• Spanish literature- the body of literary works

produced in Spain. Such works fall into three

major language divisions:

• Castilian

• Catalan

• Galician

This article provides a brief historical account

of each of these three literatures and examines

the emergence of major genres.

• Castilian Spanish- is a term related to the Spanish language, but its exact meaning can vary even in that language. In English, Castilian Spanish usually refers to the variety of European Spanish spoken in northern and central Spain or as the language standard for radio and TV speakers.

• Catalan- is a language spoken in

three regions of Spain: Catalonia,

Valencia and the Balearic Islands.

Outside Spain, it is the official

language of Andorra. It is also

spoken in some parts of France and

Italy.

• The Galician's (Galician:

Gallegos; Spanish: Gallegos) are a

national, cultural and ethno linguistic

group whose historic homeland

is Galicia, in the north-west of the Iberian

Peninsula. Two Romance languages are

widely spoken and official in Galicia: the

native Galician, and Castilian.

• The history of Spanish literature can be traced back centuries and it is clear that over this time, Spanish literature has not only been influenced by the events happening within Spain and across the world, but has also influenced the world itself. Spain has produced some fantastic writers in all genres, many of whom were instrumental in the developments of some of the biggest literary movements. So why not read on and find out more about the history of Spanish literature.

• The history of Spain has been marked by all types of events,

wars, conquests, marriages, deaths... and literature has

played an important part in it. From the epic tale of the "Cantar

del Mio Cid" to the surrealism present in some of Cela's

works; from the amazing adventures of Don Quixote to the

many books recounting the horrors of the Spanish Civil

War, Spanish literature has had it's own way of influencing

history.

• Literature is a very important subject in all Spanish schools,

and this site is a guide to the evolution of Spanish literature

across the centuries.

• Spain is rich with talented writers, poets, playwrights... trust

us, the list goes on. One such literary master is Miguel de

Cervantes, the creator of the legendary Don Quijote, who has

been used in all aspects of Spanish culture. Lope de Vega is

another example of a Baroque master.

• Poetry is a strong force within Spain with many

examples proving the statement. What better

example than the Generation of 27, featuring the

exquisite work of Federico García Lorca, who had

been frequently associated with surrealist experts

Salvador Dali and Luis Buñuel. If the Generation of

27 doesn't sound like the right group for you, then

how about the Generation of 98? Whether you are a

passionate connoisseur of the written word or a

passing visitor there will be something that will

spark your creativity in this section on Spanish

literature.

The beginnings

• The history of Spanish literature starts with "El Cantar del Mio Cid" (12th century), an epic narrative that was transmitted orally through the story tellers. However, the first written testimonies of Spanish literature begin in the 13th century with the Middle-Ages literature, which cultivated all the genres in prose, poetry and theatre. The end of the Middle Ages (sometimes known as pre-Renaissance period) is a very prolific time for Spanish literature, with the development of works like "Coplas a la muerte de mi padre" (Jorge Manrique) and "La Celestina" (Fernando de Rojas).

• During the Renaissance the influence of Italy in Spain was very strong, and thus the religious influence. During this period there's a big production of religious works with authors such as Fray Luis de Leon or San JUan de la Cruz. Pastoral or didactic novels were also quite popular, and the picaresque genre became popular with "Lazarillo de Tormes"

• The Spanish Baroque coincides with the Golden Age of Spanish literature, called that way because of the great number of excellent literary productions that appeared in the period.

• Miguel de Cervantes is without doubt, the ultimate Baroque author. His masterpiece, the adventures of the mad knight "Don Quixote", is considered the most important book of the Spanish literature and one of the most important in the Universal literature. Other important authors in this period are the poet Quevedo and the play writer Lope de Vega.

• The Enlightenment period in Spanish literature can be divided in three different periods: the post-Baroque period, the Neo-Classical period and the pre-Romanticism period. The Enlightenment wants a break with the old concept of authority, and thinks reason is more important than feeling or emotions. This is why this period doesn't have a strong poetry group. In prose, essays and didactic texts are the most popular types of works, especially among literates. Newspapers help to spread the knowledge of other European countries around Spain.

• The 20th century is a century of great change in Spain. There's not

a specific movement. Rather, every author develops his or her

own personal style. Novels become the most popular genre, and

social themes are very common, especially those related to life in

Spain during the Spanish Civil War and the following dictatorship.

There are three important generations of writers during the 20th

century that configure the Spanish literature of the

period: Generation of '98,Generation of '14 and Generation of '27.

• Spain's contribution to 20th-century art can be summed up in two

essential and revolutionary movements, Cubism and Surrealism.

• Spanish Cubism was a reaction to traditional modes of

representation, characterized by single viewpoint perspective. Pablo

Picasso and Georges Braque abandoned this premise, thereby

introducing the fourth dimension (time) in painting. The style was

characterized by its use of geometric shapes, interlocking planes and

austere colour range; it would also receive the influence of primitive

art, chiefly African tribal masks and Iberian pottery.

• Surrealism, which followed on from the radical anti-art movement

Dada, sought to explore and express the subconscious, both in

painting and in literature. The irrational imagery of dreams, drawing

largely on Freudian theories, would be an important source of

inspiration for Surrealist poets and painters, both representational

and abstract, as exemplified in the works of Salvador Dalí and Joan

Miró.

• Romanticism appears as a reaction against the strict rules of the Enlightenment, and in opposition to it, it places more importance in feelings than reason. Romanticism can be divided into two different movements: traditional Romanticism (defends the traditional values represented by the Church and State) and liberal Romanticism (fights the established order, religion, art and politics, and claims the rights of individuals to society and the laws).

• Realism appears when literates have grown tired of the subjectivism of Romanticism and are looking for something more real. They were tired of the imaginative and colorful, and sought to observe the people, society and and society contemporary traditions objectively. Its goal was to present the truest portrait of.

• However all this focus on reason and logic couldn't

last, and Enlightenment literature was soon

overshadowed by Romanticism which preferred

feelings and emotions. Romanticist literature was

free and did not play by the rules that had governed

previous literary movements. Eventually however,

writers got bored of the movement, and turned

instead to a more realistic approach; hence the

birth of Realism in Spanish literature.

• Realist literature was designed to paint an accurate

portrait of society, and avoided the over imaginative

styles of Romanticism.

• One of the earliest told stories in Spain is that of 'El Cid' from the

12th century, which was an epic tale that was transmitted from

generation to generation by oral repetition. The first written works

though appeared in the 13th century when literature began to be

cultivated in all of its genres: theatre, poetry and prose. However

the real flourish for Spanish literature came with the Renaissance

period where there was a lot of Italian influence in Spain. Many of

the works produced during this time therefore had a heavy

religious tone as well, such as the works of Fray Luis de Leon and

San Juan de la Cruz.

• The 20th and 21st centuries have been a great time of change for

Spain, however Spanish literature has developed in a more

stunted manner. There are no great literary movements during

these years as each writer begins to develop their own individual

style. The Spanish Civil War and the Franco dictatorship gave rise

to a number of generations of writers - Generation of '98,

Generation of '14 and Generation of '27 - who helped to develop

Spanish literature. Censorship was one of the major pressures on

Spanish literature under Franco as it meant writers had to be

much cleverer and more subtle in order to convey their true

feelings.

• In more recent times, Spanish literature again

has seen very little in the way of literary

movements. Many of the younger writers choose

to write in very realistic styles, commenting and

criticizing the modern society they live in.

However, with the spread of globalization, many

Spanish authors have had their works read by

much larger international audiences, hence there

are a number of Spanish language authors who

have made it on to the lists of top authors in the

world.

• One Hundred Years of Solitude (Spanish: Cien años de soledad) is a 1967 novel by Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez that tells the multi-generational story of the Buendía family, whose patriarch, José Arcadio Buendía, founds the town of Macondo, the metaphoric Colombia.

• The widely acclaimed book, considered by many to be the author's masterpiece, was first published in Spanish in 1967, and subsequently has been translated into thirty-seven languages and has sold more than 30 million copies.

• The magical realist style and thematic substance of One Hundred Years of Solitude established it as an important, representative novel of the literary Latin American Boom of the 1960s and 1970s, which was stylistically influenced by Modernism (European and North American) and the Cuban Vanguardia (Vanguard) literary movement.

• Spanish art history- is very exciting and the first

examples of Spanish art go back to the dawn of time.

For example, the cave paintings found in the Altamira

caves in Cantabria are considered to be the Sistene

Chapel of rock paintings and date back over 18,500

years. Today, many works remain in excellent condition

despite their age such as the Iberian sculptures from

Eastern Spain (the Dama de Baza and the Dama de

Elche), the Roman and Muslim art which can be found

throughout the peninsula, medieval churches, artwork

from the Baroque period and many other examples.