Modernism as a continuing process. Modernist irony in Spanish-language modernism

Abstract

The article deals with the presence of modernist irony, which is defined as a characteristic attitude to symbolism in Spanish modernism. This topic is an answer to dual understanding of the turn of the 19th and 20th century in Spanish literature (modernism, Generation ‘98), which is an expression of the excessive attachment to critical moments in analyzing the evolution of Spanish literature. The author shows the validity of the category proposed, analyzing the novels Sangre patricia by Diaz Rodriguez and Amor y pedagogia by Miguel de Unamuno, as well as referring to poetry and painting of the Spanish cultural area. She also points to the social conditioning of modernist irony. The presence of this category in Unamuno’s output challenges the traditional categorization of the historico-literary process of Spanish modernism.