Spanish Modernist literature

Spanish Modernist literature is the literature of Spain written during the Modernism (beginning of the 20th century) as the arts evolved and opposed the previous Realism.

The influence of these two movements, which were developed in France since the middle of the 19th century, was very important to the appearance of the Modernism in Spain.

In Literature, the precursor of the Modernism in Spain was Realism.

The Spanish–American war, known in Spain as the Disaster of the 98 or War of Cuba, arose between Spain and the United States in 1898, during the regency of María Cristina, widow of the king Alfonso XII. For Spain it meant the loss of the overseas colonies and the end of the formerly powerful Spanish empire.

The intellectual movement that thinks objectively and scientifically about the causes of the decadence of Spain as a nation between the 19th and the 20th century is called Regenerationism. It expresses a pessimist judgement about Spain. The regenerationist intellectuals divulgated their studies in journals with a big diffusion, so the movement expanded.

Among the organisms of great importance at this time, it is possible to emphasize the Free Institution of Education, founded in Madrid in 1876 by the university professor and thinker Francisco Giner de los Ríos. With philosophical ideas of German origin, he undertook a hard work of cultural modernization of Spain, in education and investigation. His pro-European character was very influential during the 20th century, particularly during the Second Republic, that welcomed his reformist ideals willingly. In 1939 the Institution disappeared, strongly repressed by the winners of the Civil War. Whatsoever, a decidedly modern thought was spread mainly between the bourgeoisie, class which will display the most important authors of the 20th century.

Modernism, studied as a literary or as an artistic-literary movement, appeared in the Hispanic world in the final decades of the 19th century and the first ones of the 20th century. It is seen today as a phenomenon with much more vast projections in space and time. A period of renovation in America and Europe was opened, which started from a common will of rejection towards the dogmas and principles of the society. The Modernist period or time begins and closes in dates that could be fixed towards 1880 and 1945, although precursory signs occurred before the first and they continued being observed after the last.

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