Pedro Montengón, jesuita y literato alicantino del siglo XVIII: su impronta clásica

Abstract

Pedro Montengón was a Jesuit of Alicante (Spain), who did not accomplish the last religious orders and was surprised by the Company of Jesus’ expulsion in Spain. This unlucky event was the motor and one-pointed spur of his anxiety towards writing, for which he used all his former humanistic education. This is constantly reflected in his novels and in his poetic work, especially in his attraction for Stoic philosophy. He translates Sophocles, although the work that impacts him most is Philoctetes, not only because it represents the live soul of Stoicism but also because it constitutes the background of the events this character had to face: above all, it is related to the idea of the need to be ready —just like Philoctetes, through an apprenticeship— for any change of fortune, fact that is represented by the bow and arrows that he uses in his new miserable life in the island of Lemnos.