85
- 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
Juan Ramón Jiménez. Another latecomer to the
party, the poet Jiménez was more of a bridge to the
Generation of 27 (see below) than a dyed-in-the-wool
98er. Masterful in conveying subtle emotion, Jimenez’
poems constantly evolved with new method.Platero y
yo, (1914), about one man and his donkey in the poet’s
native Andalusia, became hugely popular. Jiménez
spent much of his 20s in a French asylum suffering from
depression, and endured bouts of the illness throughout
much of his adult life. He fled Spain for the Americas
with his wife on the outbreak of the Civil War and later
won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Poetry circle:la Generación del 27
While the Generation of 98 had a strong nose for prose,
the subsequent clique of 1927 was defined by poetry.
Part of a broader cultural surge that spilled over into
the visual art of Salvador Dalí and the film-making of
Luis Buñuel, they took inspiration from 98ers like
Ortega y Gasset and Jiménez, and also from French
Symbolists Baudelaire and Rimbaud. Europe bathed in
new movements and ideas: Futurism glorified
modernity, Dadaism sought out the absurd and
Surrealism unlocked the subconscious. Each went
some way to inspire the avant-garde Generation of 27,
although they also had more historic influences, notably
Luis de Góngora. 1927 marked the 300thanniversary
of his death, stirring a resurgence of interest in his
work. Many of the new generation mirrored Góngora’s
powerful use of metaphor and vocabulary.
“A LOT OF GOOD
ARGUMENTS
ARE SPOILED BY
SOME FOOL WHO
KNOWS WHAT HE
IS TALKING ABOUT.”
Miguel de Unamuno
