[DOWNLOAD] "From the Self to the Nation: Willpower in Jose Maria Salaverria." by Romance Notes ~ Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: From the Self to the Nation: Willpower in Jose Maria Salaverria.
- Author : Romance Notes
- Release Date : January 22, 2009
- Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 184 KB
Description
Jose Maria Salaverria's (1873-1940) inclusion into Spain's so-called Generation of 1898 seems questionable for many critics. In classical studies about the writers of this generation, such as those by Jose Luis Abellan, Donald Shaw or Inman Fox, Salaverria is not present. Even in more recent works, for instance Nuevas perspectivas sobre el 98 (1999), edited by John Gabriele, or Spain's 1898 Crisis (2000), edited by Joseph Harrison, no chapter investigates Salaverria's contributions to Spanish literature in this period. Salaverria shares many characteristics with the members of the Generation of 1898: He was born in the same era, grew up in Spain's periphery, praised the region of Castille, and mostly cultivated the essay genre. Nevertheless, he showed some deviations from the authors of the Generation of '98: He did not receive a university education, started to publish later--in 1906--, traveled around the world, and maintained a very critical attitude towards his contemporary writers. Thus, in Retratos (1926) and Nuevos retratos (1930), Salaverria disparages authors such as Pio Baroja, Miguel de Unamuno, Ramiro de Maeztu and Azorin. Although biographical approaches to study literature may be problematic, Salaverria's personal circumstances and auto-marginalized position among his writing contemporaries seem essential to understanding his own theories about Spain. The difficulties that Salaverria had to face in his private life because of his shy manner and humble social class made him believe in the necessity of self-improvement and willpower. His vision for Spain tends to follow a similar path. The solution he finds to solve the crisis the country was experiencing at the beginning of the twentieth century involves awakening its citizens and creating a transnational spiritual homeland consisting of Spain and Spanish America. Therefore, Salaverria considers willpower to be necessary in both the personal and the national realms. In his book La afirmacion espanola (1917), he expresses these thoughts clearly: "Lo que yo deseo es llevar mi pasion hasta la idea de Espana y fundirme misticamente con Espana, de manera que, para afirmarme a mi mismo y escapar al aniquilamiento de mi ser, necesite afirmar a mi Patria, justificarla, exaltarla" (134). (1)