Articles & Essays Book Reviews
Consciousness, Literature and the Arts
Volume 17 Number 3, December 2016 ___________________________________________________________________
Candelas Gala, Poetry, Physics, and Painting in Twentieth-Century Spain. Palgrave MacMillan, 2011.
Reviewed by
University of Strasbourg
In this illuminating work, Gala explores the early twentieth-century Spanish poetry in light of the multicultural sphere of the era. Poetry is therefore studied in relation with new discoveries in the field of physics and natural sciences as Gala holds that these novel findings deeply affected artistic movements and cultural domain in the first half of the twentieth-century. Instead of being autonomous or separate from cultural productions, modern physics moved to the forefront in the overall cultural avant-guarde and incorporated, in one way or the other, some of its most prominent elements. The fact that new terms such as relativity, the fourth dimension or electromagnetism were introduced to literary circles indicates that an awareness towards change characterised the epoch and the works of contemporary artists. In this book, Gala particularly examines the works of modern Spanish poets in terms of new scientific developments in the field of physics, suggesting that they were specially aware of and reacted to the fundamental alterations put forth by physicists. Moreover, Gala argues that these new developments in physics influenced the poets' perception of their world which is to be discerned in their artistic creation.
This book therefore investigates the lives of modernist poets and their works in light of European Modernism. Gala endeavors to show that the avant-guarde had a definitive impact on the works of these poets and further argues that as part of a cultural world prompted by the ideas of modification and modernisation, the avant-guarde urged change and development. This intellectual longing for change ultimately resulted in moving away from romantic and symbolist expressions and, hence, in defining novel realities over which years of convention had drawn a veil. According to Gala, the social and political agitation in late nineteenth-century Spain, ending up in the 1898 defeat by the United States, gave rise to a cultural crisis and, therefore, a loss of identity in the country. Recognising the crucial nature of the contemporary socio-political unrest, intellectuals established a movement for change and renewal through exploring new epistemological venues, travelling and meeting their colleagues from other parts of the world. At the same time, European intellectuals who sought shelter from World War I moved to Spain in this era. Thus, it was a challenging and tough epoch filled, concurrently, with energy and a strong desire for change and advancement.
The work of art supposedly reflects reality as it is apprehended by the artist. In this sense, an artist's perception and his specific way of looking at the physical phenomena around him constitute a pivotal factor in understanding and defining reality. This exploration of the natural phenomena characterises the works of both artists and physicists in early twentieth-century as they feel the necessity of reevaluating the long-established principles and methods of their domains. Putting forth analogical links between poets and physicists and scrutinising their common techniques with the precursors of Cubism , Gala shows the artist and scientist's common preoccupations with change and reform in their traditional outlooks. As attention turned towards external objects and the new dimensions of the physical world, poetry turned towards the processes of its own making. Meaning was accordingly defined and sought within the limits and potentials of this genre which provided the poet with a space to put forward his artistic creativity. As a result, poets deconstructed the accepted generic principles through their self-reflexive, experimental techniques, superseding traditional definitiveness and conclusiveness of a work of art by openness and uncertainty.
In several chapters of her book, Gala studies the works of a number of modernist Spanish poets in light of new developments in physics and art. Pedro Salinas, Jorge Guillén, Rafael Alberti and Gerardo Diego, to name some, are among prominent modernist poets whose poems, Gala suggests, reflect upon the novel aspects of reality and natural sciences in the first half of the twentieth century.