Delirium and Destiny

In 1988, Maria Zambrano (1904-1991) became the first woman to win the Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the most prestigious award available to Spanish-language writers. She was the author of more than thirty books and was one of the most important disciples of Jose Ortega y Gasset. Carol Maier is Professor of Spanish at Kent State University. She has translated and edited many volumes, and the awards for her work include the Meritorious Achievement for Translation from the Kayden Translation Committee, the MLA Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for a Translation of a Literary Work, and the Outstanding Translation of the Year from American Literary Translators. Roberta Johnson is Professor of Spanish at the University of Kansas and the author of four books, including Philosophy and the Novel in Spain: 1900-1934.

"This book offers unique insights provided by a woman who was actively involved in the intellectual, historical, and cultural events that unfolded in the first half of this century in Spain. She writes with perception and candor about her encounters with twentieth-century Spain's intellectual and literary giants: Unamuno, Ortega y Gasset, Machado, and many others. Reading this book has made me aware how important this type of personal account is to the better understanding of writers, thinkers, and the events that surrounded them." — Barbara N. Gantt, Northern Arizona University"The book is significant in various ways: it gives a fascinating account of the birth of a powerful intellect to ideology—not doctrinaire ideology, but the commitment of a concerned liberal mind. It does this in the context of a historical turning point for Spain and for Europe. It is important as well in its attention to the interface between philosophy and ideology, philosophy and personal agency."As a narrative it is unlike any other that I know, blending skillfully and compellingly philosophy and daily living, engagement and emotional growth. I can think of no other book like it."—Salvador J. Fajardo, Binghamton University

• Acknowledgments Note to the Reader Introduction Part One: A Dreamed Destiny Adsum Remembering the Future Spain Dreams Itself Awake Return to the Land Multiplicity of Times Return to the City Historical Conjuncture A Moment of Silence Inspiration> The Hour Sunday, April 12 April 14 Toward the New World June 13, 1940 From Havana to Paris The Sister Part Two: Deliriums The Dove's Delirium The Madwoman The Woman with a Sweet Name The Queen "I" Am Going to Speak about "Myself" Aristotle's Sentence Corpus Christi in Florence The Chalice Return to the New World The Context and Achievement of Delirium and Destiny Roberta Johnson From Delirio y destino to Delirium and Destiny Carol Maier Glossary