1.- SELECCIÓN Y ADAPTACIÓN DE TEXTOS Y PRESENTACIONES

Los recursos empleados en este apartado son de tipo didáctico y tanto los textos como la presentación (imagen) son recursos de contenido de la materia, no lingüísticos.

SPANISH BAROQUE LITERATURE. The literary Baroque took place in Spain during the  Golgen Age of Spanish literature. It spans from the first works of Góngora and Lope de Vega around 1580 to the middle of the 18th century. The most characteristic century of the Baroque is the 17th century, when the best authors of the time published their most outstanding works.

Spanish Baroque literature has many common traits between the works of different authors, as it normally happens with artistic movements. During the Spanish Baroque, the authors suffered from a deep pessimism at the utter failure of the Renaissance ideals, which promised happiness and perfection. Instead, they got a world riddled with wars, sickness and deep economic and political problems. Disappointment set in, and life was regarded only as a journey through time during which anything and everything that was bad could, and probably would, happen. Death was regarded at the "cure" for this, as it promised peaceful rest and eternal salvation away form the agony of life's tragedies. This gave way to a deep preoccupation about the passage of time, a distrust of everything earthly and a deep melancholy characteristic to all Spanish Baroque literature authors. The Baroque symbolism was very rich, and to understand it all you'd need to take several courses on it, but some are skeletons and skulls, symbolizing the brevity of life, and clocks, symbolizing the passage of time.

There were a few different literary reactions to this pessimistic feeling, and each author developed their own way of expressing the unhappiness and dissatisfaction that the political, social and economical situation that Spain was going through caused them. Some, like Lope de Vega, tried to evade from the world that caused them so much pain by writing about the glories of days past; others like Góngora preferred to hide within the folds of  art and mythology. A more happy way of dealing with the harsh reality was by satirizing it, and this was Quevedo's way of evading from the world that displeased him. 

Questioning:

- What fits the Baroque era and takes place in what century?

-Why the baroque authors were suffering pessimism? How does it manifest? With what symbols?

-How do authors expressed pessimism as Lope, Gongora and Quevedo?

Picaresque novel, early form of novel, usually a first-person narrative, relating the adventures of a rogue or low-born adventurer (Spanish picaro) as he drifts from place to place and from one social milieu to another in his effort to survive. In its episodic structure the picaresque novel resembles the long, rambling romances of medieval chivalry, to which it provided the first realistic counterpart. Unlike the idealistic knight-errant hero, however, the picaro is a cynical and amoral rascal who, if given half a chance, would rather live by his wits than by honourable work. The picaro wanders about and has adventures among people from all social classes and professions, often just barely escaping punishment for his own lying, cheating, and stealing. He is a casteless outsider who feels inwardly unrestrained by prevailing social codes and mores, and he conforms outwardly to them only when it serves his own ends. The picaro’s narrative becomes in effect an ironic or satirical survey of the hypocrisies and corruptions of society, while also offering the reader a rich mine of observations concerning people in low or humble walks of life.

The picaresque novel originated in Spain with Lazarillo de Tormes (1554).

Questioning:

-What characteristic does the picaro?

-What provides the picaresque novel the reader?

-Find more book belonging to the picaresque novel.