CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE (1910-1928) The dominant feature of contemporary Spanish literature may be found in a more conscious realization of the creative element of the race by its critical element and in a tendency towards the fusion of both these elements into a complete whole. With the death of Gald6s, the sceptre of Spanish literature passed to Miguel de Unamuno, who represented the modern version of the Spanish mystic writer. His main concern was the relation of man to creation. It is the subject of his masterpiece Del Sentimiento Trdgico de la Vida (1913), a book of passionate meditation (of which an excellent translation exists in English, The Tragic Sense of Life, 1921), and as an attitude of mind it dominated his criticism: En torno al Casticismo (1902), Ensayos (1916), La Agonia del Cristianismo (1926); his novels : Niebla (1914), Abel Sdnchez (1917), Tres Novelas Ejemplares y utt Prologo (1920) and his play: Fedra. In these works Unamuno appeared as the apostle of an ideal of life more closely connected with spiritual Easternism than with the intellectual and social tenets of the West. He thus fulfilled in Spain much the same function as Dostoievsky did in Russia, for Spain like Russia is a transition between East and West. He aimed at intensity rather than extension. His style is not unlike the style of Carlyle in that it was written with the whole being of the man, body and soul.
If, in order to complete the parallel with Russia, a Spanish western type of mind had to be opposed to Unamuno, as Tur genev could be opposed to Dostoievsky, a younger man, Jose Ortega y Gasset (1883- ), might be selected for this purpose. Ortega y Gasset is a humanist, strongly influenced by German contemporary Neo-Kantian schools of thought. His main work is in the field of criticism and psychology-Meditaciones del Quijote Ow I) , El Espectador (1917). In more recent books he has endeavoured to draw philosophical and psychological con clusions from current events; for instance, in the field of politics with his Espana invertebrada (1922) and in that of philosophy and science with El terra de nuestro tiempo (1923), a masterly commentary on the new vistas opened out to thought by the discoveries of Einstein. In this same school may be included
Jose Martinez Ruiz ), better known under his literary name of "Azorin," whose art has all the finish and exquisiteness, and all the smallness as well, of miniature painting. He has the rarer merit of applying these gifts to the interpretation of national scenes and places, as in his Castilla (1920) ; Los Pueblos (1905) ; La Ruta de Don Quijote (1905), and has thus contributed in no small measure to the movement for national self-knowledge which is noticeable in contemporary Spain.
Fiction.-In fiction, though belonging to an older generation, Vicente Blasco Ibanez must be mentioned. His war novel Los Cuatro Jinetes del Apocalipsis (1916, Eng. trans. 1918) made him famous with the English-speaking public. Older novels (and better ones) have been translated, such as La Barraca (1899), Sangre y Arena (1908), The Matador (1918) and The Cabin (1919). Blasco Ibanez represented an art which is Spanish only in its subject but not in its spirit, manner or style.
Of a younger generation, Pio Baroja (1872– ) is the most widely read. A Basque, with all the acuteness of mind of his race and not a little of its rustic independence and antagonism to civilization, Baroja writes abundantly and carelessly with more spirit than art. His best work is perhaps Idilios V ascos, in which he has rendered the quaint charm of his own country. Many of his works have been published in English by American publishers.
To this generation belongs also Ricardo Leon (1877– ), who writes in a more consciously traditional vein and pays considerable attention to matters of style. His main work is Casta de Hidalgos (1908). Concha Espina (1879– ), a brilliant woman novelist, has distinguished herself by novels of psychological insight and easy style, such as El Metal de los Muertos (192o).