De la moralidad (1869-1910): «ni modernismo, ni decadentismo, ni naturalismo, ni realismo. Su nombre propio y verdadero es cochinería»

This article focusses on the concept of transgression and perversion in literature in Hispanic Modernismo. Rather than studying the defence mounted by members of this literary movement or the commentaries they wrote on literature, I focus on the views of those who opposed their stance radically, seeing it as something which sullied the traditional literary cannon. Their adoption of a linguistic style and radical themes as acts of defiance against the materialism and positivist ideology prevalent at this time was seen by some as an outrage to the honourable purpose of Spanish literature. Concentrating on rescuing articles from both Catholic and traditionalist periodical publications in the decades of 1880 and 1890, I draw a critical picture of how Modernism’s most provocative themes preoccupied conservatism and those who stood in defence of conventional and long-stablished moral values. Literature and art had responded in a sweeping manner, with a new consciousness and sensitivity, to materialism and positivism. I argue that the criticism from the hostile elite is the clearest evidence of the intentions of Modernist writers in Spain.