The Generation of '50 () relates to a Spanish literary movement of the mid-20th century, also known as the children of the civil war, and relates to writers born around the 1920s and published around the 1950s. They engendered a new

lyrical Lyrical may refer to: *Lyrics, or words in songs * Lyrical dance, a style of dancing *Emotional, expressing strong feelings *Lyric poetry Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically ...

preoccupation with language and incorporated

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of h ...

and

philosophical Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

techniques in their work in order to circumvent and undermine the strict

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

of the

Francoist State Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of History of Spain, Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . ...

. Many of the movement's initial features were influenced by the

Generation of '27 The Generation of '27 () was an influential group of poets that arose in Spain, Spanish literary circles between 1923 and 1927, essentially out of a shared desire to experience and work with avant-garde forms of art and poetry. Their first form ...

and Generation of '98, notably

Antonio Machado Antonio Cipriano José María y Francisco de Santa Ana Machado y Ruiz (26 July 1875 – 22 February 1939), known as Antonio Machado, was a Spanish poet and one of the leading figures of the Spanish literary movement known as the Generation ...

. In the second stage, when censorship relaxed somewhat novelists saw their role as provoking social reform by describing misery and injustice.

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

allowed, for the first time, members of the Generation of '50 to participate in

translation Translation is the communication of the semantics, meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The English la ...

s and commentaries of selected foreign authors such as

T.S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

and Paul Celan. Most of these authors grouped into circles of friends meeting in bars and

coffeehouse A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargi ...

s in the cities of

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. Significant members of Generation of '50 were Ignacio Aldecoa, Carlos Barral,

José Manuel Caballero Bonald José Manuel Caballero Bonald (November 11, 1926 – May 9, 2021) was a Spanish novelist, lecturer and poet. Early life Caballero was born in Calle Caballeros, Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. His father was Plácido Caballero, a Cuban whose mothe ...

, Eladio Cabañero, Alfonso Costafreda, Jesús Fernández Santos, Jaime Ferrán, Antonio Gamoneda, Juan García Hortelano,

Jaime Gil de Biedma Jaime is a common Spanish and Portuguese male given name for Jacob (name), James (name), Jamie, or Jacques. In Occitania Jacobus became ''Jacome'' and later ''Jacme''. In east Spain, ''Jacme'' became ''Jaime'', in Aragon it became ''Chaime'', and ...

, Ángel González,

José Agustín José Agustín Ramírez Gómez (19 August 1944 – 16 January 2024) was a Mexican novelist, short story writer, essayist and screenwriter. Publishing under the pen name José Agustín, he was considered one of the most influential and prolific Me ...

Juan Goytisolo Juan Goytisolo Gay (6 January 1931 – 4 June 2017) was a Spanish poet, essayist, and novelist. He lived in Marrakesh from 1997 until his death in 2017. He was considered Spain's greatest living writer at the beginning of the 21st century, yet ...

, Alfonso Grosso, Rafael Guillén,

José Hierro José Hierro del Real (born 3 April 1922 in Madrid, Spain – died 21 December 2002 in Madrid, Spain), sometimes colloquially called Pepe Hierro, was a Spanish poet. He belonged to the so-called Spanish Civil War, postwar generation, within the r ...

(although some authors are of a slightly earlier period), Jesús López Pacheco, Marta Portal, Juan Marsé, Carmen Martín Gaite, Ana María Matute, Claudio Rodríguez, Carlos Sahagún, Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, Daniel Sueiro, and José Ángel Valente, amongst others.

References

Spanish literary movements Culture of Spain Spanish poetry Society of Francoist Spain {{lit-mov-stub

See also

References