William Hazlitt: “Jeremy Bentham”, in The Spirit of the Age (1825)

The literary journal Gambito de papel has recently published my Spanish translation of the essay “Jeremy Bentham”, by William Hazlitt (1778-1830). (The original English text can be read here.) Hazlitt was one of the most prominent English-language essayists as a literary and arts critic, philosopher, and social commentator. The text I translated is one of “portrait essays” comprising The Spirit of the Age (1825), a key work by this author. In his book, Hazlitt commented on the personalities of 25 artists, intellectuals, and politicians who were, in his opinion, representative of the spirit of their time.

Although The Spirit of the Age is widely considered Hazlitt’s masterpiece, it has never been translated into Spanish. The disparity between the relevance of Hazlitt’s work in the English-speaking sphere and its relative unfamiliarity in the Spanish-speaking sphere is striking. Thus, I hope that the translation of this first essay, dedicated to philosopher and jurist Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), may encourage a larger project to translate the entire book (which I would gladly do). I am enormously thankful, once again, to Jerónimo Corregido and Gambito de papel for accepting and showcasing my translation.

Jeremy Bentham