The works that Valle-Inclan wrote in the 1920's under the new aesthetic outlook of the 'esperpento' can be considered as a con- tribution from Spain to European expressionism for the similarities it has with the precepts that govern that avant-garde movement of German origin. These affinities consist mainly of distortive tech- niques that derive from the plastic arts and that both in the 'esperpento' and in expressionism are applied to human beings, objects and historical events alike. The distortive techniques that Valle-Inclan uses are varied and include such methods as the reduction of human beings to puppets or animals and the exaggeration of human traits, together with syn- tactic and historical distortion. All of these are characteristics that also shape expressionism. To this must be added the influence of expressionist cinema, which Valle-Inclan adapts to enhance the visual aspect of the realities he reproduces. The purpose of the techniques is invariably to degrade the character to the status of an aberration of nature, so as to characterize him externally just as he is inwardly. Other characteristics that allow us to identify the 'esperpento' with expressionism is the emphasis put on macabre and execrable aspects of contemporary man, which corresponds to the same desire to exteriorize the base moral values immanent in all mankind. Valle-Inclan and expressionist authors set this moral ugliness against the human integrity that the latter see exemplified in primitivism and the former in archaic societies that existed before modern society became institutionalized. Equally important for what they tell use about these affinities are the parallel circumstances that the history of Spain mirrored in the 'esperpentos' shares politically, socially and culturally with the Germany of the First World War and the Weimar Republic. The conclusions reached are that the historical period in which Valle-Inclan lived, together with the contact that he must have had directly with expressionist art through cinema, exhibitions, news- papers and art magazines was a sufficient stimulus to re-establish him in a tradition to which he was temperamentally predisposed. It is the tradition represented by Goya who, paradoxically, was as influential in German expressionist art as he was in the "esperpento."
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-1171 |
| Date | 01 January 1987 |
| Creators | JEREZ-FARRAN, CARLOS |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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