The Mathematical Psychology of Gratry and Boole, Translated from the Language of the Higher ... Book

This translation is of some interest for its satires of contemporary Spanish life. But there are typos and generally I think there must be room for improvement in the translation.

The book is in the form of five ‘dreams’ of his visits to hell, where Quevedo wanders around observing the different types of people who end up there, and questioning the devils in charge about why things are as they are.

I read this to complement Alvaro Enrigue’s Sudden Death which has Quevedo and Caravaggio as main characters. Enrigue comments that later in life Quevedo become a homophobe and misogynist, and certainly the latter is in full play here. He is really savage on the subject of women. But mostly he skewers hypocrisy. Also, he’s got it in for tailors and innkeepers and all others who cheat the customer.

But I had to laugh when I saw tavern keepers who were running around loose all over hell, being punished out on parole without any restrictions since they all had plenty of restriction anyway just from being there. When I asked why there alone were allowed to run loose, one of the devils said to me:

“We even open the doors for them. There is no danger that people like that will leave hell when they worked so hard on earth to get here. Furthermore, within three months’ time, tavern keepers transplanted here are just as much devils as we are. We are only careful to see that they don’t reach the fire of the others so they won’t water it down."[watering down the wine really irritated Quevedo]

One does have to wonder, however, at the devils. They seem to be more on the side of the angels, scandalized by the behavior of the residents and thoroughly believing in the need for their punishments.