GENERATION of the 14th or NINTH: summary, authors and characteristics

Halfway between the Generation of '98 and that of '27 in Spain, a new generation emerged that is known as the Generation of 14 and that has a Ortega y Gasset as the maximum exponent. It is a group made up, not only by writers or artists, but also by scientists, politicians, philosophers, and so on. In this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to show you a summary of the Generation of 14 with the authors and characteristics main of this group of intellectuals. A moment in the history of Spain in which women were recognized and in which we find such prominent names as María Zambrano or Clara Campoamor.

Index

1. Historical context of the Generation of 14
2. Brief summary of the Generation of the 14th Novecentismo
3. 8 characteristics of the Generation of the 14th or Novecentismo
4. Generation of 14: most important authors

We begin this summary of the Generation of 14 by briefly talking about the historical context in which the members of that generation found themselves. The name of the group already informs us about the year in which we are,

But in Spain the situation was different since the country remained neutral during this conflict and this allowed that the cultivation and intellectual production did not cease. This is what is known as the Generation of 14, a group formed by intellectuals of the moment and which includes both members of literature and art, but also philosophers, politicians, scientists, and so on. This group was strongly marked by the Cuban crisis and the Disaster of 98.

Authors like Gasset, Eugenio D´Ors, Manuel Azaña, Juan Ramón Jiménez and Gómez de la Serna they began to become well known in this troubled time. The most characteristic of this generation is that, unlike what had happened with other groups such as the Generation of '98 wave Generation of 27, this not only had in its ranks artists of literature or the pictorial arts but that, also, had intellectuals from other fields such as science, politics and, there were even a great presence of women as would be the case of Victoria Klent, María Zambrano or Clara Campoamor.

It was Eugeni d'Ors who baptized the movement with the name of "Novecentismo", that is, the intellectuals from 1900 since all of them were born at the end of the XIX but they published their first works from the new century. They shared some characteristics typical of the time, such as, for example, a more rational work and where many of the creators were self-taught and moved outside of academic uses.

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Now that we have been able to understand the context of this generation, we are going to delve into a brief summary of the Generation of the 14th or Novecentismo in order to better understand what this artistic, scientific and artistic movement consisted of. philosophical.

The members of this group are those who move between the Generation of 98 and that of 27, a group of intellectuals who were headed by the philosopher Ortega y Gasset. In fact, the term "Generación del 14" was used for the first time in an article that talked about the complete works of Gasseta and, here, Lorenzo Luzuriaga (the author of the article) chose the year 1914 as the name for the group because it was the year in which the first great work of Gasset was published: "Meditations on Don Quixote".

The authors of the Generation of 14 are personalities who were born at the end of the 19th century and whose literary or artistic activity took place in the 20th, around 1914. They are also known as "novecentistas" or "noucentistes" (in Catalan) because Eugeni d'Ors, another of the leaders of the generation, used this term to refer to the cultural movement of the "Noucentisme" that he was having in Catalonia. All these authors share a series of very common and differentiating characteristics from the rest of the groups, such as, for example, trial preference as a literary genre and the use of newspaper articles as a channel for dissemination.

Of course, one of the events that most influenced the members of the generation was the outbreak of the First World War, the year of which coincides with the name of the group. The neutrality of Spain made the intellectuals of the time differentiated by those who were supporters of the central powers or enemies.

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To better understand what the contribution of this group of intellectuals consisted of, below we are going to make a summary of the main features of the Generation of 14 that will allow you to understand the most defining traits of their authors. It is important to note that this generation is closely linked to the Catalan Noucentisme and, therefore, many of the characteristics are usually shared.

1. Rationalism: the authors of the Generation of 14 bet on a type of texts in which reason and systematization predominated. Writers have a great intellectual training and write with a clear desire to communicate and transmit ideas.
2. Urban literature: the preceding generation, that of '98, took refuge in rural and bucolic landscapes to create their works. But in the case of the members of this generation, their interest turned to cities and to civil and civilizing values.
3. Interest in Europe: Among the intellectuals of this generation, an interest in European culture is beginning to reappear and, therefore, they begin to analyze the problems of Spain from a European point of view.
4. Modernize the country: Due to the European model in which the intellectuals of the movement began to be inspired, a great interest in modernizing Spain in an intellectual way began to emerge.
5. Activism to transform the country: what the authors seek is to transform Spain in an official way and, for this, they are committed to taking carry out different actions and avoid by all means that the proposals remain limited to paper written. And, for this activism to be real, it is essential that the powerful classes join the transformative proposal. For all this, the authors of the Generation of 14 are strongly linked to the country's politics.
6. Rejection of sentimentality: Unlike the modernists, the members of this generation rejected sentimentality and opted for a more rational analysis of life and, also, of art.
7. Dehumanization of art: This expression was launched by Ortega y Gasset and very clearly summarizes the aesthetics of the Generation of 14. It is a concept that is closely linked to the movement of artistic vanguards in which the possibilities of art were investigated, a pure art totally unrelated to human experience. Art should only be done to satisfy an aesthetic need.
8. Classicism: in the authors of this generation, they return to the classic models since they allow there to be a serenity and greater clarity of everything they want to express.

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And we finish this summary of the Generation of 14 to talk about the main authors that made up this intellectual group. There are many prominent names and, as we have said, they moved on planes as diverse as politics, philosophy, art, and so on. Here we list the most outstanding ones of the moment:

José Ortega y Gasset

He is one of the main authors of the Generation of 14 and, in fact, some critics renamed this movement as "Generation of Gasset". He is the author who coined the term "dehumanization of art" and who set the aesthetics on which the members of this intellectual group would move.

Ramón Pérez de Ayala

He was one of the most prominent authors of the essay of the time with works such as "Troteras y danzaderas", "Prometheus" or "The fall of lemons".

Gabriel Miró

He is another of the most prominent Generation of 14 authors and the one who wrote novels in which the contemplative attitude abounds. Some of the most outstanding works are "Sigüenza" or "Figures of the Passion of the Lord".

Ramón Gómez de la Serna

Some critics include it within the Generation of 14 and Novencetismo and others in the Vanguards. The truth is that he is an unclassifiable man of letters since he was constantly looking for originality and creativity. One of his most emblematic contributions in the history of literature is the greguería, a style that united metaphor with humor.

Juan Ramon Jimenez

He is another of the authors difficult to classify in a generation since the poet had different stages in which he moved through Modernism, Noucentisme and Avant-garde. His most outstanding works are "Eternities", "Poetry" and "Background Animal".

Women of the Generation of 14

We have already indicated that, within the members of this generation, there was a large presence of intellectual women who were very relevant at the time. Here we leave you some of the most prominent names:

• Maria Goyri
• Zenobia Camprubí
• Maria de Maeztu
• Clara Campoamo
• Victoria Kent
• Maria Zambrano
• Matilde Padrón

If you want to read more articles similar to Generation of the 14th Novecentismo: summary, authors and characteristics, we recommend that you enter our category of History of Literature.

• Alzamora, M. M. (2009). The generation of 14: an intellectual adventure. Siglo XXI de España Editores.
• Díaz-Plaja, G. (1975). Structure and meaning of Spanish Novecentismo (Vol. 129). Editorial Alliance.
• Arroyo, C. M. (1968). The Ortega y Gasset system (Vol. 9). Alcalá Editions.