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{{Short description|Spanish cultural movement}}
The '''Generation of '98''' ({{langx|es|Generación del 98}}) was a group of [[novelist]]s, [[poet]]s, [[essay]]ists, and [[philosopher]]s active in [[Spain]] at the time of the [[Spanish–American War]] (1898), committed to cultural and aesthetic renewal, and associated with [[modernismo]].

The name was coined by [[José Martínez Ruiz]] (commonly known as "Azorín") in his 1913 essays titled "La generación de 1898", alluding to the moral, political, and social crisis in Spain produced by the loss of the colonies of [[Cuba]], [[Puerto Rico]], the [[Philippines]], and [[Guam]] after defeat in the Spanish–American War that same year. Historian [[Raymond Carr]] defines the Generation of '98 as the "group of creative writers who were born in the seventies, whose major works fall in the two decades after 1898".{{sfn|Carr|1966}}

The intellectuals included in this group are known for their criticism of the Spanish literary and educational establishments, which they saw as having characteristics of conformism, ignorance, and a lack of any true spirit. Their criticism was coupled with and heavily connected to the group's dislike for the [[Restoration (Spain)|Restoration]] movement that was occurring in Spanish government.

==Historical context==
The group that has become known as The Generation of '98 was affected by several major events and trends in Spanish history. According to Carr's definition of the group, most of them were born in the 1870s.{{sfn|Carr|1966}} These men were especially informed by Spain's defeat and humiliation in the Spanish–American War in 1898, which crystallized into two distinct political movements, [[First Spanish Republic|Republicanism]] and [[Carlist]] Monarchism, marked by the oscillation of power (a zeal for reform characterized these years of Spanish history):

# [[Glorious Revolution (Spain)|"The Glorious Revolution"]] in 1868 and the following six years of revolution, in which the country overthrew Queen Isabella and the monarchy and then had to try to fill the political void with a stable government.
# The [[First Spanish Republic]] of 1873 lasted only 22 months.
# [[Spain under the Restoration|The Restoration project]] of [[Antonio Cánovas del Castillo]], was an attempt to create a [[constitutional monarchy]] based on [[Victorian Britain]], which began shortly after Cánovas was appointed prime minister by Alfonso XII in 1874. A system called ''turno pacífico'' ("peaceful alternation") was devised in which two political parties alternated control of the government, by means of a heavily orchestrated and controlled electoral process. The Restoration was reasonably successful in restoring political stability, but finally ended with the [[Second Spanish Republic]] in 1931.

===The restoration project===
The first intellectual criticism took place at the dawn of the Restoration movement. In 1875, the minister for development, Manuel Orovio (1817–1883), sought to reinforce traditional "Spanish values" such as the dogma of contemporary [[History of Roman Catholicism in Spain#19th century Spanish Catholicism|Spanish Catholicism]] by an edict known as the ''Decreto Orovio''.

===Academic repression===
This "crackdown" was a response to various attempts, notably but not exclusively by the intellectual elite listed below, to introduce some form of liberal democracy both in Spanish  academic life and in the wider society.

Several progressive professors were dismissed from the [[Central University of Madrid]] for promoting the ideas of [[Karl Christian Friedrich Krause]] (1781–1832), a German philosopher who advocated [[Krausism]].

===La Institución Libre de Enseñanza===
In 1876, these dismissed professors, led by [[Francisco Giner de los Ríos]], founded the [[Institución Libre de Enseñanza]] (ILE), or ''The Free Educational Institution'', a secular private educational institution that started with university-level instruction and later extended its activities to primary and secondary education.

Their work constituted an indirect repudiation of the official instruction of the time, which they had found ineffective, insufficient, and subject to suffocating control by political and religious interests. The Institution departed from this norm by stressing the importance of intellectual freedom and moral self-improvement.

==A movement of criticism and ideals==
The Generation of '98 intellectuals objected to the meticulously organized structure of the Restoration system of government and the corruption that it fostered. After Spain's bloody and decisive defeat in the Spanish–American War, which resulted in thousands of dead Spaniards and the loss of all of Spain's remaining colonies in the Americas and the Pacific, these writers were prompted to voice their criticism. They agreed on the urgency of finding a means, in areas of thought and activity separate from politics, of rescuing Spain from its catatonic state. 

The writers, poets and playwrights of this generation maintained a strong intellectual unity, opposed the [[Spain under the Restoration|Restoration]] of the monarchy in Spain, revived Spanish literary myths, and broke with classical schemes of [[literary genre]]s. They brought back traditional and lost words and always alluded to the old kingdom of [[Crown of Castile|Castile]], with many supporting the idea of [[Autonomous Communities of Spain|Spanish Regionalism]]. 

Often, literature produced by these writers conveyed themes of nostalgia for the past glory of Spain, especially its traditions and landscape. Conversely, they also present criticisms of the sociopolitical situation during that era, drawing conclusions about factors that caused the decline of Spain. As such, common characteristics of these works involved a minimalistic writing style, employing [[Narration|third person narration]] and a heavy dependence on dialogue instead of descriptions to advance the narrative. Many writers also experimented with new forms of genres, as [[Miguel de Unamuno]] did in conceptualizing the [[nivola]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.classicspanishbooks.com/20th-cent-generation-of-98.html | title=Spanish Generation of '98 overview }}</ref>

Most texts in this literary era were produced in the years immediately after 1910 and are generally marked by the justification of [[extremism|radicalism]] and [[rebellion]]. Examples of this are the last poems incorporated to "Campos de Castilla", of [[Antonio Machado]]; [[Miguel de Unamuno]]'s articles written during the [[First World War]] or in the essayistic texts of [[Pío Baroja]].

The criticism of the "Generation of '98" today from modern intellectuals is that the group was characterized by an increase of egoism, and by a great feeling of frustration with Spanish society and politics.

==Key figures==
Some of the key intellectual minds of the Generation of '98 include:
* [[Joaquín Costa]]
* [[Ángel Ganivet]]
* [[Miguel de Unamuno]]
* [[Ramón del Valle-Inclán]]
* [[José Martínez Ruiz]] (Azorín)
* [[Pío Baroja]]
* [[Antonio Machado]]
* [[Manuel Machado (poet and playwright)|Manuel Machado]]
* [[Ramiro de Maeztu]]
* [[Consuelo Álvarez Pool]]
* [[Manuel B. Cossio]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last=Carr |first=Raymond |title=Spain, 1808–1939 |year=1966 |author-link=Raymond Carr}}
* ''A History of Spain'' by Simon Barton
* ''Literary Criticism in the Essays of the Generation of 1898'' by Mary E. Buffum
* ''El espacio urbano en la narrativa del Madrid de la Edad de Plata (1900–1938)'' by Cristián H. Ricci
==Further reading==

* Fox, Linda C. "The Vision Of Cain And Abel In Spain'S" Generation Of 1898"." ''CLA Journal'' 21.4 (1978): 499-512. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/44329403 online]
* Jurkevich, Gayana. "Abulia, nineteenth-century psychology and the generation of 1898." ''Hispanic Review'' 60.2 (1992): 181-194. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/474109 online]
* Krauel, Javier. ''Imperial Emotions: Cultural Responses to Myths of Empire in Fin-de-Siècle Spain'' (Liverpool University Press, 2013) [https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/30234/648344.pdf?sequence=1 online].
* Melstrom, Tina. "Under the Influence: The Spanish-American War, Drugs, and Prohibition Politics in Tirano Banderas." ''Hispanófila'' 180 (2017): 59-75. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/90018361 online]
* Pearsall, Priscilla. "Azorín's Myth of the Generation of 1898: Toward an Esthetic of Modernism." ''Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos'' (1986): 179-184. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27762482 online]

* Ramsden, Herbert. "The Spanish ‘Generation of 1898’: I. The history of a concept." ''Bulletin of the John Rylands Library'' 56.2 (1974): 463-491. [https://scholar.archive.org/work/4m3lviilgfdtxlnngdewt7waem/access/wayback/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7868/a773a3d3d3af59df7a4fb61f6abefb3c76f4.pdf online]

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20151117130611/http://modernismo98y14.com/generacion-98.html History and images about the Generation of 98]

{{Schools of poetry}}

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Cultural history of Spain]]
[[Category:Spanish literary movements]]
[[Category:Anti-bullfighting movement]]