Spanish Literature

I

Introduction

Spanish Literature, literature of Spain from about ad 1000 until the present, written in the Spanish language. Spanish literature does not include works in Spanish that originated in Latin America, the Philippines, or the United States. Spanish literature does include a number of works written by Spanish citizens living outside of Spain during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) or during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco from 1939 through 1975.

Geography has been an important factor in the development of Spanish literature. Located on the Iberian Peninsula at the southwestern corner of Europe, Spain long remained isolated from the rest of Europe. Trends in other European literatures, if they reached Spain, generally arrived after they had reached other parts of the continent. This isolation enabled Spain to develop its own distinctive literary voice.

Spain’s distinctive literary voice also resulted in part from its diverse population: a combination of groups from the Mediterranean region with rich cultural heritages. Arabs from northern Africa, Jews from the Middle East, and Christians from the Iberian Peninsula intermingled during Spain’s early literary period and created a unique blend of literary styles and subject matter. The influence of each group is evident in some of Spain’s most celebrated literary works, including El cantar de mío Cid (1140; The Song of the Cid) and Libro del Conde Lucanor (1323-1335; Book of Count Lucanor).

Spanish literature takes in many contradictions. It celebrates a combined heritage of Christian, Arabic, and Jewish influences that helped define Spanish culture and history, while at times conforming to the literary styles of European movements such as the Renaissance, romanticism, naturalism, realism, and modernism.

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Several historical events significantly influenced Spanish literature. The first of these was the occupation of the Iberian Peninsula from 719 until the late 1400s by Arabic-speaking people from northern Africa known as Moors. The Moors introduced Spain to the Arabic language, the Islamic religion, and a social structure that encouraged academic study of the arts and mathematics. Ironically, the Moors’ presence in Spain also promoted the rise of Christian Spain. Christian kingdoms in the north of Spain gradually reconquered the peninsula and by the early 1500s made a single Spanish dialect, Castilian, the language of the unified land.

An important period in Spanish literature began in the 16th century when Spain, along with other European countries, experienced a burst of intellectual activity in literature, art, and philosophy known as the Renaissance. This creative outpouring led to the Golden Age of Spanish literature from the mid-16th century through the 17th century. During the Golden Age, writers such as Miguel de Cervantes, Tirso de Molina, and Lope de Vega addressed conflicting views of life often described as idealism and realism. Their efforts yielded popular (and sometimes comic) literary styles used for discussions of the universal themes of love, honor, disillusionment, and death.

During the 20th century, the Spanish Civil War and the rise of Franco profoundly influenced Spanish literature. From the late 1920s through the 1970s, authors, poets, and dramatists such as Federico García Lorca, Francisco Ayala, Camilo José Cela, and Carmen Laforet addressed political and societal issues of the time, including the brutality and horror of the civil war and its aftermath. Authors found themselves divided into two ideological camps—those who supported the fascist government of Franco and those who opposed it. By the end of the 20th century, Spanish writers once again could write without fear of censorship. A movement led by Esther Tusquets, Paloma Pedrero, Carme Riera, and other writers addressed the idea of literary creation itself and turned to newly permissible subject matter about the state of Spanish society.

II

The Early Period (1st Century Through 10th Century)

Although the works that together make up Spanish literature were not written until after the 10th century, literature on the Iberian Peninsula and the Spanish language originated much earlier. Spanish is considered a Romance language, as are French, Italian, and other languages that developed from the Latin language spoken in the Roman Empire. During the Middle Ages, a number of distinct dialects appeared in Spain. Each is named after the region of the peninsula in which it was spoken—for example, Castilian in Castile and Aragonese in Aragon.

The language of Spain, like its literature, reflects the diversity of the land’s inhabitants and heritage. Sometime before the end of the 6th century bc, the region’s first inhabitants, the Iberians, began to mingle with the Celts, a nomadic people from central Europe. The two groups formed a people called Celtiberians, who spoke a form of Celtic. The literature of the Celtiberians of the southern part of the peninsula included epic poems and books of metrical laws, but it is now lost. Subsequent invasions by various groups, including Carthaginians in the 3rd century bc, added words to the Celtiberian language.

A

Under Roman Rule

In 206 bc the Romans captured the Carthaginian capital of Gadir (present-day Cádiz). After driving out the Carthaginians, the Romans began to subdue the native inhabitants, and by 19 bc they had completed their conquest of the peninsula. Under Roman rule the region became known as Hispania, and its inhabitants learned Latin from Roman traders, settlers, administrators, and soldiers. Cities in both the south and north became great centers of Latin civilization. Although many scholars still debate whether it is “Spanish,” a Hispano-Latin literature was written in Latin by people born in Hispania. Some of the most important writers during the 1st century ad (a period known as the Silver Age of Latin literature) were Mela, who wrote the first Latin geography of the Mediterranean world; Columella, whose 12-volume work in prose and verse, De re rustica (On Agriculture), written in about ad 50, is the most complete treatise on agriculture of ancient times; Lucan, whose epic poem Pharsalia narrates the war between Julius Caesar and Pompey; Quintilian, who wrote a 12-volume work on the education of orators; and Martial, whose lively and satiric poetry and epigrams depict Roman life and customs of his age. The two greatest figures of Hispano-Roman letters were members of the Seneca family from Córdoba. The first, Marcus Annaeus Seneca, was known for his oratory and for his political writings. His son, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, also skilled in politics and oratory, became even more famous as a Roman senator, tutor of the emperor Nero, and author of three dramatic tragedies: Medea, The Trojan Women, and Agamemnon. His Moral Essays gives concrete examples for the practice of Stoic philosophy.

B

The Visigoths

The Visigoths, Germanic tribes of eastern Europe, invaded Roman Spain in the 5th century ad. During the time that the Visigoths controlled Spain, from the 5th to the 8th century, Latin was the official language of government and culture. The Visigoths had belonged to a Christian sect called Arianism at the time they entered Spain, but by the end of the 6th century most had been converted to Roman Catholicism by Saint Isidore of Seville. Isidore was the most important intellectual figure in Spain during the Visigoth period, and his Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum, et Suevorum (History of the Kings of the Goths, Vandals, and Suevi) is the principal source of information about these early groups. He also wrote several works dealing with religious education and a description of the Earth and the universe in De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things), an attempt to capture universal history. His most famous work, however, is Etymologiae, an encyclopedia in 20 volumes that contains definitions of words and names, as well as information on topics such as grammar, mathematics, geometry, medicine, law, languages, the military arts, and music. The Etymologiae was a favorite textbook for students during the Middle Ages, and it remained a standard reference book for centuries.