CONCEPTISM: ORIGIN, HISTORY, CHARACTERISTICS, AUTHORS, WORKS - LITERATURE - 2024

The conceit was a literary current used in the seventeenth century during the development of the Spanish Baroque. His style is based on the use of ingenious associations between ideas (concepts) and words. The most prominent authors who used conceptism in their works were Francisco de Quevedo and Baltasar Gracián.

The writer Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) established that conceptism consisted of an act of understanding that aimed to express the correspondence that exists between objects. Therefore, the concept sought to use an expression that concentrates the greatest meaning in the least amount of words.

Francisco de Quevedo was one of the authors who used the conceptist style. Source: Juan vander Hamen (Public domain)

Consequently, it can be said that the concept used polysemy in a recurring way. In linguistic terms, polysemy occurs when the same word can have different meanings.

In order to establish ingenious relationships between meanings and words, conceptism also used other resources such as equivocation, ellipsis, paradox and antithesis. For this reason, it is affirmed that the conceptist writers had to be well instructed in the rhetorical discipline.

In the same way, the current of conceptism was linked to gongorismo or culteranismo. Some authors defend that they are two different styles, however, most critics establish that culteranismo is actually an aspect or a manifestation of conceptism.

Both styles have in common that they followed the aesthetic lines of Mannerism and Baroque; consequently, the literary work obtained its value through the complication of language. This arises as a response to the Renaissance movement, which proposed the naturalness and simplicity of the language.

Origin and history

The baroque episteme

The baroque was an artistic and philosophical movement that developed in Europe and Latin America in the course of the seventeenth century. In its beginnings, the word baroque was loaded with a pejorative sense, since it was related to the exaggerated, the extravagant and the overloaded. All of these elements were in marked contrast to the order and harmony of the Renaissance.

Some authors establish that Mannerism (a brief movement located between the Baroque and the Renaissance) and the Baroque arose in response to the decline of Renaissance ideals. For this reason, it is proposed that the ideas of balance and order disappeared to give way to a more pessimistic and disappointed vision of reality.

As a plastic expression of this vision arose an eagerness to demonstrate the unstable of reality, as well as the transience of everything that exists. This attracted an interest in the extravagance, often manifested by the monstrous or the contrived and complicated.

The baroque in art

In painting this manifested itself through the contrast of shadows and lights; curved and brittle lines were emphasized in architecture, as well as labyrinthine gardens. On the other hand, in the literature the gongorist schemes were applied, which were based on the recurrent use of neologisms and hyperbatons.

Likewise, within the literary works the figure of the rogue was introduced. This with the aim of making readers aware of the misery of the human condition. However, this image was developed from a satirical and moralizing approach, as can be seen in the work La vida del Buscón (1626), by Francisco de Quevedo.

Historical context of the Spanish Golden Age

The Baroque in Spain constituted a paradoxical period, since culturally it is considered as the Golden Age (due to its development in painting, music and literature), but from the historical perspective it was rather a century of crisis.

For example, demographically, the population had decreased alarmingly due to hunger. In addition, the fields suffered a notorious depopulation, which worsened when they expelled the Moors - descendants of Muslims.

Economically, Spain was bankrupt. This as a consequence of wars and internal conflicts. In this sense, droughts, epidemics, the loss of peasants and the decline of American gold also influenced.

Spanish society lacked an enterprising bourgeoisie and the court was characterized by its wastefulness. On the other hand, the nobility paid almost no taxes and maintained a monopoly on both land and public office. The commoners had to pay high taxes, in addition they were the first affected by the economic crises.

During this period the number of miserables had also grown, a Spanish social stratum that was made up of rogues, beggars, thieves and beggars. This group of people settled in the cities and caused havoc. All these elements harmed the development of the Iberian Peninsula during the Golden Age.

From a religious perspective, Spain had assumed the ideals of the Counter-Reformation - opposition to the Protestant Reformation - which were rigorously enforced through the Inquisition. The guidelines of the counter-reform were disseminated through educational centers and the theater.

In addition, socially, the need for cleansing of blood had been imposed, which consisted of showing that one had no Muslim or Jewish ancestry for at least three generations. This generated social divisions and resentments.

characteristics

To understand conceptism in its entirety, it is first necessary to mention some of the characteristics of baroque literature. This is because conceptism is a current that was produced by baroque art.

Characteristics of Baroque literature

- It was a style that wanted to surprise the reader. Thus, the basis of this literature consisted in the difficulty of its texts, which sought to challenge the intelligence of those who read them.

- There was a constant presence of disappointment and pessimism. From this vision some clichés such as carpe diem, nostalgia and death are extracted. In addition, in some texts a questioning about reality was raised and the transience of life was emphasized, as can be seen in the text Life is a dream, by Calderón de la Barca.

- Some authors of baroque literature introduced a critical attitude of a satirical and sarcastic nature. This encouraged the emergence of the picaresque as a genre and resulted in the use of characters such as the madman, the drunkard, the funny man or the rogue; These are generally situated on the fringes of society.

- The literary language was enriched by cultisms, as well as expressive twisting. For this reason, word games, metaphors, paradoxes and accumulation of images were used.

Characteristics of the concept

- Conceptist literature gave more importance to the background than to the form. As for conceptual poetry, this was poetry of content and ingenious association between ideas and words.

- Conceptism operated on abstract thoughts. For this he used paradoxes, antitheses and phrases with double meanings.

- Some define conceptism as a game of associations and thoughts where mental and creative acuity is put to the test.

- Conceptism sought the extraordinary to excite intelligence and arouse the admiration of readers.

- The literature of this current was interested in word games and human ingenuity. For this reason, it appealed to the imagination. In some cases it also appealed to the senses, but this corresponded more to the culteranism aspect.

Authors and representative works

Francisco de Quevedo (1580-1645)

He is considered by critics as one of the most prominent authors in Spanish literature. Quevedo wrote poetry, narrative, theater and various philosophical texts where he addressed political, moral, historical and humanistic issues.

One of his most famous works was La vida del Buscón (1626). However, the author never admitted to having written this text in order to avoid censorship by the Inquisition. It is a picaresque novel where the life of Don Pablos, a ruffian, is narrated.

The life of the buscón is a literary work corresponding to the conceptist current. Source: Francisco de Quevedo

For critics, the text is a satire that can be classified as a bloody caricature due to the exaggeration of its prose; This is because Quevedo did not describe the characters or places in a realistic way, but rather grotesquely. This exaggeration is typical of the baroque style.

In turn, Quevedo demonstrated a remarkable command of language, as he used a very wide vocabulary and played with meanings. For this reason, La vida del buscón is considered a conceptist work.

Baltasar Gracián (1601-1658)

He was a Spanish Jesuit who dedicated himself to cultivating philosophy and didactic prose. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the conceptist current, since his works were loaded with aphorisms, polysemies and puns. This author's line of thought is quite pessimistic, which is consistent with the Baroque period.

For Gracián, the world was a deceptive and hostile space. Therefore, within his works, malice prevailed over truth and virtue. His most prominent creation was El Criticón, which was published in three parts over several years: 1651, 1653, and 1657.

The work El criticón is valued as the pinnacle of Spanish baroque. It consists of an allegory that addresses the entire life of man, represented in two opposing characters: Andreino, who is impulsive and inexperienced, and Critilo, experienced and prudent. The text is focused from social satire and disappointment, however, it follows the structure of a moral epic.

References

1. Carreira, A. (sf.) Conceptism in Quevedo's jácaras. Retrieved on November 22, 2019 from Biblioteca.org.ar
2. hevalier, M. (1988) Conceptism, culteranismo, sharpness. Retrieved on November 22, 2019 from repositorio.uam.es
3. Chicharro, D. (sf) On the origins of Andalusian conceptism. Retrieved on November 22, 2019 from Dialnet.net
4. Iventosch, H. (1962) Quevedo and the defense of the slandered. Retrieved on November 22, 2019 from JSTOR.
5. Kluge, S. (2005) The world in a poem? Góngora versus Quevedo. Retrieved on November 22, 2019 from Wiley Online Library.
6. SA (sf) Conceptism. Retrieved on November 22, 2019 from es.wikipedia.org
7. SA (nd) Baroque literature (17th century). Retrieved on November 22, 2019 from edu.xunta.gal