Entre la ciencia y el sueño: Notas sobre la fortuna de los cuatro elementos en las letras españolas

Abstract

The statement of the early Greek philosophers which says that the material world we know is the result of the combination of four basic elements —fire, air, water and earth— has been one of the most successful ideas in the western thought: Accepted by Plato, consolidated in Aristotle and inherited by the Roman poets and philosophers first, and by the Christians afterwards (St Isidor, St Thomas, Ramon Llull and so on), such teaching was used not only to explain the composition of the lifeless matter and the living organisms, but also to lay the foundations of both the pre-scientist medicine and psychology. However, at the end of the Middle Ages, and especially since the 18th century, when the time of the great discoveries began, the modem Physics and Chemistry alike confirmed the falsehood of this theory, and in spite of this and above all from the Renaissance, as Gaston Bachelard demonstrated in his studies, the four elements have set up the material substratum on which the writers have raised their imaginary universe, organized around images which provide air, water, fire and earth. This article is trying to point out the presence of the four elements in the Spanish Literature from the Middle Ages to the present day, whether in its pre-scientist aspect or in its use in poetic images, as well as to provide facts for the development of future studies about this subject, which have been scarce among us up to now.