A prolific novelist and essayist, Baroja’s works are filled with pessimism. His preoccupation with Spain’s current and future problems is reflected in his many tortured protagonists. His novels present a procession of social outcasts, thieves, prostitutes, anarchists, and degenerates, but portrays them as victims of a cruel society. Baroja denounces the evils of Spanish life as he sees them. He exalts the individual, but is pessimistic about the possibility of progress. Although cynical in outlook, his expression is sincere, and in this sincerity offers what Azorín called Aun gran fragmento auténtico de la realidad española.

Pío Baroja, 1872-1956.
El amor, el dandysmo y la intriga; novela. Madrid: Caro Raggio, [1923].
(SPL) PQ 6603 .A7 A7 1923

Second edition of Baroja’s El amor, el dandysmo y la intriga (1922), thirteenth in the series Memorias de un hombre de acción.

Pío Baroja, 1872-1956.
Nuevo tablado de Arlequín. Madrid: Caro Raggio, 1917.
(SPL) PQ 6603 .A7 N3 1917

First edition of a collection of Baroja’s essays, compared to Harlequin’s stage.

Pío Baroja, 1872-1956.
Los contrastes de la vida. Madrid: R. Caro Raggio, [1920].
(SPL) PQ 6603 .A7 C6 1920

First edition of Los contrastes de la vida, the tenth in the twenty-two-volume series, Memorias de un hombre de acción, historical novels inspired by the life of Baroja’s great-uncle, the secret agent Aviraneta. The historical events forming the background of this series are the same as those used by Benito Pérez Galdós in some of his forty-six-volume series entitled Episodios nacionales. Scholars have pointed out the contrast between these two writers in their approach to Spanish history.

Pío Baroja, 1872-1956.
La sensualidad pervertida; ensayos amorosos de un hombre ingenuo en una época de decadencia. Madrid: R. Caro Raggio, 1920.
PQ 6603 .A7 S4 1920

First edition of La sensualidad pervertida (1920), in which Baroja imagines himself in 1954 as future editor of this volume, whose authorship he assigns to a fictional character. In his persona as imaginary editor, he notes that capitalism, militarism, and theocracy have disappeared as a result of the 'Revolution of 1948.'

Pío Baroja, 1872-1956.
La caverna del humorismo. Madrid: Rafael Caro Raggio, 1920.
PQ 6603 .A7 C3 1920

Second edition of La caverna del humorismo (1919), a group of satirical pseudo-essays by Baroja.