After the traditional—and traditionalist—scholarship of Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo (1856 – 1912), Spanish criticism of the 20th century begins with Ramón Menéndez Pidal (1869–1968), director of the Royal Academy and founder of both the Center for Historical Studies and the school whose medium of expression is the Revista de Filología Española. In his treatment of literary works, Menéndez Pidal employs historical as well as philological and linguistic methods. And it is in this, precisely, that his originality lies: in his practice of analyzing the linguistic components of the work as well as the historical background of the author and his creation.