Esperpento

Esperpento denotes a literary style in Spanish literature first established by Spanish author Ramón María del Valle-Inclán that uses distorted descriptions of reality in order to criticize society. Leading themes include death, the grotesque, and the reduction of human beings to objects (reification). The style is marked by bitter irony. In Latin America, the author most well known for using esperpento is Mexican author Jorge Ibargüengoitia.

== Definitions == According to the definition given by the most current edition of Diccionario de la Lengua Española (Dictionary of the Spanish Language) by the Royal Spanish Academy (DRAE), esperpento is: A grotesque or unwise act A literary genre created by Ramón del Valle-Inclán, a Spanish writer from the Generation of 1898, in which reality is deformed to overemphasize the grotesque and colloquial or harsh language is subjected to personal elaborations. (colloquial) Person or thing notable for their ugliness, disarray, or rough appearance. The Royal Spanish Academy first defined the term esperpento in the fourteenth edition of the DRAE (1914), where the first and third meanings above were accepted. Reference to the second sense first appeared in the supplement to the nineteenth edition (1970): Literary genre created by Ramón del Valle-Inclán. It systematically deforms reality, emphasizing its grotesque and absurd traits, while at the same time degrading consecrated literary values. For this purpose, colloquial language is dignified for artistic purposes to allow cynical expressions and jargon. This definition was maintained until the last edition, in which the reference to "consecrated literary values" was removed.