In the Brightness and Darkness of Knowledge: Pío Baroja’s “Tree of Knowledge”
Abstract
Pío Baroja, one of the leading writers of the generation of 98 in Spanish Literature, presents
valuable subjects to be studied in his novels and on the characters he creates. He creates silent,
lonely, rebellious and delicate characters by setting out from his own inner world. These
characters emphasize the corruption and tension that the country is in. In his novel "The Tree of
Knowledge", he creates Andrés Hurtado by reference to himself. This character studied
medicine like himself. He tries to explain the spiritual structure of human being from a scientific
point of view. He wants to know the world from Kant, Nietzsche and Shopenhauer. Along with
all these, he is an individual who is constantly lonely because of family problems. In this sense
Baroja finds a way to discover himself as he depicts his character Hurtado. On the other hand,
within the patriarchal system of the period, a new and progressive perspective is adopted
beyond the usual thinking towards women. A woman named Lulu is created against the social
norms. This character again presents pieces from original ideas of the writer. Andrés Hurtado
comes to mind as a character who questions and experiences loneliness with a sensitive but
rebellious character and a mental and philosophical structure. Thus, he presents important data
to question the different dimensions of loneliness. What kind of loneliness is experiencing
Andrés Hurtado? In the study, the loneliness in which the science and the philosophy are
involved will be discussed. Psychological loneliness to be dealt with in the social sense will be
brought against it.
Keywords
References
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Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
-
Journal Section
Research Article
Authors
Publication Date
May 31, 2019
Submission Date
June 26, 2018
Acceptance Date
January 9, 2019
Published in Issue
Year 2019 Volume: 5 Number: 1