The Spanish Civilization

Hi st or y, Li t er at ur e and Mi guel de Cer vant es

The History of Spain

• Prehistoric times• The Celt- Iberian Spain• Phoenicians, Greeks, and

Carthaginians• Romans and Goths• Moorish Epochs and Reconquista• The Catholic Monarchs• Habsburg and Bourbon Kings• 20th Century

The Spanish Literature

• Spanish literature generally refers to literature (Spanish poetry, prose, and drama) written in theSpanish language within the territory that presently constitutes the state of Spain.

• Its development coincides and frequently intersects with that of other literary traditions from regions within the same territory, particularly Catalan literature, Galician literature, and more recently a formal Basque literature.

Castiliano/Castellano

• Spanish (español) is a Romance language named for its origins as the native tongue of a large proportion of the inhabitants of Spain.

• It is also named Castilian after the Spanish region of Castile where it originated.

• Spanish is the second most natively spoken language in the world, after Mandarin Chinese.

Catalan

• is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islandsand Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian.

Galician

• is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian, as well as in border zones of the neighboring territories of Asturias andCastile and León.

Basque

• Is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France.

Development of Spanish Literature

• Pre-Historic

– Actual written evidence has never been found.

– As far back as the last Paleolithic era (30,000-15,000 BCE) engaged in a variety of oral lyric traditions.

– Originally, these lyrical songs would have been closely associated with fertility rites, the hunt, or other key life stages.

Development of Spanish Literature

• Renaissance– During the 15th century the pre-

Renaissance occurs.

– The most important characteristics of the Renaissance: • The language in this age is dominated by naturalness

and simplicity.

• The preferred themes are, fundamentally, love, nature, pagan mythology, from which the histories of gods and the female beauty are reflected, following always the same classical ideal.

Development of Spanish Literature

• Baroque– 17th Century

– The Baroque style used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music.

– The Baroque is characterized by the following points:• Pessimism

• Disillusionment

Development of Spanish Literature

• Romanticism

– 19th century

– Characteristics:

• Rejection of Neoclassicism

• Subjectivism

• Attraction to Nocturnal and Mysterious

• Escape from the world that surrounds them

Development of Spanish Literature

• Enlightenment

– 18th century

– “Arrival of Lights in Spain”

– 3 phases:

• Anti-baroquism

• Neoclassicism

• Pre-Romanticism

Development of Spanish Literature

• Realism

– Objective vision of reality

– The narrators write their works approaching reality from their moral conception.

– Themes that are familiar to the reader

– The popular and colloquial language acquires great importance.

Development of Spanish Literature

• Modernism

– Regenerationism

– Modernism was rooted in the idea that "traditional" forms of art, literature, religious faith, social organization, and daily life had become outdated; therefore it was essential to sweep them aside.

Miguel de Cervantes • Born in Alcala de Henares, a town

20 miles from Madrid, on September 29, 1547

• He was named Miguel for Saint Michael

• Son of a barber-surgeon• His family was large; he was only

the fourth son out of what was to become seven children in total.

• Studied under the Jesuits as a child; Did not go to a university

Miguel de Cervantes

• In 1570, he left Spain for Italy, a move usually done by the Spaniards of his time to further their careers.

• This move made the confrontation between the Turks and the Spanish infantries located in nearby Italy inevitable.

• His ship was captured by pirates and he was taken as a slave to Algiers, a country in northern Africa. (1575)

Miguel de Cervantes • It is believed that his life as a

slave from 1575 to 1580 became the source of inspiration for some episodes in Don Quixote.

• Spain had changed drastically during Cervantes's absence.

• It was his return to Spain which began his career as a major literary figure.

• In 1585, he published his first long work, La Galatea, a prose pastoral romance.

Miguel de Cervantes

• Became a dramatist.

• First Part of Don Quixote came out in 1605.

• In 1615, a year before his death, the Second Part came out and was just as successful.

• Unfortunately, all of this success resulted in no profit for Cervantes, who had sold the publishing rights of his work.

MuchasGracias!

De: Angeline Lorraine Salazar