Academia Editorial del Hispanismo

Translated into English by Nicole Holzenthal, Diddan Pawlyn, and Laura Torrado Mariñas.

 
Table of contents

Author’s Note to the English Translation, 11

1. Introduction, 17

2. Philosophical Materialism in the Context of Contemporary Literary Theory, 27
 

2.1. Philology, 28
2.2. Impressionistic or Mundane Literary Criticism, 30
2.3. Interpreters’ Ideologies, 32
2.4. Philosophical Materialism as Literary Theory, 36

3. Philosophical Materialism as a Method of Interpreting Literature, 39
 

3.1. Rationalism, 43
3.2. Criticism, 47
3.3. Dialectics, 69
3.4. Science, 82
3.5. Symploké, 97

4. Idea of Identity in the Postmodernity, 111

5. Conclusion, 133

Works Cited, 135

The Academy versus Babel is the first in a series of seven books which, under the title Crítica de la Razón Literaria. El Materialismo Filosófico como Teoría de la Literatura [Criticism of Literary Reason. Philosophical Materialism as Literary Theory] expounds a thought system for interpreting literary materials (author, work, reader and transducer). The Spanish version, La Academia contra Babel, was published in 2006; the first edition has sold out and a second edition is in preparation.
The second book in the series, entitled El concepto de ficción en la literatura [The Concept of Fiction in Literature], was published in 2007 and has also sold out. It is soon to be republished by the Editorial Academia del Hispanismo.
 

Los venenos de la Literatura. Idea y concepto de la literatura desde el Materialismo Filosófico [The Venom of Literature. The Idea and the Concept of Literature from the perspective of Philosophical Materialism], which is the third book in the series, appeared in May 2007.

The fourth volume was published in December 2007, with the title Los materiales literarios. La reconstrucción de la literatura tras la esterilidad de la “teoría literaria” posmoderna [Literary Materials. The Reconstruction of Literature after the Sterility of Postmodern “Literary Theory”]. In this work, the Ontology of Literature is presented from the point of view of Philosophical Materialism as Literary Theory.

The sixth volume, which is devoted to Comparative Literature, has been published in February 2008: Idea, concepto y método de la Literatura Comparada [Comparative Literature: Idea, Concept and Method]. The fifth and the seventh volumes in the series, which deal with the Gnoseology of Literature and Literary Genres, are in preparation. They are scheduled for publication in the fall of 2009. They will complete the presentation this series, which develops and justifies Philosophical Materialism as Literary Theory.

Two other books closely related to this new literary theory approach are: Las ascuas del Imperio. Crítica de las Novelas ejemplares de Cervantes desde el Materialismo Filosófico (2007) [The embers of Empire. A Critical Study of Cervantes’ Novelas Exemplares by Cervantes from the Perspective of Philosophical Materialism] and Contra la “teoría literaria feminista”. Crítica desde el Materialismo Filosófico (2007) [Against Feminist Literary Theory. A Critical Essay from the Perspective of Philosophical Materialism], by Violeta Varela Álvarez.

The reader is probably wondering: What is Philosophical Materialism as Literary Theory, and why is it appearing now? What literary theories does it contradict? And why? These questions are easy to answer. It is appearing at a moment when there is no real, consistent Literary Theory for interpreting literature, only vague musings or “weak thoughts” and collective ideologies, such as feminism, multiculturalism or indigenism, among many others. Philosophical Materialism is a thought system openly opposed to the irrational idealism and dogmatic psychologism of postmodern discourse. And it develops because, quite simply, for as long as there is literature, the scientific, philosophic and critical interpretation of literary works is and will be a necessary endeavor. For a long time now, postmodernism has been meaningless. To a postmodern mind, the world is unreadable. To Materialist philosopher, it is not.

The author extends very warm and sincere thanks for the support of José María Ruano de la Haza, and Laura Torrado Mariñas; who first broached the possibility of translating this essay into English, and for their careful and meticulous revision of the text. The author is extremely appreciative of the work of the translators, without whom this brief treatise would never have seen the light in English.

To translate and revise this book is by no means easy. Philosophical Materialism as a Theory of Literature is a Thought System conceived, pondered and developed in Spanish (not in Castilian, because Castilian is the Spanish spoken in Castile), and it is not easy to translate it into another language. As I have said on various occasions, estar [being in the sense of a changeable condition or state] is more important than ser [being in the sense of identity or nature]. Not all languages are able to express this fundamental ontological difference.

 
Jesús G. Maestro