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LEADING SPANISH PERSONALITIES IN
LITERATURE
1. Miguel de Cervantes
2. Mercè Rodoreda
3. Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
INDEX
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES
GENERAL INFORMATION
• Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright.
• The Spanish language is often called ‘the language of Cervantes’.
He became one of the most famous writers in Spain when he created Don Quixote, one of the world's greatest literary masterpieces, in the early 1600s.
BIOGRAPHYHe was born on
29th Septem
ber 1547 in Alcalá
de Henares
, a Castilian city about
35 kilometres from Madrid.
Due to the
poor situation of his family,
he becam
e a navy
soldier.
In the Lepanto war, he lost a hand
and was caught by the Algiers. During his stay
in prison,
he wrote Los
Baños de
Argel.
Finally, he
returned to
Madrid where
he began writing
LITERARY MOVEMENT• Cervantes participated in the cultural movement of the
Renaissance.
• The Renaissance appeared in Italy and changed the way of
thinking, promoted by a new interest in the classic culture.
Characteristics of
the REINASSA
NCE
Humanism
Individualism
RationalismAnthropocentrism
Naturalism
Furthermore, society experienced big
alterations:
-Great discoveries were made
during this period, for instance the American
continent and printing.
-The end of the Roman Empire took
place hence to the fall of Constantinople.
-The middle-class started acquiring
power.
La Galatea
• It is a pastoral romance and the characters are shepherds who talk about their troubles.
Don Quijote de la Mancha• It is the story of a gentleman who had always read books of chivalry. Because of that, he starts thinking he had been an important knight in his early years so he decides to start a life full of adventures. Finally, he dies after he realises he is not a real knight.Novelas Ejemplares Exemplary Novels
• This book contains some stories which show the social, political, and historical problems of Cervantes' Spain. Los Trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda The Works of Persiles and Sigismunda
• It belongs to the Byzantine novels’ genre. The novel tells the story of a prince and a princess, Persiles and Sigismunda, who want to get married.
WORKS-PROSE
WORKS-POETRY AND THEATRE
POETRY THEATER
Cervantes really wanted to write good poetry, but he doubted of
his capability. He claimed to have written many ballads and satirical
poems.
His most known poetic work is "Viaje del Parnaso“ (Journey to
Parnassus) in which Cervantes debates about literature itself.
Theatre was the real vocation of Cervantes. His works gained
popularity, but the arrival of Lope de Vega's new style ruined any
chances he might have had. Short plays were his specialty and
he gave his characters life, deep moral beliefs, a great sense of humor, he wrote about important topics that
affected everyone.
CERVANTES’ QUOTES“En un lugar de la mancha, de cuyo
nombre no quiero acordarme...”-Don Quijote
“Somewhere in la Mancha, in a place whose name I do not care
to remember …”-Don Quixote
“Estar preparado ya es media victoria”
“To be prepared is
half the victory”
"La verdad siempre anda sobre la mentira como el
aceite sobre el agua.“
“Truth will raise above falsehood as oil above
water.”
MERCÈ RODOREDA
• Mercè Rodoreda was a well-known Catalan writer. She was born in 1908 in Barcelona.
• She was brought up in a lovely house with a beautiful garden, which inspired her during the years
• She had an unlucky love story, she married her uncle at the age of 20
As a child, she loved art
• Mercè was unhappy in her marriage and wanted to be an independent woman with her own life.
• Mercè began to collaborate with left-wing newspapers and magazines, writing short stories for children. Because of the Civil War, she took up exile and left Spain for 33 years.
• While she was in France, she kept writing novels and poemsHer work is influenced by the tragedies she saw there
BIOGRAPHY
STYLE AND WORK• Mercè Rodoreda’s literary movement belongs to the
Post-War period• Her poems, tales and novels are considered great
books for Catalan literature • She used her talent to alter the concept of family
and motherhood; she believed in women and her right of freedom
• Her work was inspired by traditional Catalan stories and by great authors such as Virginia Woolf, Marcel Proust and Thomas Mann.
• She wrote psychological novels, where she analysed her characters and their deep personalities
General characteristics
Difficult relationships between men and womenReflection about the sexist societyReflection about old-age and deathAnalysis of feelings
Masculine characters
Selfish and jealous menGreedy peopleChauvinistic marriagesThey are shy and against their feelingsCareless
Strong charactersAgainst chauvinismWorried about motherhoodPursuit of happinessLonely girls and women
Femenine characters
DEEP CHARACTERS
Books• Aloma talks about a girl who is madly in
love with Robert, but he realizes he is not that much in love with her.
Aloma
• It tells the story of Natalia , a young woman, who accepts without complaining everything in her life.
La plaça del diamantThe time of the Doves
• ‘Mirall trencat’ talks about the three generations of the imaginary Valldaura family.
Mirall trencatBroken mirror
• ‘Quanta, quanta guerra’...talks about a boy who wants to be a soldier and spends all the novel going from one place to another to avoid war.
Quanta, quanta guerra...How much war...
RODOREDA’S QUOTES
“Cada casa és un món i cada persona un misteri.”
“Each home is a world and each person a mystery.”
“Les coses importants són les que no ho
semblen.”
“Important things are those that don’t
seem to be .”
GUSTAVO ADOLFO BÉCQUER
GENERAL INFORMATION
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
Poet and writer. He wrote mostly short stories. He was also
a playwright, a literary columnist and a talented painter.
Nowadays, he is considered one of the most
important figures in Spanish literature.
Main writer of the Post-Romanticism movement: poetry became more
sentimental and intimate, while prose and theater were more related to
Realism
BIOGRAPHY• Bécquer was born in Seville on 17 February 1836
• He was a ladies’ man and fell in love with a pretty woman called
Julia, but he married Julia’s sister.
• As a result of his infidelities, Bécquer died too young, in 1870,
because of tuberculosis
• He lived a deprived life and died without being aware of his
future relevance
Concision
• With few
words he
shows all his emotio
ns
Simplicity
• Because of the
refined style
of Romanticism
There are many
images that
suggest things,
feelings, emotions.
Individualism, there is
no objective
reality
Drama• He uses
indirect dialogue and it looks like he’s
talking to
someone
Verses• Verses
of seven and
eleven syllable
s in assona
nce rhyme
WRITING STYLE
SubjectivismSymbolism
RIMASRHYMES
Bécquer's literary fame is mostly based on "Rhymes" (Rimas), which
is fairly short poetry made up of 86 poems.
The rhymes are not arranged chronologically but thematically.Rhymes Theme
I – XI The woman is the artist’s source of inspiration
XII – XXIX Optimistic love as source of inspiration
XXX – LI Hopeless love. His beloved one is cold and distant
LII – LXXIX Loneliness, anxiety and death as a result of failure
LEYENDASLEGENDS
• The following legends are a group of narrations, which were published from 1858 to 1864
El monte de las ánimas
Los ojo verdes
Maese Perez, el organista
El rayo de luna
El Miserere
El Cristo de la calavera
La corza blanca
El beso
LEYENDAS
They recreate fantastic and mysterious settings
They often show supernatural and semi-religious (Christian) events.
They are intimate and are a reference to the historical past
“What is poetry? you ask, while fixing
your blue pupil on mine. What is poetry! And do you
ask me? Poetry... is you.”-Rhyme XXI
“¿Qué es poesía?, dices mientras clavasen mi pupila tu pupila azul.
¿Qué es poesía? ¿Y tú me lo preguntas?Poesía... eres tú.”-Rima XXI
“El alma que hablar puede con los ojos también puede
besar con la mirada.”
“The soul that can speak through the eyes can also kiss
with a gaze.”
“We may not have poets; but there will always be
poetry.”-Rhyme IV
“Podrá no haber poetas; pero siemprehabrá poesía.”-Rima IV
BÉCQUER’S QUOTES
