irrealistas

Irrealistas, or irrealismo, is a term used in Spanish-language criticism to describe a tendency in literature and visual arts that foregrounds the irrational, dreamlike, and illogical aspects of experience over conventional realism.

The label is not a formal, codified movement with a manifesto. It arose in critical discourse from the mid-20th century onward as a way to describe various works that resist straightforward representation without fully aligning with established movements such as magical realism or surrealism.

Typical characteristics include non-linear narratives, abrupt shifts in time and space, uncanny juxtapositions, linguistic experimentation, and a mood of ambiguity. Works labeled as irrealista often invite multiple readings rather than definitive interpretation, emphasizing perception and atmosphere over transparent explanation.

Relation to other movements: while it overlaps with surrealism and magical realism, irrealismo is generally differentiated by an emphasis on dream logic and the erosion of plausible reality, rather than on explicit social critique or the functioning of magic within the real world. It can intersect with postmodern experimentation, metafiction, and visual arts that challenge ordinary criteria of representation.

Reception and scope: because it is a broad and debated label, there is no single canon of irrealistas. Critics apply it to a range of authors and artists in Spanish-language literature and cinema who foreground mood, uncertainty, and the collapse of conventional reality, rather than a unified set of techniques or themes.