Quevedo’s World: Allegory, Dreams, and Social Critique
Inside the World of Quevedo
This is a short work written in prose, part of a collection of dreams. These dreams share a common element: the main character always perceives an allegory. The initial perception shifts with a slight change in perspective (walking), recalling earlier traditions like Dante’s Divine Comedy or Petrarch’s works. It is structured in two parts: a prologue addressed to the reader and the dream itself.
The dream section consists of an introduction to the setting and characters, followed by the presentation of various scenes and characters, culminating in a final lesson.
Prologue: A Critique of Readers
The prologue offers a sample of different types of readers, functioning as a form of social criticism.
The Nature of Reality
The main section presents a recurring scenario: the narrator encounters something or someone, interprets it in one way, and then reality reveals a different truth. This highlights the discrepancy between appearance and substance.
Characters: Everyday Folk and Social Types
The characters are ordinary people: young, old, men, women, sheriffs, widows, philosophers, thieves – social types representing a critique of societal falsehoods. This critique is subtle, employing careful language to avoid appearing ludicrous.
Devotional Literature
Quevedo’s work is often associated with asceticism and philosophical systems like Seniquismo and Stoicism, philosophies he deeply understood, having connections to Justus Lipsius.
Sacred oratory is prominent, evolving into a paratheatrical form with vocal inflections and gestures, producing notable speakers.
Political Literature
Political literature is also significant, encompassing two types:
Tacitus and the Literature of Ideas
This relates to the publication of the Roman historian’s writings and Machiavelli’s political pragmatism, emphasizing reason of state within orthodoxy. It connects to the broader concept of human thought as a strategy, a key element in moral statements.
Theorization of the Modern State
This is exemplified by Hobbes and his work Leviathan.
Gracian, a Jesuit writer, reflects on the human condition in his works, arguing that human existence should be guided by strategy, as stated in his Oracle Manual and Art of Prudence. Also known for The Critic, a lengthy work in three parts, it suggests that knowledge of the world leads to disappointment, presented as a novelistic dialogue.
Aphorisms
The aphoristic style is similar to the maxims of the humanists. The Manual Oracle of Wisdom and Art, along with François Duc de la Rochefoucauld’s works, Jean de La Bruyère’s Characters, and Pascal’s Thoughts, represent a fundamental genre in the Baroque era, with connections to the Renaissance. These works develop ideas with commentary from the author.
A section guides the reading, potentially leading to a poem reminiscent of Góngora and Quevedo, listing key features. Other poems compare youth and spring to the passage of time and the deterioration it brings. However, these correlations are absent here. The enumeration of the garden elements in the two quartets and two triplets serves for moral reflection. It references nature, highlighting elements of beauty, youth, and purity, offering a moral comparison between human beauty and the beauty of nature. The beauty of nature disappears with the changing seasons and the passage of time, eventually leading to lament for the pride and enjoyment of youth.