1. Spanish literature

2. An overview
Spanish literature 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. Events Wars Conquest Marriages Death

3. Best spanish books

5. The 'Cantar del Mio Cid' (The Poem of the Cid) is the oldest Spanish epic poem preserved. It's based on the true story of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, known as El Cid, and it takes place during the Spanish Reconquest. It's the first known extensive narrative work of the Spanish literature written in a Romance language, and it was composed around 1200.

6. It is the oldest Spanish epic poem
It is composed of 3735 verses of variable extension ; . It's not divided in stanzas; the text flows as one long stanza, with the verses grouped through rhyme.

7. The poem begins with the banishment of Cid, the first reason for dishonor, after being accused of stealing. His titles and lands are also taken away. After the Conquest of Valencia he gets the royal pardon, regains his lands and is named Lord of Valencia; to affirm his new lordship, his daughters are wed to the Infants of Carrión. However, this brings another tragedy when his daughters are raped, beaten and left to die in Corpes. Thus, the internal structure follows the pattern acquisition-loss- restoration-loss-restoration through the hero's honor.

8. Absence of supernatural elements
Characteristics :
Absence of supernatural elements
Perfect example of patience and balance
Thinking before acting
Hero is presented as human
Narrative strategy

9. Don Quixote de la Mancha is a novel written by Miguel de Cervantes, the great Spanish writer.
One of the great literary work
Considered to be the universal literature
Most translated

10. Don Quixote was the first antirromance novel, because it demystifies the knightly tradition. It's the first literary work that can be classified as "modern novel" and also as "polyphonic novel", and it influenced the rest of the narrative to come.

11. The novel is divided into two parts: the first is called "El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha" and it was published in 1605; the second part is called "El ingenioso caballero don Quijote de la Mancha" and it was published in 1615.

12. The thematic richness of the novel is such that it's inexhaustible; it's a spectacular recreation of the world during Cervantes's time. The main topic is the possibility of finding the ideal in the real, and it's entwined with the ethical concept of human freedom: Can we change the world or will the world change us? Is it morally acceptable, changing the world? Other themes stem from this one:

13. It is against the knight tales, the theatre of Lope de Vega and the pastoral novels.
The main couple (Don Quixote and Dulcinea) aren't really together, so there are other love stories, mainly among younger people. Jealousy is also a topic, a very important one in all of Cervantes's works.

14. Characteristics :
Recapitulation
Humor
Suspense
Perpectivism
Metafictional

15. Lazarillo de Tormes is an anonymous picaresque novel written at the beginning of the 16th century which tells the story of a young boy of humble origins who works for different men in different planes of society.  It was the first picaresque novel and the one that invented the genre.

16. Picareque – is an ideal narrative of the Renaissance

17. Satiric intention and itinerant structure
Characteristics :
Rascal with a very low status
False autobiography structure
Determinism
Moralizing and pessimistic ideology
Satiric intention and itinerant structure
Realism and Naturalism

18. Best Spanish Authors

19. Jorge Manrique 24 April 1479) was a major Castilian poet, whose main work, the Coplas a la muerte de mi padre (Verses on the death of Don Rodrigo Manrique, his Father). He was a supporter of the great queen, Isabel I of Castile, and actively participated on her side in the civil war that broke out against her half- brother, Enrique IV, when the latter attempted to make his daughter, Juana, crown princess. Jorge died in during an attempt to take the castle of Garcimuñoz, defended by the Marquis of Villena (a staunch enemy of Isabel), after Isabel gained the crown.

20. The poem, which consists of approximately five hundred lines divided into forty-two coplas (or stanzas), is a memorial to Manrique’s father, Rodrigo, who died in 1476 at the height of his fame. An intensely emotional poem, it integrates the poet’s personal loss, the medieval worldview, concern for the passing of time, the vagaries of fortune, the inevitability of death, and the hope of salvation. Its uniqueness lies in Manrique’s ability to employ familiar and rather well- worn themes in such a way as to extend their aesthetic potential. A mark of Manrique’s greatness is his ability to render the grief of one individual in such a way that it becomes a grief universally shared by his readers.

21. Fernando de Rojas 
, April 1541) was a Spanish author and dramatist, known for his only surviving work, La Celestina (originally titled Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea), first published in It is variously considered "the last work of the Spanish Middle Ages or the first work of the Spanish Renaissance"
Rojas wrote La Celestina while still a student. After graduating he practised law and is not known to have written any further literary works, although La Celestina achieved widespread success during his lifetime. Despite difficulties with the Inquisition on account of his Jewish descent, Rojas was a successful lawyer and became mayor of Talavera de la Reina, where he lived for the last three decades of his life.

22. The book is considered to be one of the greatest works of all Spanish literature, and is usually regarded as marking the end of the medieval period and the beginning of the renaissance in Spanish literature. Although usually regarded as a novel, it is written as a continuous series of dialogues and can be taken as a play, having been staged as such and filmed

23. Luis de León
23 August 1591), was a Spanishlyric poet, Augustinian friar, theologian and academic, active during the Spanish Golden Age.

24. Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (Spanish
25 November 1562 – 27 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, novelist and marine. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Century of Baroque literature. His reputation in the world of Spanish literature is second only to that of Cervantes, while the sheer volume of his literary output is unequalled, making him one of the most prolific authors in the history of literature. He was nicknamed "The Phoenix of Wits" and "Monster of Nature" (in Spanish: Fénix de los Ingenios, Monstruo de la Naturaleza) by Cervantes because of his prolific nature.

25. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra[
29 September 1547 (assumed) – 23 April 1616 )was a Spanish writer who is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre- eminent novelists. His masterpiece Don Quixote has been translated into more languages than any other book except the Bible.
His major work, Don Quixote, sometimes considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, regarded among the best works of fiction ever written.His influence on the Spanish language has been so great that the language is often called la lengua de Cervantes ("the language of Cervantes"). He has also been dubbed El príncipe de los ingenios ("The Prince of Wits").

26.  Friar Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro 
8 October 1676 – 26 September 1764) was a Spanish monk and scholar who led the Age of Enlightenment in Spain. He was an energetic popularizer noted for encouraging scientific and empirical thought in an effort to debunk myths and superstitions
Teatro crítico universal 
Cartas eruditas y curiosas 

27. José Ignacio Javier Oriol Encarnación de Espronceda y Delgado 
(25 March 1808 – 23 May 1842) was a Romantic Spanish poet, one of the most representative authors of the XIX century. He was influenced by Eugenio de Ochoa, Federico Madrazo, Alfred Tennyson, Richard Chenevix Trench and Diego de Alvear.
El estudiante de Salamanca

28. Juan Valera y Alcalá-Galiano (18 October 1824 – 18 April 1905), was a Spanish realist author, diplomat, and politician.
Pepita Jiménez
Las ilusions del doctor Faustino

29. Spanish literature – the beginning
12th Century
The history of Spanish literature starts with "El Cantar del Mio Cid” 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).

30. 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"

31. Spanish Literature - Baroque period
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, 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.

32. Spanish Literature - Enlightenment period
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.

33. Spanish Literature - Romanticism and Realism
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 contemporary traditions objectively. Its goal was to present the truest portrait of society.

34. Spanish Literature - 20th century
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.

35. Historical / Cultural Background
16th to 17th Century The literary Baroque took place in Spain during the Golden Age of Spanish Literature. During this time, Spain was under the rule of the Habsburgs, Philip II, Philip III and Philip IV, who sat on the throne until Just a century before, Spain had reached its greatest unitarial extension through agreements, marriages, wars or diplomatic conquests; Hungary, Flanders, Portugal, Germany, Sicily and Naples, as well as new and rich territories in the Americas, were consolidated under the hand of Charles I of Spain and V of Germany. During his reign, all the nations under the Spanish Empire had to learn Spanish. However, good things never last, and the Philips lost every one of the territories of Spain, one by one, which brought on serious economic, social and political distress for the country.

36. After the richness experienced during the reign of the oldest of the Habsburgs (Charles I and Philip II), during which Spain had lands in all of the continents known to man at that time, the decline of Spain began with the arrival of the younger Habsburgs to the Spanish throne. They delegated all their power to court favorites but neglected to monitor them, and little by little they lost everything that had been gained in the previous centuries.

37. 18th Century
The 18th century and Enlightenment in Spain starts with the Succession War ( ). Charles II was the last of the Habsburgs, and he was childless. The economic, social and political problems had made of Spain a declining empire, but the colonies in the New World and the huge naval fleet of the Spanish Armada gave Spain a vital role in European politics. The power balance in Europe was very frail. If Spain gave the throne to a relative of the king of France and Spain and France united, the power would shift to France. However, if it remained in the Habsburg family, the power balance would not be affected. Because of this, the European politics of the 18th century centered around finding a succession to the Spanish throne that would not alter the delicate balance of the continent.

38. There were two main candidates: Philip, grandson of the King of France; and Archduke Charles of Austria, who was the Austrian applicant to the throne. The effect the change could have in all of Europe was so important that it started the War of Spanish Succession, which lasted around 10 years. By the time it had finished in 1714, Philip had become Philip V of Spain, and Spain had lost most of its European territories. Philip was a good administrator and he promoted good politics in Spain, although his strict foreign policy took Spain to many costly wars to try to regain the lost lands.

39. The Enlightenment in Europe had been an anticlerical force, and Charles III though this would work in Spain. He completely expelled the Jesuit Order from Spain in 1767 and the Spanish Inquisition was scaled back, but it didn't disappear until after The reforms imposed by the king alienated the clergymen and the gentlemen who lived off their lands, and Charles allied with the merchants and the ever growing middle class that during his ruling found a new wealth. The king also reduced the border taxes and liberalized the grain trade in 1765.

40. 19th Century
The 19th century is a century of change in Spain. The liberal movements and ideals that came from the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century prompted the Spanish to fight for their rights. There were many political movements from 1808 to the beginning of the 1900s, alternating between liberal governments and absolutists one. It's also during this period that the First Spanish Republic took place, although it was short lived. The 19th century set the foundation for further democratic and liberal movement that would take place in Spain during the 20th century.

41. The French Revolution is the cause for the first liberal movements in Spain is marked as the start of the movement in Spain. The French had invaded the country and the Court was moved to Aranjuez in case the royal family had to flee to America. At that moment, the king was Charles IV. Ferdinand VII, his son, had been conspiring against him and Godoy to get to the throne.

42. The 20th century was a period of great change in Spain
The 20th century was a period of great change in Spain. The monarchy gave way to Primo de Rivera's dictatorship and then to the Second Spanish Republic. Franco came to power after the end of the Civil War and governed in Spain through a military dictatorship until his death in Juan Carlos I, chosen by Francisco Franco to continue the dictatorship, approved the Reform to turn Spanish into a parliamentary democracy.