Hack to front: Larra
The short stories, serialised novels and essays of
19 thcentury Spanish literature often reached their
public through newspapers, andCostumbrismoauthor
Mariano José de Larra was the most successful
newspaperman of the age. Working behind a raft of
pseudonyms, he delivered biting satire on Spanish
life, articles with a political slant and critiques on the
Romantic literature of the day. He also wrote poetry and
ahistoricalnovel,El doncel de don Enrique el Doliente
(1834). Notoriously miserable, the lovelorn Larra
committed suicide with a bullet to the head aged 28.
Regional Romantics
The Romantic mood of the 19thcentury coincided
with a resurgence of native language literature in both
Catalonia and Galicia. In Catalonia theRenaixença,as
the revival was known, took its name from a journal
that began publishing Catalan literature. Poet Jacint
Verdaguer got the ball rolling withL’A t l à n t i d a(1877),
an epic poem that enraptured Catalan nationalists
with its ravishing use of the region’s language. Other
writers followed, pushing a Catalonian revival that
finally reversed over a century of general decline
(theDecadència).
In Galicia the repercussions of the literary rebirth, here
called theRexurdimento,didn’tpushasfarintoregional
identity but they did produce a bigger star in the shape
of Rosalía de Castro. Her poetry had a more Romantic
tone, evoking a mystical, medieval Galicia. She wrote
several novels, but realised some of her best work in the
Cantares Gallegos(1863), a book of Galician folk songs.
She also wrote in Castilian;En las orillas del Sar(1884),
acollectionofpoetry,isconsideredhermasterpiece.
“AFTER GOD, LONG LIVE WINE.”Rosalía de Castro
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- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
Slices of local life:
Costumbrismo
Spanish Romanticism
fosteredcuadros de
costumbres. They were
short bursts of prose that
sketched out the everyday
motifs of 19thcentury
Spanish life, sometimes
with a satirical edge.
Bullfighting, village life
and traditional local
dress all featured in the
evocative, regionally
sensitive descriptions.
Easily accessible in
journals and newspapers,
the popularity of
Costumbrismostunted the
growth of the Romantic
novel in Spain. Among the
most prominent writers,
Ramón de Mesonero
Romanos focussed his
Escenas matritenses(1842)
on Madrid, while Fernán
Caballero set herCuadros
de costumbres(1857) in
Andalusia.
Coffee time with
the Romantics
In 1830 some of the
leading Romantic
wordsmiths of the day
established El Parnasillo,
a writing salon (tertulia)
that met in the Café del
Príncipe in Madrid. Larra,
Espronceda and Mesonero
Romanos were among the
clientele.
