My project explores the history of friendship in seventeenth-century Spain, by focusing on the writings of the celebrated Jesuit thinker Balthasar Gracián, who offered practical advice and wisdom in navigating social ties such as friendship. One of the most prominent writers of the Spanish Baroque, Gracián’s works allow us to reconstruct early modern concepts and practices of friendship and its unique place between the private and the public, the intimate and the useful.
Within the context of the Sephardi diaspora, Gracián’s philosophy sheds light on the ways in which Portuguese and Spanish New Christian immigrants further developed their dialogue with the Iberian tradition, as in Spinoza’s library, for instance, there were books written by Gracián. Friendship (amistad), its discourse and practices thus allowed Conversos and Jews to further develop their Iberian education and identities, by composing plays, letters and philosophical tractates on friendship and friends, whether in Madrid, Salonika or Amsterdam.