Of course this "modern movement" was not actually born in 1898. It dates
back as far as Galdos, who is in spirit a modern. But it marked the
turning point. Benavente the dramatist, Azorin the critic, Ruben Dario
the poet, Pio Baroja the novelist, all date from this period, belonging
to and of the new generation, and, together with the Valencian Blasco
Ibanez, form the A B C of modern Spanish culture.
"Baroja stands for the modern Spanish mind at its most enlightened,"
says H. L. Mencken. "He is the Spaniard of education and worldly wisdom,
detached from the mediaeval imbecilities of the old regime and yet aloof
from the worse follies of the demagogues who now rage in the country ...
the Spaniard who, in the long run, must erect a new structure of society
upon the half archaic and half Utopian chaos now reigning in the
peninsular."
Pio Baroja was born in 1872 at San Sebastian, the most fashionable
summer resort of Spain, the Spanish "Summer Capital." Baroja's father
was a noted mining engineer, and while without reputation as a man of
letters he was an occasional contributor to various periodicals and
dailies. He had destined his son for the medical profession, and Pio
studied at Valencia and Madrid, where he received his degree. He started
practice in the small town of Cestona, the type of town which figures
largely in his novels.
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