El fin de los horrores de la guerra? Visiones en Jovellanos, Swift y Vonnegut

This article proposes a comparative reading of the views of war in the works of three au- thors who, although distant in space and time, converge in key elements, such as emphasizing the senseless horror of war. From a literary standpoint, the analysis will focus on Jovellanos’s Diaries and Letters (end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century), Gulliver’s Travels (1726) by Swift, and Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five (1969). Thus, with a biographical focus, we aim to find transnational and timeless parallels in the ways these three authors describe the origins and consequences of the conflicts, as well as the subjectivity of the soldiers and the psyche of the leaders, both in their fiction and non-fiction work. Special attention is given to the distinct views by the three authors,such astheir opinions on the legitimacy of war, their personal experiences of it, and their predictions about a peaceful or apocalyptic future. Key Words: war, Jovellanos, Swift, Vonnegut, soldiers, government.