Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
century, when artists of many schools
claimed him as their inspiration. Although
Goya is generally ranked with the greatest
masters of Spanish painting—Velázquez, E
L
G
RECO
, P
ICASSO
—he stands out both as the
most intimidating and the most accessible
of all. Unlike Velázquez, who reveals almost
nothing of himself; El Greco, who ascends
to a spiritual plane; and Picasso, who is so
often incomprehensible to the uninitiated,
Goya strikes the viewer with the immediacy
of his passion.
that would lead individuals to worldly suc-
cess while remaining within the bounds of
morality. Resembling the works of Casti-
glione and Machiavelli, these handbooks
of conduct included
El héroe
(The hero,
1637),
El político
(The politician, 1640),
and
El discreto
(The discreet One, 1646).
Blending the philosophical with the liter-
ary, Gracián demonstrated his mastery of
the principles of
conceptismo
(conceptism).
This style of writing involves the use of
concise and subtle wit, often employing
unsettling metaphors that capture the
attention of the reader by their shock
effect. His principal exercise in
conceptismo
is
Agudeza y arte de ingenio
(Wit and the art
of genius, 1642). His use of this approach
links him with his contemporary, F
RAN
-
CISCO
DE
Q
UEVEDO
, whose poetry is influ-
enced by the same bitterly satirical and
disillusioned sensibility.
Gracián's final achievement was the
philosophical novel, published in three
parts between 1651 and 1657,
El criticón
(The critic). In this narrative a sophisticated
traveler guides a naive “natural” youth—
who prefigures the noble savage of 18th-
century writers—on a journey of discovery
to the various lands and peoples of the “civ-
ilized world.” The warnings and dismissive
comments that the critical traveler makes
to his companion reveal a profound disgust
with the crimes, follies, and vices of human-
kind but transcend total pessimism by sug-
gesting that there are higher moral principles
that can redeem all of these faults. The
author's mentality as revealed in this work
displays his deep contempt for the vulgar
materialism that afflicted contemporary
society and explains how his consistent
belief in developing the best potentials of
Gracián, Baltasar
(1601-1658)
Spanish writer and philosopher
Baltasar Gracián, who published most of his
writings under the rather transparent
pseudonym of Lorenzo Gracián, was the
son of a respectable but impecunious Ara-
gonese family who began his membership
in the Jesuits at the age of 18. Having com-
pleted his progress through the order's
extended training, he took his final priestly
vows in 1635. He was at first admired and
successful, becoming rector of the Jesuit
college at Tarragona in 1643. Within a few
years, however, he became embroiled in a
series of disputes with his superiors because
of his distinctive mode of expressing his
ideas and was even accused of anti-Chris-
tian attitudes. He sought to resign from the
order but was held under its discipline and
repeatedly censured throughout the
remainder of his life. Fortunately Gracián
had a wealthy and cultured patron who
funded most of his publications and a circle
of intellectual friends who sustained him in
his disputes.
Gracián's earlier writings were largely
concerned with the principles of conduct
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