Spanish literature

The Spanish literature is the literature written by the Spanish in Spanish language (or Castillan), but one can also bring it closer to the South American Littérature which is mainly hispanisante.

The Middle Ages

The medieval Spanish literature treats primarily Christian topics, but it is also marked by the influence and the richness of the cultures Islamic and Jewish, then in full expansion. The oldest literary traces which reached us date from the beginning of the 12th century. They are short called lyric poems Kharjas.

Appear then the popular epopees made up by the Juglares , kind of ménestrels Spanish which speak in praise of hero or local knights, translate the competitions between the lords, and evoke the fight against the occupant Moor present on the Iberian peninsula since the beginning of the 8th century. One of these epopees most famous is that of the “Poem of Cid” ( Cantar of mío Cid ). Composed about 1140, this poem praises the chivalrous values of Rodrigo Díaz de Bivár, a known local lord under the name of Cid Campeador and which is characterized by its courage during the fights of Reconquista. At the 13th century, in the monasteries, of the scholars like Gonzalo de Berceo (about 1198 - after 1264), invent the “trade of clergie”. They are to give to the language Castilian true poems while taking as a starting point the life the saints and the Christian legends. Taking the opposite course to the free literature of the juglares , this literature of a new kind endeavors to comply with the rules of the prosody.

Having for project to compile the whole of knowledge of his time, the king Alphonse X Wise the makes Castille a place of intellectual emulation and a cultural crossroads while inviting at his court of the well-read men and of the Moslem, Jewish scientists and Christians of any origines. Thus of many historians, writers and translators develop an important literature in prose intended to teach. The nephew of the king, Don Juan Manuel (1284-1348) writes for example a collection of moral tales the Count Lucanor (1335). And in 1305 the first Spanish tale of chivalry appears: the Knight Cifar . One can consider Juan Ruiz, archpriest of Hita (1290? - 1350?) like the last representative of this medieval kind and the indicator board of the revival of the literature Castilian. Its collection of poems the Book of good love (1330) which still presents the forms of medieval poetry is original in the direction where it constitutes like an autobiography full with humor and autodérision.

As from the 15th century, the chivalrous epopees are gathered in collections, the Romanceros , which present the poems in the forms of ballades sung with an instrumental accompaniment. The metaphysics interrogations and Christian women are also perceptible. One finds them, for example, in the Stances on the death of his father (1476) of Jorge Manrique which expresses with virtuosity the necessary acceptance of death.

At the end of the 15th century, under the reigns of Ferdinand V and Isabelle I {{Re}} of Castille (1474-1504), the well-read men are encouraged being studied of humanities. It is in this context that in 1492, the grammairien Antonio de Nebrija writes the “Grammar of the language Castilian”. On its side, Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo completes in 1508 the revision of the tale of chivalry Amadis de Gaulle .

Side of the theater, it is the Comedy of Calixte and Melibée of Fernando de Rojas, also known under the name Célestine (published in 1499), which is essential like a key work of the Spanish literature. The part reports the history of two lovers, Calixte and Mélibée, which have recourse to the services of a prostitute of the name of Célestine to support their love.

The century of gold

With the accession with the throne of the king Charles I {{er}} of Spain, Spain passes under the domination of the Habsbourg, under which it will remain until 1700. During the 16th century, called the “Century of gold”, Spain takes the control of most of Europe at the same time as it establishes its colonial empire on the New World. The literature of the time is subject to largely the philosophical and artistic influence of the Renaissance which traverses Europe. The scientist and humanistic Dutch Érasme mark its print in the peninsula through its Spanish disciples as Juan Shine Sharp (1492-1540) and Juan de Valdés.

See too

List of the writers of Spanish language
List of poets of Spanish language

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Spanish literature

The Middle Ages

The century of gold

See too

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