Contemporary Literature 1910-1928

RamOn Perez de Ayala (1881– ) is perhaps the best ist of the younger generation. A critic of talent and a poet, he has written several novels, the best of which are Novelas Poerndticas de la Vida Espanola (1916, translated into English under the title of Prometheus) and Belarmino y Apolonio (1921). He is a typical exponent of the fusion of the traditional Spanish spirit with the conscious knowledge of its resources referred to above, as characteristic of contemporary literature in Spain. The same maybe said of Gabriel Miro (1879-193o) whose sensibility and deep knowledge of the language make him one of the most richly endowed authors of contemporary Spain. Among his works are El Humo Dormido (1920) ; El Libro de Sigiienza (1921) ; Figuras de la Pas-ion del Senor (1916, this last translated into English 1924). Of recent years several authors have cultivated the utopian and satirical variety of novel-writing. To this kind belong El Archipielago Maravilloso (1923) by Luis Araquistain, and La Girafa Sagrada by S. de Madariaga (originally written in English and published 1925). Among newcomers in novel-writing Claudio de la Torre and Felix Urabayen (1884– ), El Barrio Maldito (1925) must be singled out.

Drama.

Jacinto Benavente (1866– ) dominated the ish theatre during this period. His most famous play, Los Intereses Creados (1907), is not representative, for it illustrates but one phase of the talent of this many-sided author. A more power ful tragedy, La Noche del Scibado (19o3), is of the same period. In more recent times he has given an intense drama of life in La Malquerida (1913). There is, however, a type of play in which Benavente must yield the prize to the brothers Alvarez Quintero (Serafin, 1871-1938; Joaquin, 1873– ). As authors of edias de Costumbres these two writers, who always work together, are unsurpassed. The list of their comedies is long, and includes Las de Cain and Puebla de las Mujeres ( 9i2) . Other playwrights of note are Linares Rivas (1867– ), skilful in the handling of dialogue; Martinez Sierra, a name which stands for the collabo ration of Don Gregorio Martinez Sierra (1881– ) and his wife, resulting in a happy blend of dramatic skill and delicate psy chology; and Pinillos (Parmeno) (1875-1923), a vigorous painter of social conflicts. The poetical theatre lives in Spain, maintained by Valle-Inclan (187o-1936), Marquina (1879– ), Cata (1885– ) and Ardavin (1891– ). In recent years a writer of unusual power, Jacinto Grau (1877– ) has conquered the foreign stage, particularly with his El Conde Alarcos (1917), El Hijo Prodigo (1918). But drama and comedy are only one, and that not the most important, aspect of the Spanish theatre. Still more typical of the nation is what is known in Spain as Genero chico (small genre), a type of theatrical production of plays gen erally short and accompanied by music and ranging from variety pieces akin to operettas to little masterpieces of musical drama. Its best-known exponents were the brothers Quintero and Carlos Arniches (b. Alicante, 1866).

Poetry.

The two main influences acting on Spanish poetry towards the close of the 19th century, i.e., national tradition and the example of foreign poetry, particularly that of the symbolist school of France, which reaches Spain through South-American poets, such as Ruben Dario, are still at work. Though the first is the more vigorous and conscious, the second widens so as to include all influences : D'Annunzio, Maeterlinck, Tagore. More typically national are Unamuno, Rosario de Sonetos Liricos (19" ), El Cristo de Veldzquez (1920) ; Antonio Machado (1875-1939), whose pessimistic serenity is in keeping with the landscape of central Spain (Soledades, Campos de Castilla) and Salvador de Madariaga (1886– ), whose Romances de Ciego (1922) re-state in a new form the old Spanish theme of Jorge Manrique. Other poets produce under more complex influences.

Thus Manuel Machado (1874– ), whose main inspiration is popular and southern has written excellent verse in which the in fluence of French elegant sensibility is discernible; Juan Ramon Jimenez (1881– ), remarkable for exquisite sensitiveness than for power is led by his melancholy moods towards fluid rhythms which, though more settled, are reminiscent of Maeterlinck and through him, of Rossetti. Ramon del Valle-Inclan, perhaps the most skilful musician among modern Spanish poets, has given in La Marquesa Rosalinda (1913) an admirable example of the adaptability of the Spanish language to the most exquisite and complicated rhythms. Ramon Perez de Ayala in his three volumes, La Paz del Sendero (1916) ; El Sendero Innumerable (1916) ; and El Sendero Andante (1921), effects a happy union of thought with poetry in a work influenced by Francis Jammes, D'Annunzio and Walt Whitman. Among the rising generation may be mentioned Pedro Salinas (1891– ) Jorge Guillen ), Garcia Lorca (1899– ) and Rafael Alberti (1903– ). Miscellaneous.—In the field of erudition and literary history the task of Menendez y Pelayo is continued by Don Ramon Menendez Pidal (1869– ), whose works on the "Cantar de Mio Cid" (191I, 1913, etc.) and on the Spanish Chronicles have thrown light on the origin of Spanish epic poetry. Francisco Rodriguez Marin (1855– ), editor of Don Quijote, a specialist of Spanish folk lore, has succeeded the Master as head of the National Library. Father Asin has won world-wide fame by his illuminating work on the Arabic origins of Dante. Of the younger generation Federico de Onis (1885– ) has edited Fray Luis de Leon (1914) and Americo Castro (1885– ) has worked on Lope de Vega (1919).

BouoGRAPHY.—Cesar Barja, Literatura Espanola, Libros y Autores Modernos (1924) ; E. L. Gomez de Baquero, El Renacimiento de la Novela Espanola en el Siglo XIX. (1924) ; Miguel de Unamuno, En torno al Casticismo (1902) ; W. Starkie, Jacinto Benavente (1924) ; S. de Madariaga, The Genius of Spain (1923) ; A. F. G. Bell, Con temporary Spanish Literature (1925). (S. DE M.)