Laín Entralgo, Pedro 1908-2001
LAÍN ENTRALGO, Pedro 1908-2001
PERSONAL: Born February 15, 1908, in Urrea de Gaén, Spain; died 2001; married Milagro Martínez Prieto, 1934. Education: Attended universities of Zaragoza, Valencia, Madrid, and Vienna.
CAREER: Medical historian, essayist, playwright, and anthropologist. Madrid University, Madrid, Spain, professor of the history of medicine, beginning 1942, rector of the university, 1951-56.
MEMBER: Royal Spanish Academy, Royal National Academy of Medicine, Royal Academy of History, Akademy der Wissenschaften (Heidelberg, Germany).
AWARDS, HONORS: Premio Nacional de Teatro, 1970; Premio Montaigne, 1975; Gran Cruz de la Orden Civil de Alfonso X el Sabio, 1978; Gran Cruz de la Orden Civil de Sanidad, 1980; Premio Aragón, 1984; Premio Internacional Menéndez Pelayo, 1991; Premio Internacional de Ensayo Jovellanos, 1999, for Qué es el hombre: evolución y sentido de la vida; honorary professor, University of Santiago, Chile, Université de Toulouse, and Universidad de San Marcos, Peru.
WRITINGS:
Medicina e historia, Escorial (Madrid, Spain), 1941.
Los valores morales del nacionalsindicalismo, Editora Nacional Madrid (Madrid, Spain), 1941.
Estudios de historia de la medicina y de antropología médica, Escorial (Madrid, Spain), 1943.
La generación del noventa y ocho, [Madrid, Spain], 1945, 2nd edition, Espasa-Calpe (Madrid, Spain), 1997.
Vestigios: ensayos de crítica y amistad, Ediciones y Publicaciones Españolas (Madrid, Spain), 1948.
España como problema, Aguilar (Madrid, Spain), 1949.
La universidad en la vida española, Publicaciones de la Universidad de Madrid (Madrid, Spain), 1951.
Menéndez Pelayo, Espasa-Calpe (Buenos Aires, Argentina), 1952.
Sobre la universidad hispánica, Cultura Hispánica (Madrid, Spain), 1953.
Menéndez Pelayo: historia de sus problemas intelectuales, Taurus (Madrid, Spain), 1954.
El libro como fiesta, Instituto de España (Madrid, Spain), 1955.
La espera y la esperanza: historia y teoría del esperar humano, Alianza (Madrid, Spain), 1957.
La curación por la palabra en la antigüedad clásica, Revista de Occidente (Barcelona, Spain), 1958, translation by L. J. Rather and John M. Sharp published as The Therapy of the Word in Classical Antiquity, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 1970.
Ejercicios de comprensión, Taurus (Madrid, Spain), 1959.
Grandes medicos, Salvat (Barcelona, Spain), 1961.
Enfermedad y pecado, Toray Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain), 1961.
Miguel Angel y el cuerpo humano, Magisterio Español, (Madrid, Spain), 1964.
La relación médico-enfermo: historia y teoría, Revista de Occidente (Madrid, Spain), 1964, translation by Frances Partridge published as Doctor and Patient, McGraw-Hill (New York, NY), 1969.
Una y diversa España, Edhasa (Barcelona, Spain), 1967.
Entre nosotros: comedia dramática (play), Espasa-Calpe (Madrid, Spain), 1969.
El problema de la universidad: reflexiones de urgencia, Cuadernos para el Diálogo (Madrid, Spain), 1967.
Gregorio Marañón: vida, obra y persona, Espasa-Calpe (Madrid, Spain), 1969.
A qué llamamos España, Espasa-Calpe (Madrid, Spain), 1971.
Historia de la medicina, Salvat (Barcelona, Spain), 1973.
Descargo de conciencia (1930-1960), Seix Barral (Barcelona, Spain), 1976.
La aventura de leer, Espasa-Calpe (Madrid, Spain), 1964.
Antropología de la esperanza, Guadarrama (Madrid, Spain), 1978.
Mas de cien españoles, Planeta (Barcelona, Spain), 1981.
La medicina actual, Dossat Madrid (Madrid, Spain), 1981.
Teoría y realidad del otro, Alianza Editorial (Madrid, Spain), 1983.
Antropología médica para clínicos, Salvat (Barcelona, Spain), 1984.
Teatro del mundo, Espasa-Calpe (Madrid, Spain), 1986.
Ciencia, técnica y medicina, Alianza Universidad (Madrid, Spain), 1986.
El cuerpo humano: Oriente y Grecia Antigua, Espasa-Calpe (Madrid, Spain), 1987.
La medicina hipocrática, Alianza Editorial (Madrid, Spain), 1987.
La antropología en la obra de Fray Luis de Granada, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Madrid, Spain), 1988.
Cuerpo y alma: estructura dinámica del cuerpo humano, Espasa-Calpe (Madrid, Spain), 1991.
Tan sólo hombres, preface by Ricardo Doménech, Espasa-Calpe (Madrid, Spain), 1991.
El cuerpo humano: teoría actual, Espasa-Calpe (Madrid, Spain), 1991.
Esperanza en tiempo de crisis: Unamuno, Ortega, Jaspers, Bloch, Marañón, Heidegger, Zubiri, Sartre, Moltmann, Galaxia Gutenberg (Barcelona, Spain), 1993.
Creer, esperar, amar, Galaxia Gutenberg (Barcelona, Spain), 1993.
Sobre la amistad, Círculo de Lectores (Barcelona, Spain), 1994.
Teatro y vida: doce calas teatrales en la vida del siglo XX, Galaxia Gutenberg (Barcelona, Spain), 1995.
Alma, cuerpo, persona, Galaxia Gutenberg (Barcelona, Spain), 1995.
Idea del hombre, Galaxia Gutenberg (Barcelona, Spain), 1996.
El problema de ser cristiano, Galaxia Gutenberg (Barcelona, Spain), 1997.
Hacia la recta final: revisión de una vida intellectual, Galaxia Gutenberg (Barcelona, Spain), 1998.
La historia clínica: historia y teoría del relato patográfico, Triacastela (Madrid, Spain), 1998.
Ensayistas Hispánicos: Españoles de tres generaciones, Real Academia de la Historia (Madrid, Spain), 1998.
Qué es el hombre: evolución y sentido de la vida, Nobel (Oviedo, Spain), 1999.
Author of numerous prefaces and forewords; provided editorial assistance in the fields of the history of medicine, ethics, theater, philosophy, and the nature of Spanish culture.
SIDELIGHTS: Spanish physician and medical historian Pedro Laín Entralgo contributed much to the study of medicine and the humanities. Although he wrote widely, covering history, philosophy, and culture—and even penning some theatre—"the goal of [Laín Entralgo's] life's work, by his own admission, has consisted of attaining a systematic medical anthropology—a scientific and philosophical cognition of man insofar as he is a healthy being, susceptible to illness, ill, curable, and mortal," Nelson R. Orringer wrote in Letras Peninsulares. Over his nearly sixty-year writing career, Laín Entralgo wrote many books in pursuit of this goal, including his first, Medicina i historia: others included the work sometimes considered to be his masterpiece, La historia clínica, and his massive 1984 publication, the culmination of his years of research titled Antropología médica para clínicos.
Laín Entralgo's writings were often influenced by his Catholic faith. In some of his early works, he wrote about the need to Christianize science and to relate traditional Catholic values to modern Spanish culture. One of these books, La espera y la esperanza, is a response, from a Catholic viewpoint, to the pessimistic, nihilistic existential philosophies gaining currency in Europe by the mid-twentieth century. A contributor to the Colombia Dictionary of Modern European Literature called this work "probably his most profound book."
As a member of the nationalist, right-wing Falange party during the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War, Laín Entralgo was allied with fascist General Francisco Franco. This meant that Entralgo, unlike many of his fellow intellectuals who supported the Spanish monarchy, did not go into exile during or after the war. However, during the 1950s Laín Entralgo broke with Franco's regime and became more politically left-leaning. This progression of thought can be seen in some of his books, including one of his most famous works, La generación del noventa y ocho, which was first published in 1945. In this meditation on Spanish culture, while Laín Entralgo has not abandoned his Nationalist and Catholic philosophy, he now draws on the thoughts of more liberal thinkers in making his arguments. In 1954, when students began to protest Franco's regime, Laín Entralgo wrote in support of them, and in 1956 he resigned from his position as rector of the University of Madrid to protest Franco's curtailments of freedom of thought in Spanish universities.
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:
books
Paolini, Gilbert, editor, La Chispa '89: Selected Proceedings, Tulane University Press (New Orleans, LA), 1989.
Paolini, Gilbert, editor, La Chispa '93: Selected Proceedings, Tulane University Press (New Orleans, LA), 1993.
Fernandez Jimenez, Juan, editor, Estudios en homenaj e a Enrique Ruiz-Fornells, Asociacion de Licenciados & Doctores Espanoles en Estados Unidos (Erie, PA), 1990.
periodicals
American Journal of Psychoanalysis, June, 1990, p. 17.
Choice, September, 1970, review of Doctor and Patient, p. 882; October, 1970, review of The Therapy of the Word in Classical Antiquity, p. 59.
Cuadernos de Investigacion Filologica, May-December, 1983, Gabriel Maria Verd, "'Vestigios,' el libro mas humano de Laín," pp. 183-198.
Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, Volume 72, 1967, Ricardo Doménech, "Primera cronica del teatro de Laín," pp. 218-233; Volume 269, 1972, Eduardo Tijeras, "El tema de la amistad en Laín Entralgo," pp. 349-352; October, 1983, Diego Gracia Guillen, interview with Laín Entralgo, pp. 11-32; August-September, 1987, Maria Manent, "Como conoci a Laín," pp. 59-60, Agustin Albarracion Teulon, "Pedro Laín Entralgo," pp. 61-77, Franco Meregalli, "Pedro Laín en 1948," pp. 79-86, Elena Hernandez Sandoica, "Laín en la Universidad de Madrid," pp. 87-112, Antonio Buero Vallejo, "Un hombre ante su espejo," pp. 113-126, Francisco Vega Diaz and Pedro Laín Entralgo, "Al cumplirse diez anow de Descargo de conciencia," pp. 127-136, Amancio Sabugo Abril, "Para una antropologia de la otredad," pp. 139-155, Blas Matamoros, "El hombre, esa enfermedad," pp. 165-172, Olegario Gonzalez de Cardedal, "Encuentro memoria, esperanza," pp. 183-194, Mariano Yela, "El conductismo explicativo y comprensive de Laín," pp. 194-201, Francisco R. Adrados, "Laín, los griegos y algunas reflexiones," pp. 203-210, Antonio Tovar, "Pedro Laín y la cultura griega," pp. 211-217, Donald W. Blesnick, "El teatro de Pedro Laín Entralgo," pp. 218-232, Jose L. Abellán, "Laín, filosofo de la cultura espanola," pp. 421-456, Antonio Orozco Acuaviva, "Aprozimacion al hispanoamericanismo de Laín," pp. 457-466, Jose Vidal Bernabeu, "Laín Entralgo y su vision del '98," pp. 467-496; Carlos Alfieri, interview with Laín Entralgo, pp. 17-27.
Insula, April, 1998, Jose M. Jover Zamora, "A que llamamaos España," pp. 17-19, Carlos Seco Serrano, "El mensaje de España como problema," pp. 21-22, Augustin Albarracin Teulon, "La España posible de Pedro Laín," pp. 26-27.
Letras Peninsulares, fall, 1988, Nelson R. Orringer, "Faith, Hope, and Love: Stages of Laín Entralgo's Scientific Evolution," pp. 133-150; winter, 1989, Nelson R. Orringer, "A la luz de Marte," p. 371.
Ometeca, Volume 1, number 1, 1989, Nelson R. Orringer, "Making the Body Human: Ideas Published and Unpublished of Laín Entralgo," pp. 108-141.
Papeles de son Armadans, Volume 56, 1970, "El humanismo de Pedro Laín Entralgo," pp. 101-118.
Razon y Fe, May, 1998, Francisco A. Marcos Marin, "Pedro Laín Entralgo: Mas alla de la experiencia," pp. 501-506.
Revista de Ideas Esteticas, Volume 32, 1974, Fermin de Urmenta, "Sobre estetica Brechtiana," pp. 245-250.
Revista Hispanica Moderna, December, 1992, Carlos Schwalb, "Castilla y una hora de España de Azorin como expresion de la Generacion del '98," pp. 181-192.
Thought, spring, 1970, Thomas Mermall, "Spain's Philosopher of Hope," pp. 103-120.
Times Literary Supplement, February 20, 1969, review of El problema de la universidad, p. 193.
Yale Review, June, 1970, review of The Therapy of the Word in Classical Antiquity, p. 59.
other
Premio Aragón Web site,http://www.aragob.es/ (April 24, 2002), article about Laín Entralgo.
OBITUARIES:
other
Pais Web site,http://www.elpais.es/ (November 6, 2001).*