as saying, ”No podria hablar de un personaje si no su-
piera d6nde vive, y en qué ambiente se mueve."41 Here is an example of
his descriptive technique:

Una ingente montaha, cubierta en su falda de retamares

y jarales florecidos, se levantaba frente a ellos; bro—

taba sola, separada de otras muchas, desde el fondo de

una c6ncava hondonada, y al subir y ascender enhiesta,

1as plantas iban escaseando en su superficie y terminaba

en su parte alta aquella mole de granito como muralla li-

sa 0 pefi6n tajado y desnudo, coronado en la cumbre por

multitud de riscos, de afiladas aristas, de pedrujos ro-

tos y de agujas delgadas como chapiteles de una catedral.

En lo hondo del valle, al pie de la montaha, veianse

por todas partes grandes piedras esparcidas y rotas, 00mo

si hubieran sido rajadas a martillazos; los titanes, cons-

tructores de aquel pareddn cicl6peo, habian dejado aEando-

nados en la tierra los bloques que no les sirvieron. 2
we see that in his descriptive technique Baroja pays much attention to
presenting his observations realistically for the reader, with an obvious
familiarity with what he describes.

Baroja often uses adjectives of exaggerated severity. The ones
most commonly used are stupid, absurd, ridiculous and silly. In El arbol
de la ciencia, the professor "era un pobre hombre presuntuoso ridiculo,”u3
Spain lived "en un ambiente de Optimismo absurdo."uu Baroja also

repeatedly expressed his belief that life itself was an absurdity. We

can see, perhaps, in him a forerunner of French

HlChabés, Literatura espafiola contemporanea, p. 76.

8 uzPio Baroja, Camino degperfeccidn (Madrid: Caro Raggio, 1913),
P- 3.

 

lOuBPiO Baroja, El arbol de la ciencia (Hadrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1932),
P. o

1
“Ema, p. 275.

80

existentialism, that of Sartre and Camus, who used the words absurd,
hostile, useless, perhaps more often than any others in their references
to life. In his severe descriptions, Baroja often adds touches of
naturalism to his writing. For example, in a discussion about the
right to have children, he describes a servant in this way:

La mujer, sin dientes, con el vientre constantemente

abultado, tenia una indiferencia de animal para los

embarazos, los partos y las muertes de los ni'rlos.»5

Again, in Mala hierba, he describes a room hus:

 

El cuarto era nauseabundo, atastado de anuncios

rotos, grandee y pequenos, pegados a la pared;

en un rincdn habia una cama estrecha y sin hacer;

tres sillas destripadas, con la crin al descubier-

to, y en medic un brasero cubierto con una alam-

brera, Egcima de la cual se secaban dos calcetines

sucios.'

Most striking in his style is the extreme simplicity of his prose.
He represented one tendency of the Generation of 1898 in style~—the
tendency towards clear, sinple, precise eXpression. We cannot help
seeing a constant sincerity in his work. He says:
’ I
Supongo, was 0 nenos piadosamente, que algunos
de mis libros, si no tienen valor de Obras de

v . ~ J_ I
arte, tienen valor de documentos porque eaten
escritos...sin ninguna tendencia al artificio.

Q?
He practised what he called ”la estética del imprOperio,” that is,
saying in complete independence what he thinks of anything.

Many critics have claimed that Baroja had no style, but, as

Chandler and Schwartz say,.”Baroja's very lack of style is his style.”48

45Ib1d, p. 275.
#6
Pic Baroja, Mala hierba, p. 39.
47Pio Baroja, Memorias de un hombre de acci6n, pp. 36-37.

uBRichard E. Chandler and Kessel Schwartz, A.New History of
l§panish Literature, p. 243.

81

Most important to this author was to present life as he observed it
and he wanted his style to suit his realistic description. He felt
that he could best describe life through the individual and that his
novel should follow the course of the life of the average person.
Because of this, his stories are unorganized, with disgressions and
inconsistencies. But that is how life is, and that was what Baroja
set out to portray, and in so doing, he developed a new technique in
novel writing and helped to produce the rebirth of a genre which had

become static.

Azorin
Azorin, who had a highly personal and evocative manner of writing,

played a very important r616 in helping to produce a new era in
Spanish letters for he wrote in a new style, and added an intimate,
personal element to Spanish prose. Juan Chabas states:

Uno de los escritores que han hecho de la

voluntad de renovar el estilo una verdadera

conciencia es seguramente Azorin. Renovar el

estilo es hallar un diferente y personalisimo

ritmo a la prosa; es encontran—-—escorzandolas

para recrearlas.-—una mayor libertad para las

palabras; es, frente a la ampulosidad o a la

vulgaridad, conseguir una claridad sencilla y

escueta. He aqui todo lo que ha perseguido y

logrado Azorin...
Unlike the long, involved sentences of the traditional period of
Spanish prose, Azorin uses short sentences, separated by the semi-
colon or period. He rarely uses the particle gue and is the sworn
enemy of similes and metaphors, but he overworks the rhetorical

question, uses much repetition and also uses mostly the present tense.

He also seems fond of subject pronouns. Here is a typical passage:

 

49Chaba’s, Literatura espafiola contempgranea, p. 95.

82

Cuando la duefia de la casa me ha dicho: "Deje
usted el sombrero," yo he sentido una impre—
si6n tremenda. .1D6nde lo dejo? lCdmo lo de-
jo? Yo estoy sentado en una butaca, violenta-
mente, en el borde; tengo el bast6n entre las
piernas, y sobre 1as rodillas e1 sombrero. £06-
mo 10 dejo? {andeT En 1as paredes de la sala
veo cuadros con flores que ha pintado la hija
de la casa; en el techo estan figuradas unas
nubes azules, y entre ellas revoltean cuatro o
seis golondrinas.

'We see in this selection the use of the semi-colon or period to separate
short sentences, the rhetorical questions, repetition and, above all,
the extreme simplicity and clarity of style. Azorin was deeply
interested in the perfection of the Spanish language and considered
clarity of style as a mark of elegance. Cansinos-Assens has described
his writing "como un tirso desnudo de toda hojarasca" and says that
”tiene toda la gracia en la sutileza y en la claridad. Nada de pompa
innecesaria, nada de falso."51 It was Azorin's intention to create a
clear, plain language in which he would replace the vague sonorous
sentences of the nineteenth century writers with greater exactness.
Concerning the use of comparisons, Azorin says:

...la comparaci6n es el mas grave de ellos

(de los subterfugios y tranquilos). Comparar

es evadir la dificultad...es algo primitivo,

infantil..., una supercheria que no debe emplear

ningfin artista...Se trata de producir una sensa-

cién desconocida, apelando a otra conocida...,

que es lo mismo que si yo, no pudiendo contar

una cosaé llamase a1 vecino para que la contase

por mi.
Jose Maria Martinez Cachero53 points out that Azorin, in his desire

 

5OAzorin, Las confesiones de ungpequefio fildsofo, p. 151.
5lCansinos-Assens, La nueva literatura, I, p. 88.
52Azorin, Obras completas, I (Madrid: Aguilar, 1962), p. 861.

53Jose Maria Martinez Cachero, Las novelas de Azorin.(Madrid: In-
sula, 1960), p. 36.

83
to produce a faithful c0py of reality in his novels, was indignant

at the frequent use of such an evasive procedure as comparison.

Similarly, Azorin dislikes the use of literary images. In chapter

sixteen of Salvadora de Olbena, the character Paco Ardales, a poet,

states:

E1 decir que las imagenes son 10 esencial en
el arte de escribir, me parece absurdo; no es
verdaderamente escritor quien no sabe escribir
secamente, escuetamente, sin una sola imagen.
La imagen es lo que envejece 61 arts, la ima-
gen es lo vulgar. Escribir con imdgenes es ha-

cer trampa en el juego.54
Azorin, therefore, very rarely uses images and comparisons in his

writing.

The novelistic technique of Azorin seems an antithesis to that

of Baroja. For, whereas in the latter's works there is a hasty suc—

cession of events, Azorin's stories are characterized by a contempla-

tive slowness, and hardly anything happens. As is not the case in

Baroja, there is little action and if there is any intrigue, it is

very vague. Azorin helped to produce a new renaissance in Spanish

letters because he brought to it the spirit of observation, the psy.
chological purpose, and the calm and measure which are characteristic

of other literatures. He had read Descartes' Discours de la méthode,

works of Racine, Sthendal and Balzac, and had studied Taine and other

writers and critics. His works reflect many of the ideas that he had

gleaned from these and other foreign writers.
Azorin exhibits a great fondness for the simple, little things

of life. Concerning this fondness, he refers to Racine's words in the

_V_

54Azorin, Obras cgnpletas, VII, p. 609.

84

preface of Bérénice—-—9Toute l'invenci6n consists a faire quelque
chose de rien,” saying:

De entonces aca (afios en Paris de 1936 a 1939)

se ha ido simplificando la materia novelistica:

3610 me complace lo sencillo, hacer algo de nada:

1a f6rmula raciniana es para mi 61 culmen del arte.55
Martinez Cachero points out that the nada of Racine and Azorin does not
refer to nothing, but rather to the small concrete facts of life.
Theirs is an art of the miniature. Azorin believed that it was in the
minutiae of daily life which he observed in the small villages and
cities that one could best discover the essence of Spain. In this
vein, he writes of the three most common phrases he used to hear as a
child:

Si yo tuviera que hacer el resumen de mis sen-

saciones de nifib en estos pueblos Opacos y 56r-

didos...Escribiria sencillamente los siguientes
corolarios:

”IE3 ya tarde!"

”8Qué le vamos a hacer!"

"lAhora se tenia que morir!"

...ellas resumen bgevemente 1a psicologia de la

raza espafiola... 5
In creating atmosphere, Azorin describes everything in a chosen scene
--such as on a street or in a room, because he thinks these minute
details are suggestive of the whole scene. His novels are really
impressionistic interpretations of what Yuste in La voluntad said.was
the measure of an artist--"su sentimiento de la naturaleza del paisa-
je." His technique is impressionistic; he seeks to produce a sensa-

tion of things Spanish and at the same time to give the reader the

intimate, spiritual reality of these things. His descriptions, there-

 

55Ibid., p. 872.

56Azorin, Las confesiones de un pequefio fildsofo, p. 155.

85
fore, usually have lyric and emotional overtones.
Rather than narrative, too, his novels are more essayistic in form.

Why is this so? Perhaps because of Azorin's ideas on the use of dialogue
and its falsity in portraying reality. As he does with comparisons and
images, Azorin uses dialogue very sparingly because he feels that this
form in novels is usually artificial and excessively literary and that
this is not so in life. He says:

...en la vida no se habla asi, se habla con

incoherencias, con pausas, con arrafos bre—

ves, incorrectos, naturales...
Although some of Azorin's works -- La voluntad, Antonio Azorin, Las
confesiones de un_pquefio filosofo, Don Juan and Dona Inés are called
novels, some critics doubt whether they are properly so classified
chiefly because of their autobiographical, fragmentary, lyrical
nature. Moreover, there is little story in most of them and no plot,
since Azorin‘s chief interest lies in giving his reflections on him-
self and on Spanish life. César Barja describes Azorin's art in this
way:

Lo prOpio del arte de Azorin es el caracter

fragmentario y estatico del pequefio cuadro,

de la pequefia escena, de la sensacidn o emo-

cion momenténea —-tiene mucho de sala 0 ga-

leria de museo la obra de Azorin--; de nin-

guna manera e1 complejo o interno dinamismo 8

de un verdadero organismo de novela 0 de drama.5
Except in the relating of his past experiences, which are often
treated with a touch of fantasy, Azorin usually sticks to the report-
ing of his observations of reality. Julio Casares feels that this

is because this writer lacks a creative imagination. He says:

 

57Amrin, Obras completas, I, p. 863.
58

Cesar Barja, Libros y autores contemporaneos, p. 291.

86

Yo me explico este afan de Azorin de aferrar-

se a la realidad, por su falta de fantasia.

.Tengo el convencimiento de que, privado de

imaginacién creadora, es incapaz de inventar

personajes, escenas o tramas novelescas...En

cuanto a escenas imaginarias no 5610 no 1as

busca, sino que las rehuye cuidadosamente,

para no verse en el trance de escribir lo que

no ha visto con los ojos de la cara.59
Cansinos-Assens, Romero Mendoza and Antonio Zunzunegui all share the
same view concerning Azorin's apparent lack of imagination. I do
not believe that Azorin lacked the ability to be creative; I feel
that this writer thought fantasy should not be the most important
element in a novel which he believed should be, as much as possible,
a reflection of reality. Like Baroja, he felt that a faithful
portrayal of reality could be achieved in only one way -- by observa-
tion. He,therefore, wrote, in his novels and essays, his observa-
tions of Spanish life, as shown by the daily actions of the peOple
and of his own life. I do not think he was interested in imaginary
happenings.

The protagonist of Azorin's novels is the writer himself, for in
that way he is best able to give his own impressions, recollections
and thoughts. This is so, not only in his obviously autobiographical
novels. Also in his other works he is easily recognizable, such as
in the characters of don Pablo of Doha Ines and Félix Vargas 0f.§i
caballero inactual. The appearance of the same personage in Azorin's
novels adds a certain monotony to his works. Some critics such as
the Spanish-Italian Franco Meregalli, attribute this to Azorin's

59Julio Casares, Critica profana (Madrid: Imprenta Colonial, 1916),
p. 124.

87
incapacity to create character. But Ortega y Gasset gives what seems

to me to be a better explanation:

Ningfin personaje de Azorin, ninguna accidn,
ningun objeto tienen valor por si mismos.

8610 cobran interés cuando percibimos que cada
uno de ellos es 5610 el cabo de una serie ilimita-
da compuesta de elementos idénticos. No ser lo
que son, sino meramente ser igual a otros cien,
y a otros mil, y a otros sin nfimero, les presta
poder sugestivo. El propio origen tiene la sua-
ve gracia de las alamedas; no nos importa cada
arbol, sino el que, siendo muchos, parezcan uno
mismo repitiéndose en serie.

In his essays, Azorin has the same concern as in his novels -- the
humble, daily happenings of life. Like his narrative work, nothing
much happenings in these essays, life merely goes on from day to day
in the same way. He has also written essays on literary criticism.
He is well-known, also, for his short stories, which taken separately,
cover the whole range of his art. He regards as his best collection
of cuentos those published under the title Blanco en Azul (1929).

I find it interesting that both Baroja and Azorin who sought to
copy reality, and yet who are so similar in their simple style of
writing, are so different in their technique. For, whereas Baroja
uses much action, intrigue and peripeteia, Azorin does not; on the
contrary his narrative flows on smoothly, with rarely any action, as
he describes the minutiae in daily life. In my Opinion, this does
not mean that either of them did not portray their observations,

rather I feel it was a difference in the part of reality that each

chose to emphasize in his writing. Azorin himself refers to the choice

 

60Ortega y Gasset, Obras completas, II (Madrid: Revista de Occi-

dente, 1953), p. 177.

88

a writer has to make:

Cuando tengamos nuestro acerbo de pormenores
exactos—-fruto de nuestra observacién--escri-
biremos la novela. IAh, un momento! Nos fal-
ta saber cuales pormenores son los significa-
tivos, los vitales y cuales no. Necesitamos
conservar unos y desechar 6tros. Sin ese cer-
nido hariamos, desde luego, una novela exacta,
auténtica, p853 no viva, palpitante; no una
obra de arte.
Azorin, therefore, must have observed the reality around him and
decided that, for him, the little things of daily life were most
significant.

True to the spirit of the Generation, he also placed great
emphasis on words and the power of words. In his works he used
those words which he felt best suited the moment, to express the
right emotion, and which would produce the maximum evocation of the
senses. This writer, then, was an enemy of rhetoric and vagueness
in writing. He believed in writing simply and impressionistically.

It is obvious that by his own personal style and technique he contri-

buted greatly to inquing new life into Spanish letters.

Valle-Inclan

Ram6n Maria del Valle—Inclan was an extraordinary prose stylist.
His work represents one of the two main tendencies in the style of
the Generation -- that towards the enrichment of the language by a
consciously poetic and high-flown style influenced by the Modernist
His efforts to improve Spanish prose

and Symbolist movements.

certainly helped to revive it. Indeed, it is said that he has done

 

61Azorin, ”La Novela,” Egg (l9-III—l952).

89
for modern Spanish prose what Ruben Dario did for verse. ‘We shall see
how, by introducing a different style in writing, Valle-Inclan helped
to effect a rebirth in Spanish letters.

Valle-Inclan placed great emphasis on style. Whereas Unamuno,
Baroja and Azorin cultivated style as a "handmaid" of their thoughts,62
with Valle-Inclan, it rules supreme. He was not concerned with ideo-
logical problems, but insisted that style was the important thing in
literature. He, therefore, concentrates on the use of musical words,
symbols, cadence, harmony and rhythnwhile an element of mystery

surrounds all that he writes. In his Jardin umbrio we see a typical

 

passage:

Del fondo oscuro del jardin, donde los grillos
daban serenata, llegaban murmullos y aromas.

El vientecillo gentil que los traia estremecia

los arbustos, sin despertar los pajaros que dor-
mian en ellos. A veces, e1 follaje se abria su-
surrando y penetraba e1 blanco rayo de la luna,

que se quebraba en algfin asiento de piedra, ocul—
to hasta entonces en sombra clandestina. El jar—
din cargado de aromas, y aquellas notas de la no-
che, impregnadas de voluptuosidad y de pereza, y
aquel rayo de luna, a aquella soledad, y aquel mis-
terio, traian como una evocacion romantica de citas
de amor, en siglos de trovadores.

In his effort to create an ornate style, he wrote such sentences as

”E1 viejo libertine la miraba intensamente cual si solo buscase e1 tur-

barla mas," and "dijérase que infiltraban el amor como un veneno."6“
Critics define Valle-Inclan as a ”pure artist,” a ”decadent,”

a degenerate and a sensualist. Northup says "Valle-Inclan is a degener-

ate in his erotism and Sadic cruelty."65 Ruben Dario, however, states

 

62Northup, Introduction to Spanish Literature, p. 435.
63
p. 116.

6bKIbid” p. 117.

Ramon del Valle-Inclan, Jardin umbrio (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe,l960),

65Northup,{Applntroduction to Spanish Literature, p. 117.

90

his Opinion on this writer thus:

A Valle-Inclan le llaman decadente porque

escriba en’una prosa tragajada y pulida de

amirable merito formal.o

While most of the members of the Generation of 1898 were

interested in ideas, Valle-Inclan was more concerned with artistry,
with 'Art for Art's sake' He made a deliberate attempt to create
literary art in order to produce a new renaissance in this areaof
Spanish letters. He, moreover, felt that a writer's mission was to
play upon feelings and increase and refine sensations. Therefore, he
set about evoking moods and emotions and catering to all the senses,
by using chosen colours, sounds, scents and shapes for artistic
purposes. Chandler and Schwartz quote Perez de Ayala as saying of
Valle-Inclan's work that it is plastic, coloured and static, "cual
si fuera obra pictorica mas que literaria."67 This writer polished
and repolished his prose and constantly experimented with style until
he arrived at what he considered perfect form. He wrote in a very
lyric style, more like poetry than prose. Wbrds fascinated him and
he often chose them for their suggestive or musical power rather than
for their sense, because music and colour concern him as much as mean-
ing. Northup, in this regard, states that Valle-Inclan's vocabulary
is choice, every sentence clear and rhvtmic. He avoids the hackneyed
and tries always to ”ayuntar dos palabras por primera vez."68

The style of Valle-Inclan passed through various phases.

 

66Ruben Dario, Espana contempgranea, p. 313.
67Chandler and Schwartz, A New History of Spanish Literature, p. 236.

68Northup, p. #36.

91
Chandler and Schwartz have divided it into three periods.69 In his
first works he appears sensual and erotic and his style seems artifi-
cial and archaic. Femeninas (1894) is an example of this phase. Here
he discusses woman as the female Don Juan and his feminine characters
are all of easy virtue, cruel and inconstant. A second period is
seen in his Comedies barbaras and in his trilogy on the Carlist War
which both deal with the tragic story of don Juan Manuel de kontene-
gro and his family. Here Valle—Inclan discusses regional and popular
types. In his last phase, he concentrates on the popular and
historical and writes in a mocking, disdainful manner.
Valle—Inclan's most famous works are his Sonatas, a series of

four books, named after the seasons of the year, which describe four
chapters in the emotional life of a Galician nobleman, the Marquis of
Bradomin. This writer shows himself to be typical of the Generation
of 1898 in his reaction against the old literary traditions of Spain
and in these books he created a new style. Arthur L. Owen describes
it in this way:

Se ha creado un estilo hasta cierto punto

nuevo, es una prosa cadenciosa, y ritmica,

discretamente arcaica, adornada de imagenes,

pulida con el mas minucioso cuidado.
The chief interest of the Sonatas lies in the musicality of their
phrases and their lyricism rather than in their plot. The best of
these is, perhaps, the Sonata de otofio, the style of which extremely

evokes the senses. The impressionssought here are those of sadness,

through his description of the autumnal surrounding:

 

69Chandler and Schwartz, p. 235.

. 70Arthur L. Owen, ”Sobre el arte de don Ramon del Valle-Inclan.”
His ania, VI (March 1923), 69.

92
Cuando salimos al campo empezaba a rayar e1
alba. Vi en lontananza unas lomas yermas y
tristes, veladas por la niebla. Traspuestas
aquellas, vi otras, y después otras. E1 su-

dario ceniciento de la llovizna 1as envolvia:
no acababan nunca.7

He does it, too, through his portrayal of tragic atmosphere in this
manner:

Pensé huir, y cauteloso abri una ventana.

Niré en la oscuridad con el cabello erizado,

mientras en el fondo de la alcoba flameaban

los cortinajes de mi lecho y oscilaba la lla—

ma de las bujias en el candelabro de plata.

I .

Los perros seguian aullando muy distantes y

el viento quejaba en el laberinto como un al—

113 e1 pena y las nubes pasaban sobre la luna

y las estrellas se encendian y se apagaban

como nuestras vidas./
Valle-Inclan achieves considerable effect by his manner of using
adjectives. Often he uses two adjectives joined by "y" such as "1as
ramas Verdes y foscas de un abeto rozaban los cristales llorosos y
tristes."73 His style is also rich in images, metaphors, similes
and the construction introduced by "como si." His writing sometimes
appears somewhat archaic when he employs little used words such as
guedeja, monacal, linajudo, seiorial.

Valle-Inclén, moreover, varies his style to suit the mood of

what he narrates. For example, whereas his Sonatas, which are

concerned with love, are sensuously emotive and erotic, his Carlist

trilogy, having to do with affairs related to history, is more serious.

 

71Ram6n del Valle—Inclan, Sonata de otoho (Madrid: Imprenta he-
lenica, 1930), p. 16.

721bid., p. 210.

73Ibid., p. 1226.

93
In these books he uses longer and lesszimflmfix: sentences, so that his
prose here is more sober in keeping with the historical content. He

also wrote realistic prose, such as that of his La media noche which

 

deals with impressions of the World War. Here is his description of

a French attack on a German trench:

Asoman apenas los puntos de los cascos, y los

franceses los aplastan a golpes de granada.

Al abrigo de la trinchera, desmoronada y llena

de muertos, los alemanes hacen fuego de repeti-

cidn...Las granadas ponen fuego en las yacijas

de paja y en los capotes de los muertos, y el

humo y el olor de la carne chamuscada sirve de

fondo a1 clamor de los heridos. Un soldado ale-

man, envuelto en llamas, corre a través del cam—

po dando gritos.74
'We can see here the extreme realism of some of the prose written by
Valle—Inclan. He gives a somewhat photographic description of this
brutal attack choosing just the right style, one bordering on natural-
ism, to suit the mood of what he is describing.

Valle—Inclin does not seem to have a great inventive power. He
uses his material many times. For example, Historias de amor contains
the same stories as Cofre de sindalo, and Femeninas, Jardin umbrio and
Jardin novelesco are the same story; Flor de Santidad is merely an
amplification of his Adega, and El Marques de Bradomin is a collection
of fragments of the Sonatas. Often, too, his material is not original,
as we see in La sonata de invierno where he has copied various pages
from the Memorias of Casanova. This criticism of a seeming lack of
inventive power and of originality is one that can be made of some
other members of the Generation. But it must be remembered that
content was not the chief concern of some of them (as it was with

”Hanan del Valle-Inclin, La media noche (Madrid, 1917), pp.93-9L.L,

9b
Unamuno and Baroja), rather it was form, how they wrote, for they
wanted to enrich the mold of Spanish writing. So they sought to
renovate it, removing what they considered superfluous and unneces-
sary and adding new elements, thereby effecting a revival in Spanish
literary art.

Valle-Inclan is also considered an exponent of the regional
Galician novel. He was able to capture the feeling of this region
with its archaic traditions, and its folklore full of mystery,
superstition and magic. Patt and Nozick quote Azorin as saying,
concerning the greatest contribution of this writer:

(su contribucidn) consists en haber traido a1

arte esta sensacidn de la Galicia triste y

tragica, este algo que vive y;no se ve, esta

aprension por la muerte...este misterio de

los palacios centenarios y'de 1as abruptas

soledades.
Most famous of his characters is the Marquis of Bradomin, the prota-
gonist of the Sonatas, who seems in a sense to be a reincarnation of
Don Juan Tenorio. In the personage of Don Juan Manuel Montenegro, a
relative of the Marquis of Bradomin, Valle-Inclan proposed to picture
one of the decadent, old Galician hidalgos. Through this character,

he is able to evoke the spirit of the past, in such works as Comedias

I
barbaras and Los cruzados.

 

Valle-Inclan conceived a new genre in his Esperpentos. He
first gave this name to Luces de Bohemia in which one of the charac—
ters, Max Estrella, says "La tragedia nuestra no es tragedia...(es)

e1 esperpento." These works, to Valle-Inclan, represented the

 

75Beatrice P. Patt and Martin Nozick, §g§., The Generation of
1898 and After, p. 66.

95

grotesque and ridiculous aspects of modern life and, through them, he
lashed out at the world and its absurdity, in a sarcastic vein. These,
others of which are La hija del capitan and Los cuernos de don Friole-
33, are half puppet show and half tragedy.
The artistic ability of Valle-Inclan is, therefore, multifaceted.

Not only did he endeavour to enrich the Spanish language by seeking
out all the possibilities of verbal expression but he even invented

a new genre, the esperpento, by which he could attack the contemporary
scene. Through these various means he was able to play a great r61e

in producing a new literary renaissance in Spain during this time.

 

Maeztu
Maeztu was a brilliant journalist who wrote mostly articles and

essays for reviews. He was not a great thinker nor did he seem to have

much artistic sensibility, for, as Chandler and Schwartz tell us, "in
most of his works on literature, he studies his subject as a socio—
logists and not as an artist."76 There is, therefore, little to be
said about his style or his literary technique. He writes with emo-

tion and sincerity and with the rapid sentence of the newspaperman.

His work is never a model of literary beauty. Contrary to the perfec-

tion of style reached by many of the members of the Generation of

1898, his writing is wordy and oratorical.

Antonio Machado

Antonio Machado, in the spirit of his Generation, undertook to

 

76Chandler and Schwartz, p. 569.

96
rejuvenate the form of Spanish poetry. Influenced by the French and
Spanish-American poets, he endeavoured to add originality of expres-
sion, departing from the old, traditional forms. Machado was, however,
both a traditionalist and a man of his time. He was the former in
spirit, for he had a certain resignation towards life, which he
considered a dream. His own contribution to Spanish poetry was through
the great emphasis which he placed on order and form. He is also
considered to be one of the first to introduce the abundant use of
symbols in modern Spanish poetry.77 According to Northup, "the fact
that he uses form to clothe a serious message is what has given Anto-
nio Machado his reputation as the greatest living Spanish poet."78
Machado avoided rhetorical eloquence at all cost. One of his

dominant characteristics which made him a member of the Generation

of 1898.was his insistence on simplicity and clarity. Poetry for

him was an expression of feeling as a result of contact with nature,
and he believed that this should be expressed clearly. He aspired
always to eliminate, through the natural flow of his syntax, the pos-
sibility'of any obscurity in his verse. He says, "Silenciar los nom-
bres directos de las cosas, cuando las cosas tienen nombres directos,
Iqué estupidez!"79 Often his poetry seems surrounded by an air of
mystery and a feeling of solitude and.melancholy, particularly in

those works in which he describes the countryside of Castile which

 

77Carlos Bousofio, Lagpgesia de Vicente Aleixandre, (Madrid:
Editorial Gredos, 1950), p. 33.

78Northup, p. #23.

79.Antonio Machado, ”Notas sobre la poesia.“ Cuadernos hispa-
noamericanos, VII (January 1951), 20.

97
he felt had those characteristics.
He did not follow the path of Modernism. Chandler and Schwartz
quote him as stating: ”Admiraba a Ruben, pero no quise seguirle.”‘

His is a different technique. Concerning this variance, Machado

81

wrote, according to Zubiria:

Yo pretendi seguir camino bien distinto.
Pensaba yo que el elemento poetico no era

la palabra por su valor fdnico, ni e1 color
ni 1a lines, ni un complejo de sensaciones,
sino una honda palpitacidn del espiritu; lo
que pone e1 alma, si es que algo pone, o lo
que dice, si es que algo dice, con voz prOpia,
en respuesta animada a1 contacto del mundo.

Above all, he feels that his poetry is an ”intimo mondlogo,” and
concerning his style, he said in Retrato:

£Soy clisico o romantico? No sé. Dejar quisiera

mi verso, como deja el capitan su espada,

famosa por la mano viril que la blandiera, 0

no por el docto oficio del forjador preciada.02

This shows, too, that between content and form, Machado places more

importance on the former.

He uses imagery and metaphors in his poems, but not indis-
criminately because as he says:

En la lirica, imagenes y'metaforas son...
de buena ley cuando se emplean para suplir
la falta de nombres prOpios y de conceptos
finicos que requiere la eXpresidn de lo in-
tuitivo, nuncg para revestir lo generico y
convencional. 3

Machado felt that the poet should prefer those images which express

 

80Chandler and Schwartz, p. 365-
81Ram6n de Zubiria, Lagpoesia de Antonio Machado, p. 147.

82Antonio Kachado, Obras completes de Manuel y Antonio Machado
(Madrid: Editorial Plenitud, 1957), p. 733.

83Antonio Machado, ”Notas sobre la poesia," p. 21.

98

intuitions since those speak more directly to our feelings. He often
uses several adjectives to describe a noun. He writes such phrases
as "tardes tristes O soholientas, destartaladas O melancélicas, mus—
tias O desabridas, llenas de h:~.stio."8£‘L

Instead of using the trite metaphors employed by the Baroque
poets to whom, for example, rivers and brooks were always "sierpes
de cristal,” Machado uses his own, original figures of speech. He
describes the Duero as a "curva de ballesta en torno a Soria," and
the Guadalquivir as "un alfanje rotO y disperso, reluce y espejea."
These three metaphors, as were many of those which he used, are not
transferable since each is characteristic of the particular object
which it describes. Not only did he use metaphors sparingly, but he
often repeated them, sometimes introducing slight variations. Three
times he compares the vegetation of trees to a green cloud Of smoke:

1as hojas de sus OOpas

son humo verde que a lo lejos sueha. (XXXVI, 70)

y el verde nuevo brotaba
como una verde humareda...(LXXXV, 118)

parecen humear 1as yertas ramas
como un glauco vapor... (CXIII, 157)

This repetition of metaphors does not, however, seem to be due to a
lack Of imagination since, when he wished, he could use metaphors of
various kinds. But he used these figures of speech only in situations
which, in his Opinion, could not be better expressed by direct

language.

 

8L’Zubiria, La poesia de Antonio Machado, p. 160.

 

99
I have already discussed, in Chapter II, Machado's preoccupa-

tion with time. Here we shall see how he saw best to express this
in his poetry. The frequent use of the verb in various tenses was
the method he chose. In the following he uses six forms of the
verb:

Desde el umbral de un suefio me llamaron...

Era la buena voz, la voz querida.

-—Iflme: vendrais conmigo a ver mi alma?...

Llegd a mi corazdn una caricia.

--Contigo Siempre...Y avancé en mi sueho

per una larga, escueta galeria,

sintiendo e1 roce de la veste pura 7

y el palpitar suave de la mano amiga. (LXIV, 104)
He employs abundantly the use of rhymes in "ia" and ”aba” showing
his preference for the imperfect tense. He also uses adverbs to give
the idea of time. By their use he could situate things in time or
show the transformation undergone by things during the passage of
time. The adverb ”ya” is, perhaps, the most frequently used. It
served to express the realization of a happening:

Ya hay un espahol que quiere

vivir y a vivir empieza,

entre una Espaha que muere
y otra Espaha que bosteza. (CXXXVI, 243)

Ya en los campos de Jaén
amanece. Corre el tren... (CXXVII, 205)

Of all his innovations in his effort to give new life to
Spanish poetry, perhaps the most important is his development Of
the "romance." This ballad form seemed to Machado to be the SUpreme
expression Of Castillian poetry. He used assonance and tried to
make his "romances" flexible by introducing in them the frequent
use Of ”emjambements" and short-lined verses, or long pauses

indicated typographically by an indented line or a break in the

4T . 1 -.

 

 

100
sentence. Pedro Salinas believes that these and his other reforms are
what have made the ballad the fine form which it now is today, capable
of being adapted tO the various genres of the verse, the epic or the
drama.85
It is clear, then, that Antonio Machado's fresh approach to

poetic concepts was like breathing new life into Spanish poetry. He

brought it out of its traditional mold, by making his poetry simple h
and clear, by developing the uses of some figures of speech and of ii "i
verb forms, and by introducing new possibilities for the Old ballad

form. He truly helped to bring about a modernization of Castillian

verse. 5 i 3

 

Jacinto Benavente

The theatre Of Benavente is, in general, a reaction against the
melodramatic play 5 of the romantic school. He broke with this type
of drama, which had been revived in the works of Echegaray, and
introduced new, modern methods in the style of plays and in stage
technique. He introduced a new, fresh, cosmOpOlitan type of drama
into Spain. 'Walter Starkie points out that with Benavente we find
an inversion of the dramatic ideals which had been accepted up to
this time.86 In stage technique, he reversed the procedure followed
by former playwrights, for instead of laying stress on actual words
advanced by the characters, he concentrated on the subtle inferences
drawn from the dialogue. He also uses few stage directions and his
plays are in prose. He, moreover, exhibits an elegance Of style,

ingeniousness in ideas, cynicism, subtle irony, skepticism and

 

85Pedro Salinas, "El romanticismo y el siglo XX.” Estudios his-
anicos, Wellesley College (wellesley, 1952). p- 512-514

86Walter Starkie, Jacinto Benavente (London: Oxford.University
Press, 1924), p. 180.

101
tenderness.

Benavente wrote all kinds Of plays, realisitc as well as plays
of fantasy. Mereover, he was well equipped to produce a new renais—
sance in Spanish drama for he was a devoted dramatist who loved his
art; he was well educated, well travelled and held firm.be1iefs as to
what a playwright should be. He also had a profound knowledge of
both the Older and newer dramas of Europe. In one of his critical
works, Benavente gives his idea of the theatre. I present it here
in Starkie's translation:87

The stage must be loved for itself, perhaps with

greater devotion than any other form of art. The

true playwright must have passed his life in the

theatre, he must have seen all the plays and all

the actors within his reach, and he must have acted

himself. To the playwright the world must be a

vast stage; men and women must be tragic heroes

and heroines, or comedians in one immense play.

The most beautiful sights Of nature must appeal

to his eye as stage scenery. Then, tOO, he must

have the knack of finding his plays.
Benavente fully conformed to these conditions. Throughout his life
he was interested in all phases of the theatre -- writing, acting,
producing, history, criticism and esthetic principles. He travelled
widely and mingled with all kinds of people in order to find play
material. He was fond of the circus and of clowns and this is seen
reflected in some of his plays.

In his early plays which are satiric, he satirizes the aristoc-
racy and rich bourgeoisie of Madrid. In these works the writer

presents a series of types and exposes their faults; he often chooses

a woman as the symbol Of virtue in order better to emphasize the

 

87Ibid. , p. 33.

"11', burr
.

#‘

 

‘1!‘..‘.:..-_. - . “_..._-“...: ‘..

102

evils of others. But Benavente, in spite of his attacks on certain
failures, reveals a tenderness and a compassion for human nature.

In these plays satirizing the upper class, there is very little ac-
tion, and we see one of Benavente's most important innovations, namely
his clever handling of dialogue. It is through the conversation of
the characters, who are very well delineated, that the development

of the theme takes place and through which, too, these characters

are explained. This is one of the reasons why the theatre of Benaven-
te has been called "conversational" or "drawing room" drama. More- 1

over, his conversations Often consist of half-statements and approxima-

tas-43'“

 

tions which have to be co-ordinated by the spectator, who draws his .j;
own conclusions as to their significance.

Another of this group of satiric plays is La gobernadora the
scene of which is laid in a provincial town which is controlled by
corrupt political bosses. 'We see here one of Benavente's characteristic
techniques -- the thronged stage. He uses an immense crowd of
characters and through their gossip we learn about the celebrities Of
the town. Benavente uses Damian, the waiter serving coffee to
customers in the square, to introduce the characters as they go by.

'We can see in these plays, too, how this playwright brought
several changes into the construction of the Spanish drama. He
abolished the grandiloquent forms of the past and used instead every-
day scenes in conversational tones, dealing with the middle class
of Madrid. Moreover, before him Spanish drama was dominated by
plays in which many tricks were used to bring about a successful
conclusion. Emen Galdds, in Electra (1901), introduced a ghost to

help the dénouement, but with Benavente all the Old tricks such as

103
lost rings, letters and handkerchiefs disappear. This dramatist of
the Generation of 1898, also, does not seem to work out a well
formulated plot but to develop his theme as his play progresses, for,
as we see in La gobernadora, the first act of his plays is generally
full of movement yet nothing definite happens. The true plot does

not begin until the second act and the first merely creates the at-

i _

mosphere in which the story is to take place. Benavente, besides,
gives a minimum of stage directions; instead, he lets his characters

themselves create the framework for their action. For example, in

wt.

[VF ”in. L." -. finli?.mm'v

1

“‘an

Senora ama, one of his rural dramas in which he seeks to define the
Castillian spirit, the characters personify certain types. There is
Tio Aniceto, the old Castillian farmer, Dacia, the young shy maiden
and Gubesinda, the farm servant.

Benavente completely transformed and modernized the Spanish
theatre by introducing the drama of the ”unconscious mind." John
Garrett Underhill sums up his achievement in this way:

To have developed this subtle and.most

subjective of psychologic dramas among

a people as crassly unmetaphysical as the

Spaniards, who, through their picaresque

tradition, have been parents of modern

realism, is a stroke of subconscious humor

as Opposite as unexpected.
Benavente's drama includes both objective and subjective qualities,
for his plays contain an external, written plot with sparkling dia-

logue but this foreground serves as a screen behind.which the sub-

 

88John Garrett Underhill, Plays By Jacinto Benavente, third
series (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 19237, p. vii.

104
jective drama is developed. The outward story of his plays, then,
is not to be accepted as it seems but, rather, as "one of the pivots
upon which the action turns."89 Benavente, in effect, describes
this duality of his plays in the words of the Signore in La noche

del sabado:

SIGNORE - lPoseo la clave de tantos sucesos

inexplicables! ...la.mayor parte de la gen-

te conoce de la vida, como del teatro, 1a

escena nada mas; y la verdadera comedia es-

ta entre bastidores.90
It is because of this subjective character in Benavente's drama
that character is not defined but deduced by the spectator; and the
sharp outline of personality is dispensed with, and it becomes
determined by the actions of the emotions and the will.

Benavente's exploitation of the unconscious, then, replaces
the banalities of the former playwrights, for apart from the written
plot there is also an inner, suggested plot which consists of an
interpretation of what is seen on the stage. This unwritten action
occurs in most highly develOped form in the plays which deal with
the will such as La noche del sabado. Here Imperia, personification
of the will, pursues her ambition at the expense of Donina (her
youth), and acquires wealth and power. When her ambitions are near
fulfillment, she tries to recover Donina whom she sees amidst the
revellry of the circus as she herself is on her way to the celebra-

tion of the "witches' sabbath.” Here her old life dies at the hand

of youth and she seeks the aid of Leonardo (the imagination) who had

 

89Ibid. , p. viii.

90Jacinto Benavente, La malqueridaAy;la noche del Sahado (Ma-
drid: Espasa-Calpe, 1961), p. 95.

 

y‘fi_rr. . . .

1%?” '

105

given her, in the beginning, her vision of the ideal. Under his
instruction, she finally sacrifices her youth, Donina, who dies, and
Imperia now achieves her ideal. She says:

Para realizar algo grande en la vida hay

que destruir 1a realidad; apartar sus fan-

tasmas que nos cierran e1 paso; seguir como

finica realidad, e§ camino de nuestros suefios

haCia 10 idea]... 00
The real meaning of this drama of the "unconscious mind” is suggested
in the second tableau of the play when Imperia says:

...entre las horas de la vida mas apacible

hay para todos una noche del sabado en que

nuestras almas brujas vuelan a su aquelarre.

Vivimos muchas horas indiferentes por una

hora que nos interesa. vuelan 1as abmas

brujas, unas hacia sus suefios, otras hacia

sus vicios, otras hacia sus amores: hacia

lo que esta lejos de nuestra vida y es
nuestra vida verdadera.92

This type of drama was something entirely new in Spain and, therefore,
was not fully understood at first. In fact, it was ten years before
this play became popular among Spanish audiences.

Benavente's outstanding dramatic achievement is considered by
many to be Los intereses creados (1907), a play which is a landmark
in the development of the Spanish drama, for it is patterned after
the Italian commedia dell'arte in which the characters wear grotesque
masks. It is a symbolic play in which each of the characters
represents a human type. The most important of them are Leandro,

'who represents the good, and his servant, Crispin who symbolizes
the evil of the human soul, and who exercises great control over his

master. Northup quotes Federico de Onis, in translation, as stating

 

9thid, p. 160.

9?:bid., p. 120.

 

106

the thesis of this play as follows:

'We have to do with a pessimistic work in

which the power and necessity of evil are

recognized and affirmed. Although love,

purity, and generosity are not denied, and

even end triumphant, they do not triumph

through any virtue of their own, but thanks

to the machinations of all-powerful evil.93
Indeed this play, like many of the others, expresses some of Benaven-
te's ideas on life and his vision of the world, for in this story
Crispin, pretending to be the servant of a great lord, obtains food,
lodging and credit for his master who had just fled from his own
creditors. Crispin also eventually arranges the marriage of Leandro
with Silvia, the daughter of the city's richest man.

In his numerous plays, then, Benavente shows himself to be a
master of dramatic art. Above all, he brought about a renaissance
in Spanish drama by breaking with the melodramatic type of theatre
and introducing new, modern.methods in both the style of plays and

in stage technique.

 

93Northup, An Introduction to SpaniSh Literature, p. #30.

a an .‘_.‘w‘_77fi_‘

 

CONCLUSION

The war of 1898 crystallized tendencies of protest prompted by
Spain's deteriorating condition. For this disaster excited public
interest in, and a subsequent examination of, the country's national
and spiritual values. This gave birth to a movement which sought to .
find answers to Spain's problems. Its leaders, the Generation of t m
1898, turned, among other areas, to the field of letters, and by

their work it is my conclusion that they produced a rebirth in this ‘ Ta

 

area of Spanish life. There was a renewed interest in all the
literary genres and there took place an outpouring of novels, essays,
poems and plays. There was, moreover, a complete renovation in each
area, for the writers of the Generation used these genres not only

as media through which to voice their protest but they also had firm
ideas as to what constituted good writing and most of them consciously
sought to effect a revival, and succeeded, in literary style and
technique.

In this thesis I have attempted to show how this period was
truly a new renaissance in Spanish letters. This time in Spanish
literature is generally regarded as dominantly an era of protest and
reform. Certainly it was a period of criticism and protest as I have
tried to show in Chapter II, but, in.my Opinion, it was much more
than this, for the writers not only protested against the ills of
their country and.made suggestions for their reform, but, by their
literary program, they produced an era which was a bridging-point
between one of literary stagnation and the modern period.with

107

108
numerous works which introduced a new style and technique to Spanish
writing.

One aspect of the modernization of Spanish literature was the
influence of foreign literatures. This period, perhaps, marked the
first time in their history when Spaniards were so willing to lay
aside their espafiolismo, their stubborn resistance to influence from
abroad. This did not happen in the Renaissance of the fifteenth
century. For this reason, in Spain, at that time, there was not
such a complete rebirth in all areas as was the case in most other
European countries. But the writers of the Generation of 1898 had a
great intellectual curiosity for new ideas. Therefore, they felt
that communication with Europe and the incorporation of pertinent
ideas of such thinkers as Nietzsche, Tolstoi, Schopenhauer and Kierke-
gaard were necessary. They also accepted new ideas concerning the
style of writing and some foreignisms of language so that Spanish
would become more flexible and capable of expressing the new
thoughts of a new age.

Then, there was inspiration from within the country itself.
For, like the fifteenth century rebirth, there took place a blending
of local traditions and native influences with foreign innovations.
The Generation was greatly influenced by Joaquin Costa who empha—
sized the idea of EurOpeanization, by Angel Ganivet, who showed them
the importance of the will in the betterment of Spanish life, and
there was Giner de los Rios who sought to improve education and
gave the Generation an institution through which literature could

be promoted. Galdds also showed the importance of Spain as a

 

109
literary theme. Moreover, they looked back to the past for models --
Azorin thought that the Spanish essence lay in the great figures of
past literature, such as in the Cid and Don Quijote, Unamuno also
saw in Don Quijote and Sancho the spiritual symbols of hOpe and re-
demption for Spain's ills.

The members of the Generation of 1898 sought various ways of
solving their country's dilemma, with the result that the first period
of their writings is characterized by protest and criticism -- in some
cases, as with Baroja, very bitter criticism. But the majority of
the writers, in spite of their protest, show a deep love for Spain.
This aura of protest is, as I have said, descriptive of particularly
the first part of the period, for it was later subordinated as the
Generation emphasized artistic expression and thus effected a new
renaissance in Spanish letters. The movement represented a time of
change during which many new elements, forms, techniques, styles and
themes were introduced or greatly deveIOped. The Spanish novel to
this date had been concerned with chivalry, love, pastoral subjects,
the Moors, the 222339 and, in the nineteenth century, consisted of
cuadros de costumbres of particular regions of the country. But,
with the renaissance in Spanish literary art, with the work of the
Generation of 1898, the writers were not concerned with these well-
trodden paths. Although it must be admitted that some of Baroja‘s
novels are picaresque in form, they cannot be called typical of this
type of literature. The Generation, instead, developed new themes
foremost of which were the importance of the will (la voluntad) and
its counterpart 1a abulia, Spain and its countryside, and the mystery

of time. Influenced by Ganivet, Nietzsche and SchOpenhauer, the

 

110
members of 1898 applied the theme of the importance of the will, of
action to the Spain of their day. They interpreted it in many ways;
Baroja, the chief exponent of this theme, wrote novels about the man
of action whom he felt Spain needed at that time to improve her
condition. The writers attached great importance to the countryside
of Spain, for in it they saw the physical and spiritual values of
their land. Although Nature had long been a subject for poets, it
had never before been treated so fully in the novel. Each writer
projected his own personality into his interpretation of the country-

side which he viewed: Unamuno viewed it with deep feeling; Baroja

 

described the scene just as he saw it as if he were taking the reader
on a leisurely sight-seeing tour; Azorin also gave minute description,
but limited it chiefly to the old cities of Spain full of ruin and
stagnation and he also showed his great love for his country; Valle—
Inclin viewed it with strong, personal feeling and was fond of
describing Galicia with all its traditions, folklore and mystery.
Influenced by the Nietzschean doctrine of eternal recurrence, the
members of the group introduced the theme of the mystery of time into
Spanish literature. It was developed chiefly by Azorin, in prose
and, in poetry by Antonio Machado.

But, above all, the Generation of 1898 effected a new renais-
sance in the various literary genres. In their anxiety to break with
the immediate past, the writers set new values on literary types.
Baroja, Azorin and Unamuno fostered what was for Spanish literature
a new realism in the novel, while Valle-Inclan emphasized a revolu;

tionary, precious style. They set forth a new conception of the novel.

111
It was no longer bound by the rules of the past concerning structure,
plot, material, characterization, etc., but it now became a loosely-
knit type of composition, plotless, not necessarily logical and
enveloping all the aspects of one's daily life and environment. To
Baroja, Unamuno and Azorin, content was more important than style;
for them, the novel became a vehicle for ideas rather than a beauti-
ful work of art. It is characterized by simplicity, sincerity and
precision. They dispensed with all the rhetoric and vague phrases
of the past and wrote simply and clearly. Valle-Inclan, influenced
by the Modernist movement, sought to write prose which appealed to
all the senses. He felt that in this way he would, and he indeed
did, enrich the Spanish language and increase the possibilities of
verbal expression.

The members of the Generation, also, were very conscious of
what constituted good writing. They wrote many essays on the art of
writing, on literary criticism and on the use of language. They,
moreover, follow these precepts concerning good literary composition
in their own.works. They all strove to write well and were interested
in the classics thereby reviving interest in these works as models.
In order to express the wealth of new ideas gleaned from abroad, they
felt it necessary to create a new literary language. Many of them
introduced foreignisms, or used some pertinent archaisms, with the
result that the Spanish language was renovated and became more
flexible. In poetry, Machado, like the rest of the Generation, made
a clean break with the obscurantism of the past and wrote in a simple,
clear style, and the poem became a medium for conveying a serious

message. Machado introduced assonance to the romance form and thus

' 3’1: 3 ‘FR‘

3" z." I.

m 1W§

‘71.;- ‘2
5

rem

(«tab-W"
a
.

112
made it the wonderful form it now is today, very flexible and capable
of great poetic expressiveness.

In the drama, Benavente brought about a complete modernization.
Using many of the contemporary French dramatists, and sometimes going
back to Shakespeare, as his models, he dispensed with the melodramatic
style of the romantics and that which was used by his immediate pre-
decessor, Echegaray. He also avoided all the theatrical convention-
alities such as abundant stage directions, a rigid plot and tricks to
help the dénouement. Instead of stage directions, he relied on the
conversations of his characters to explain what was taking place, and
he developed his plot as his play progressed. Often his plays have
an air of mystery since he usually leaves the resolution of certain
questions to the members of the audience. Benavente, moreover,
wrote a play which was a landmark in the development of the Spanish
drama. This was his Los intereses creados in which he resorts to the
grotesque masks of the Italian commedia dell'arte for his types and
with the use of puppets who represent human types, he is able to
convey a serious message.

The above eloquently testifies, then, to the fact that although
the Generation of 1898 was a time of protest and demand for reforms
of Spain's ills, it was much more than this. The writers did, indeed,
criticize those ills which they thought were impeding their country's
progress, and suggest reforms which they believed, if adequately
implemented, would act as panacea for Spain's social, political and
intellectual lethargy. But, also, through the prolific outpouring
of novels, essays, poems and plays, the Generation of 1898 produced

a new renaissance in Spanish letters. For these literary genres all

 

‘F._’-'. “'- .

’d. .
‘5’?—

113
had direct relevancy to the survival, rejuvenation and subsequent
growth of Spanish literature because of the many innovations which
were introduced and the already existing areas which were developed.
Because of this rebirth in the field of literature, the literary

prestige of Spain was launched to new heights.

 

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