Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Salvador Jimenez-Fajardo

Critical Essay by Salvador Jimenez-Fajardo

SOURCE: Jimenez-Fajardo, Salvador. “Unamuno's Abel Sanchez: Envy as a Work of Art.” Journal of Spanish Studies: Twentieth Century 4 (fall 1976): 89-103.

In the following essay, Jimenez-Fajardo provides an extended close reading of Unamuno's Abel Sanchez to examine the manifestations of envy, arguing that in Abel Sanchez, it is Joaquin's envy, and the resulting obsession, that makes his art triumph over Abel's.

Two men are friends from childhood. Abel is an artist, the other, Joaquín, a doctor. Always, it seems, Abel triumphs in life with ease and grace. Joaquín hates him for it. Abel takes from Joaquín the woman he loves. Joaquín saves Abel's life. He praises his friend's work while his envy grows unabated. Abel has a son, Abelín. Joaquín marries and has a daughter, Joaquina. Abelín and Joaquina marry; they have a son, Joaquinito. The child prefers his grand-father Abel. Joaquín, once more robbed of a loved one's...
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