Literature and its history are studied from different perspectives. It is common to present authors within a certain genre: narrative, poetry, theater. Literature is also studied according to times or periods (the Spanish Golden Age, the Spanish-American boom, etc). A different option is the knowledge of literature through the analysis of literary movements.
A literary movement is made up of a group of contemporary authors who share some concerns (themes, style, ideas ...). The term literary movement is frequently associated with so-called isms. Ismo is a suffix that means doctrine or trend and is used in the field of art. There are many isms in literature: surrealism, realism, naturalism, Dadaism, etc.
Both the idea of literary movement and the notion of ism as doctrine act as synonymous terms. The literary movement has a specific name (with the suffix ism or without) when a group of writers share the same era and a series of concerns. A good example is Romanticism. It arose as a reaction to Realism when a group of writers began to abandon the concerns and ideas of Realism and incorporated a renewed spirit; with new themes, a more creative style and ideals with another dimension.
The same literary movement may have its equivalent in other arts. This was also the case with Romanticism, which manifested itself in painting or music. In this way, Romanticism expressed the feeling of an era and that expression went beyond a specific artistic manifestation.
The idea of literary movement is useful for ordering and better understanding literary works. It is a classification system that allows authors to be understood within a cultural context. The classifications have certain problems when it comes to their interpretation. The problems are manifested when critics and researchers of literature consider that a literary movement has a new trend (we speak of modernism and postmodernism, of realism and neorealism). The technical debate of specialists is typical of intellectuals and academic circles and does not usually interest the general public.
The concept of literary movement implies an evident reality. That each author belongs to his own time and in it there are shared values and interests, so it is natural that there is a common expressive direction. This does not mean that all literary expression is within a movement, since there are authors who are attached to an ism, trend or movement.
