Philosophy and the Novel in Spain, 1900-1934
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University of Kentucky UKnowledge Spanish Literature European Languages and Literatures 1993 Crossfire: Philosophy and the Novel in Spain, 1900-1934 Roberta Johnson University of Kansas Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Johnson, Roberta, "Crossfire: Philosophy and the Novel in Spain, 1900-1934" (1993). Spanish Literature. 4. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_spanish_literature/4 STUDIES IN ROMANCE LANGUAGES: 3S John E. Keller, Editor This page intentionally left blank CROSSFKRE Philosophy and the Novel in Spain, 1900-1934 ROBERTA JOHNSON THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY Publication of this book was made possible by a grant from The Program for Cultural Cooperation between Spain’s Ministry of Culture and the United States Universities. Copyright © 1993 by The University Press of Kentucky Paperback edition 2009 The University Press of Kentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. All rights reserved. Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 978-0-8131-9284-0 (pbk: acid-free paper) This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials. Manufactured in the United States of America. Member of the Association of American University Presses In memory of my father LAWRENCE R. FOX This page intentionally left blank _______ CONTENTS _______ Preface IX Introduction 1 1. The Generation of '98: Early Philosophical and Personal Wars 16 2. Unamuno: A Bold New Hybrid 35 3. Baroja: A Solution to the Problem of Will 49 4. Martinez Ruiz: An Answer to Baroja's Solution 70 5. Unamuno: Last Attack on Rationalism 88 6. Baroja: Farewell to the Philosophical Novel 105 7. The Generation of '14: Taking the Lead 121 8. Perez de Ayala: Parody Wed to Aesthetic Theory 133 9. Juan Ramon Jimenez and Gabriel Miro: Kiinstlerromone 154 10. Salinas, Chacel, and James: The Vanguardist Philosophical Novel 172 Postscript 190 Notes 192 Selected Bibliography 217 Index 226 This page intentionally left blank ________ PREFACE ________ So much of philosophy is fiction. Drama, doubts, fears, ambitions, ecstasies ... if philosophy were a stream they would stock it with fishes. Although fiction, in the manner of its making, is pure philosophy, no novelist has created a more dashing hero than the handsome Absolute, or conceived more dramatic extrica tions-the soul's escape from the body for in stance, or the will's from cause. William Gass Although, as William Gass indicates, all fiction is undergirded by a philo sophical position, philosophy encroached more overtly on the territory of the novel in Spanish fiction written in the first third of the twentieth cen tury. In fact, the philosophical concerns of this body of literature at times threaten to overwhelm the fictional elements; its characters represent identifiable philosophical positions, its dialogue is consumed with philo sophical discussions, and its plots are constructed to foreground specific philosophical issues. There has not been such a widespread rapproche ment between fiction and philosophy within one national boundary until post-World War II France. The purpose of the present study is to explore the philosophical, sociological and biographical background of this un usual phenomenon and to offer contextual analyses of some of the key novels it produced: Miguel de Unamuno's Amor y pedogogfo and Nieblo, Pio Baroja's Comino de peifeceion and EI drool de 10 eieneio, Jose Martinez Ruiz's Lo voluntod, Ramon Perez de Ayala's tetralogy and Belormino y Apolonio, Juan Ramon Jimenez's PIotero y yo and Gabriel Miro's Eiliumo dormido, Pedro Salinas's Vispero del gozo, Rosa Chacel's Estoeion. Ido y vuelto and Benjamin James's EI profesor inutil. Typically critics of these novels approach them from either a philo sophical or a literary perspective with little attempt to see the relationship between the two. The metaphysical and/or epistemological themes of these works inspire their forms, which stretch the traditional epidermis of the novel in unaccustomed ways. To cast philosophical issues in novelistic terms, the authors drew on the vast storehouse of novelistic devices of fered by the genre from its inception in romance and the picaresque to its culmination in nineteenth-century realism. In order adequately to map x Preface this innovative wedding of philosophy and fiction, some detours into Spanish cultural history are in order. In making these detours, I challenge some of the commonplaces of Spanish literary history of the early twen tieth century, especially the notion of fixed generations with enumer able and unchanging characteristics and the assumption that fiction and philosophy, despite their radically different purposes and discourses, can be used interchangeably in the reconstruction of literary biography and history. While I preserve the notion of generations, I interpret them as dy namic categories that overlap and interact, constantly defining and rede fining one another. The writers within a generation changed over time, often due to contact with members of older and younger generations, and most of these philosophical novelists simultaneously or successively en tertained conflicting philosophies. The often uneasy coexistence of gen erations (here specifically an older generation consisting of Unamuno, Baroja and Martinez Ruiz ["Azorin") and a younger one encompassing Jose Ortega y Gasset, Ram6n Perez de Ayala, Juan Ram6n Jimenez, Gabriel Mir6, Rosa Chacel, Benjamin James and Pedro Salinas) with dif fering philosophical orientations produced a complex ideological config uration in early twentieth-century Spain. The novel, with its inherent dialogism, emerged as the ideal medium for expressing this philosophical confusion and for giving vent to the intergenerational hostilities that ac companied it. In selecting specific novelists and novels for inclusion in the study, I have been limited by my philosophical approach. Thus, most regrettably, one major novelist-Ram6n del Valle-Inclan-is absent, except for a few remarks on his quasi-aesthetic treatise La ltimpara marovillosa. Since my definition of the "philosophical novel" focuses on novels that foreground philosophy in a discursive manner, Valle-Inclan's works do not fit the scope of this book. Not only do all other "canonical" novelists of the pe riod fit, but their novelistic production is dominated by the philosophical narrative. The few narrative works of Juan Ram6n Jimenez and Pedro Salinas, known more as poets than as narrators, also center on philosoph ical issues. Approximately two-thirds of the book is devoted to setting the background for and analyzing the major philosophical novels of the Gen eration of '98 written during the period from 1900 to 1914. These are works that engage with the Western philosophical tradition that made its entrance into Spanish intellectual life during their authors' formative years. The final third of my study takes up the second-wave philosophical novel, which in many ways was a reaction to the themes and practices of the first generation. Preface xi I am deeply grateful to the Graves Foundation for a grant that allowed me to begin this project, to the Comite Conjunto para la Cooperaci6n Edu cativa Espanola y Norteamericana for a summer travel grant and a re search grant to carry out the necessary archival research in Spain, to Scripps College for a sabbatical supplement and for summer stipends to continue research and writing, and to the University of Kansas Hall Cen ter for the Humanities and General Research Fund for grants that per mitted me to complete the book. Robert Spires, Jan Kozma, and Thomas Franz graciously read the completed manuscript and made many helpful suggestions, as did the anonymous reviewers for the University Press of Kentucky. During the years I was working on this project, Birute Cipli jauskaite, Andrew Debicki, Inman Fox, Paul Ilie, Nelson Orringer, Rob ert Spires and Howard Young gave invaluable advice and encouragement. My husband, Bill Grant, deserves a special mention for his understanding and forbearance. I also wish to thank the editors who permitted me to incorporate pre viously published material in a modified form. Portions of chapter 5 ap peared as "Hunger and Desire: The Origins of Knowledge in Niebla" in Selected Proceeding,r of the Singularidad y Trascendencia Conference, ed. Nora de Marval-McNair (Boulder, Col: SSSAS, 1990), 93-105; part of chapter 6 as "La vida como problema en 'Adan en el Paraiso' de Ortega y EI drool de la ciencia de Baroja," in Aetas del Octavo Congreso Internacional