Novela filosófica

La novela filosófica se refiere a las obras de ficción en donde una parte significativa del trabajo está dedicado a la discusión de cuestiones que suelen abordarse utilizando la filosofía discursiva. Este tipo de obras puede explorar cualquier tema de la condición humana, incluyendo la función y el papel de la sociedad, la naturaleza y motivación de los actos humanos, el propósito de la vida, la ética o la moral, el papel del arte en la vida humana, el rol de la experiencia o la razón en el desarrollo del conocimiento, si existe el libre albedrío, o cualquier otro tema de interés filosófico. Asimismo, a este género pertenecen las llamadas «novelas de ideas», que incluyen una proporción significativa de géneros como la ciencia ficción, la ficción utópica y distópica y el Bildungsroman. El modus operandi suele utilizar primeramente una historia normal para entonces comenzar simplemente a explicar las partes difíciles u oscuras de la vida humana.

Sus precedentes son tan antiguos como los propios diálogos de Platón, pero en sentido más concreto, esta narrativa florece bajo la escritura de Voltaire o Jonathan Swift. En la primera mitad del siglo XX autores tan diversos como Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, existencialistas franceses como Jean Paul Sartre o Albert Camus, o autores distópicos como Aldous Huxley o George Orwell llevaron este tipo de ficción a su más elevado desarrollo. En la narrativa española, la Generación del 98 con Unamuno, Pío Baroja o Azorín abren el camino a este tipo de obras. En la tradición hispanoamericana, Jorge Luis Borges lleva el género a una de sus cimas más importantes y abstractas. La tradición de la novela de ciencia ficción, de la mano de Stanislav Lem, Arthur C. Clarke o Asimov, también introducirían ideas filosóficas en muchas de sus obras.

Ejemplos

Autor Nombre Fecha Notas
Augustine of Hippo De Magistro 4th century Early example
Abelard Dialogue of a Philosopher with a Jew and a Christian 12th century Early example
Ibn Tufail Hayy ibn Yaqdhan 12th century[1]​[2]​ Early example; explores the limits of natural theology and the Islamic concept of fitra.
Yehuda Halevi The Kuzari 12th century Early example
Thomas More Utopia 1516 Early example, first unambiguous example of utopian and dystopian fiction.
Voltaire Zadig 1747 Early example
Voltaire Micromegas 1752
Voltaire Candide 1759 Early example
Samuel Johnson Rasselas 1759
Jean-Jacques Rousseau Julie, or the New Heloise 1761 Early example
James Hogg The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner 1824
Walter Pater Marius the Epicurean 1885
Thomas Carlyle Sartor Resartus 1833–34 Canonical
Fiódor Dostoyevski Crimen y castigo 1866 Canonical
Goethe Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship 1795–96 Canonical
León Tolstói Guerra y paz 1869 Canonical
Giacomo Leopardi Small Moral Works 1827 Philosophical stories that were greatly enjoyed even by Arthur Schopenhauer.
Robert Musil The Man Without Qualities 1930–43 Canonical
Milan Kundera La insoportable levedad del ser 1984
Aldous Huxley After Many a Summer 1939
Aldous Huxley Brave New World 1932 A critique on the conflict between the human element and animal nature of man as well as the manipulative use of psychological conditioning.
Aldous Huxley Island 1962
C. S. Lewis Space Trilogy 1938, 1943, 1945 Una crítica del socialismo al estilo estalinista
Søren Kierkegaard Diary of a Seducer 1843 A novel in the highly literary philosophical work Either/Or.
Friedrich Nietzsche Thus Spoke Zarathustra 1885 Well-known example of a modern philosophical novel.
Leo Tolstoy Resurrection 1899
Samuel Beckett Waiting for Godot 1952 One of the most well-known philosophical plays of the twentieth century.
Louis-Ferdinand Céline Journey to the End of the Night 1932
Marcel Proust In Search of Lost Time 1913–1927
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry The Little Prince 1943
André Malraux Man's Fate 1933
Thomas Mann The Magic Mountain 1924
Franz Kafka The Trial 1925
George Orwell Animal Farm 1945 A fictional drama on the process of communism represented through animals on a farm.
B. F. Skinner Walden Two 1948
George Orwell Nineteen Eighty-Four 1949 A critique of totalitarianism as well as a discourse on the manipulative use of language.
Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange 1962 A discussion of the role of free will in the context of the application of behaviorism's techniques.
Philip K. Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 1968
John Gardner Grendel 1971 An exploration of various philosophical perspectives on finding meaning in the world, the power of literature and myth, and the nature of good and evil. The protagonist is a literary proxy for Jean-Paul Sartre.
Philip K. Dick A Scanner Darkly 1977
Philip K. Dick VALIS 1981 A novel version of his longer non-fiction book The Exegesis, outlining his intense interest in the nature of reality, metaphysics and religion.
Jean-Paul Sartre Nausea 1938
Jean-Paul Sartre No Exit 1944 An existentialist play outlining Sartrean philosophy.
Jean-Paul Sartre The Devil and the Good Lord 1951 An existentialist play outlining Sartrean philosophy.
Ralph Ellison Invisible Man 1952 Existencialismo en América
Simone de Beauvoir She Came to Stay 1943 An existential novel outlining Simone de Beauvoir's philosophy.
Simone de Beauvoir fr 1944 An existential play outlining Simone de Beauvoir's philosophy.
Simone de Beauvoir All Men are Mortal 1946 An existential novel outlining Simone de Beauvoir's philosophy.
Osamu Dazai No Longer Human 1948
Walker Percy The Moviegoer 1961 An existential novel outlining Søren Kierkegaard's philosophy.
Yukio Mishima The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea 1963
José Lezama Lima Paradiso (novel) 1966 Latin American Boom novel that explores desire in pre-revolution Cuba.
Robert M. Pirsig Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance 1974 Pirsig's Metaphysics of Quality
Renata Adler Speedboat 1976
Margaret Atwood The Handmaid's Tale 1985 Novela distópica feminista
David Markson Wittgenstein's Mistress 1988 An experimental novel that demonstrates Wittgenstein's philosophy of language; stylistic similarities to Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.
Jostein Gaarder Sophie's World 1991
David Foster Wallace Infinite Jest 1996 Criticizes Poststructuralism/Postmodernism; influenced by Wittgenstein & Existentialism; introduces Metamodernism/Post-postmodernism.
Arthur Asa Berger Postmortem for a Postmodernist 1997 A murder mystery that explores postmodernism.
Gus Van Sant Pink 1997 Absurdismo
Arturo Pérez-Reverte El pintor de batallas 2006 Reflexiones sobre la guerra, la pintura y la condición humana.
Neal Stephenson Anathem 2008 Includes the philosophical debate between Platonic realism and nominalism.
André Alexis Fifteen Dogs 2015 Winner of the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize, this novel explores faith, place, love, power and hatred through the eyes and experiences of fifteen dogs endowed with human intelligence.
Most novels by Albert Camus Absurdismo
Fiction by the Marquis de Sade 1740–1814 Ateísmo, Nihilismo, Libertarianismo
Most novels by Franz Kafka Existential Nihilism
Most novels by Hermann Hesse 1904–53
The novels and short stories of Ursula K. Le Guin 1959-2018

Anarchism; Feminism; Socialism; Daoismo

Most novels by Stanislaw Lem 1946–2005
Most novels by Ayn Rand 1934–82 Objetivismo
Novels and Plays by Samuel Beckett 1938–1961 Absurdismo/Quasi-quietism
Novelas de Iris Murdoch 1953–97
Novelas de Anthony Burgess 1956–93
Novelas de Simone de Beauvoir Existencialismo, feminismo
Novelas de Jean-Paul Sartre Existencialismo
Novelas de Andre Malraux
Novelas de Marcel Proust[3]​
Novelas de Stendhal
Novelas de Fiodor Dostoievski 1846–81 Existencialismo
Novelas de G. K. Chesterton 1874–1936
Novelas de Clarice Lispector
The stories of Jorge Luis Borges Philosophical idealism, eternal recurrence, eternalism
The novels of Umberto Eco Semiotics
The novels of Rebecca Newberger Goldstein

Atheism; Feminism

Works by Franz Kafka Prize winners Kafkaesque Humanism and Existentialism

Referencias

  1. ↑ Jon Mcginnis, Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Sources, p. 284, Hackett Publishing Company, ISBN 0-87220-871-0.
  2. ↑ Samar Attar, The Vital Roots of European Enlightenment: Ibn Tufayl's Influence on Modern Western Thought, Lexington Books, ISBN 0-7391-1989-3.
  3. ↑ Joshua Landy, Philosophy As Fiction: Self, Deception, and Knowledge in Proust, Oxford University Press (2004)