Jacinto Benavente y Martínez was a Spanish dramatist of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Author of more than 170 plays, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1922. His selection was controversial as many argued that the Generación del 98 and modernist writers such as Miguel de Unamuno, Ramón del Valle-Inclán, and Rubén Darío had greater merits. Nevertheless, Benavente had a significant and revitalizing influence on Spanish drama, ushering in a shift from melodramatic verse to prose comedy and favoring subtle dialogue over the impulsive action typical of the dramas of José de Echegaray.