Mensajeros de un tiempo nuevo: Modernidad y nihilismo en la literatura de vanguardia (1918–1936) by Juan Herrero Senés (review)

In Mensajeros de un tiempo nuevo: Modernidad y nihilismo en la literatura de vanguardia (1918–1936) Juan Herrero Senés provides a thoroughly documented analysis and interpretation of the underpinnings and manifestations of nihilism in avant-garde literature from the end of World War I to the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. The work’s primary premise, laid out in the introduction, is that literary production of the entreguerras period in Spain represents an attempt to reinterpret, revise, and redefine reality in reaction to the profound sense of crisis provoked by phenomena such as the rupture in fundamental beliefs, a questioning of absolute values, and a sense of moral disorientation.

While this is not an entirely new assessment of either the period or its literature, what is original is the approach. Rather than attempting to ascertain the success or failure of the vanguardia through an examination of individual works or movements, the book instead relies fundamentally on articles, proclamations, manifestos, essays, and criticism from the era to define its spiritual and ideological temperament and then demonstrate how the Spanish avant-garde as a whole, in its multiplicity of radical proposals, reflects a nihilist Zeistgeist.

One of the first appreciable features of this work is its impressive bibliography, divided into two equally extensive sections, a list of primary sources followed by a series of secondary references. This division, which could prove useful as a tool for further research, provides an immediate, succinct roadmap to both the original documentation as well as the theoretical and critical perspectives that inform the work. Unfortunately, this feature also makes it more cumbersome to refer back to bibliographic entries while reading the text, since it is not always immediately apparent in which list a particular work should appear, something further complicated by various inconsistencies in citation format and alphabetization.

The second notable characteristic of this text is its specifically peninsular focus. Although a number of other writers and works are referenced in comparison and contrast with the Spanish protagonists, the selected counterpoints are mostly European and North American rather than Latin American. One conspicuous omission in this regard is that of Chilean Vicente Huidobro, whose presence in Spain during the early days of the vanguardia, along with his creacionismo, ought to warrant at least a passing mention in a study of this nature. On the other hand, what this work lacks in Latin American perspective, it makes up with the inclusion of a number of Catalonian authors, whose quotes are given in the original Catalan without translation.

The book consists of five main chapters, the first two of which serve primarily to establish context. Chapter 1, “Vectores,” explores the historical and sociological background of the beginning of the twentieth century and the various factors that converged to create a climate propitious to nihilism among disenchanted intellectuals. Along with elements common to the rest of Europe, such as the erosion of religious authority, disintegration of traditional values, and chaos and confusion engendered by the bellicosity of the century’s first few decades, this chapter considers the reception and dissemination of Oswald Spengler’s La decadencia de Occidente as a significant component of the discourse in Spain regarding the crisis of modernity and Western culture.

Chapter 2, “Dominantes,” focuses on the reaction of young Spanish writers to this environment and the type of literature they developed in response, at once embracing and defying the moral and spiritual abyss of their time. Prevailing characteristics of this new art include a dynamic focus on artistic praxis, a posture of sincerity and a rejection of mimesis in an attempt to capture the essence of modern reality, self-reflection, subjectivity, and a search for the definition and actualization of the “new man.” On this last facet, the chapter’s penultimate subsection, “Eoantropismo,” offers an interesting though rather underdeveloped digression on the representation of...