ABSTRACT
Despite many obstacles, Spain of the twentieth century seems in a fair way to regain her place in a domain where she had allowed herself to be outstripped by her Latin sisters, not to speak of other nations. With the reservations, it is very true that Spanish literature, considered in its long historical development, presents a markedly national character. Ramon Menendez Pidal answers in the affirmative, and has tried to back his claim in a scholarly and ingenious study on "some of the primordial characteristics of Spanish literature." Spanish critics have themselves shrewdly noted this serious weakness, and pointed out its cause. "Azorn," for example, wrote: The failure to observe reality which is found in fiction and the drama is closely connected with the problem, formerly much discussed, of Spanish science.
