The dream of freedom. Novel and tragedy in “El sueño creador” by Maria Zambrano

Abstract

This paper proposes a reading of El sueño creador based on a thesis of Max Scheler (the human being as “ascetic animal”), and develops by recourse to a paradox related to a fundamental affirmation of Helmuth Plessner (the human being as “eccentric ani- mal”). Additional observations are included, which make reference to several novelists (from Cervantes to Beckett) and tragic characters (Oedipus, Antigone), as well as to the contributions of certain Spanish philosophers (Ortega and Trías, in particular).