2. 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
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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
11. Development of Spanish Literature
• Romanticism
– 19th century
– Characteristics:
• Rejection of Neoclassicism
• Subjectivism
• Attraction to Nocturnal and Mysterious
• Escape from the world that surrounds them
12. Development of Spanish Literature
• Enlightenment
– 18th century
– “Arrival of Lights in Spain”
– 3 phases:
• Anti-baroquism
• Neoclassicism
• Pre-Romanticism
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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
16. 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)
17. 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.
18. 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.
