El cuerpo, lo orgánico y lo natural: una lectura de Cien años de soledad a partir del concepto de la voluntad de Schopenhauer

Abstract

This study analyzes Cien años de Soledad according to the metaphysical pessimism proposed by the philosopher Schopenhauer. The treatment of the body and the symbolic function of the organic and natural elements present in this novel are analyzed. The methodology used consisted of analyzing the expressions related to love, sexuality, illnesses, the eschatological and the geographical space present in the work, to evaluate the treatment of these topics in relation to the concept of Schopenhauer's the will. Additionally, the theoretical approaches of Umberto Eco (2007) regarding the literary treatment of the eschatological and of Susan Sontag (2003) in her relationship between disease and politics were taken into consideration. The representation of the body and the organic in the novel manifest that impersonal force, in which subject does not exist as individuality. The body is presented as vulnerable to the imbalances of desire and greed inherent in the human condition. Eroticism is configured as a destabilizing element of the body, with symptoms associated with physical illness. The fetishism of organic odors and metaphors of telluric movements linked to the act of love, indicate the power of the primitive force of instincts and the futility of reason and intellect to combat them.