Page "Spanish literature" Paragraph 92

The Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War, lasting from July 1936 to April 1939, had a devastating impact on the trajectory of Spanish letters.

In July 1936, Spain was at the height of its Silver Age.

Every major writer of the three major generations — 1898, 1914, and 1927 — was still alive and productive.

Those of 1914 and 1927 were at the height or just reaching the height of their literary powers.

Several were recognized among Western civilization's most talented and influential writers.

But by April 1939, Miguel de Unamuno, Antonio Machado, and Federico García Lorca, among others, were dead.

All but a small handful of the remaining writers had fled into exile, dispersed across the length of the American continent, most never to enjoy the close associations of conferences, tertulias, and theater premiers that had so often united them in pre-war Madrid.