His ideas upon the subject of literature were positively absurd. When I sent him Sombre Lives, he wrote me an unending letter in which he attempted to convince me that I ought to append a lesson or moral, to every tale. If I did not wish to write them, he offered to do it himself.
Silverio thought that literature was not to be composed like history, according to Quintilian's definition, ad narrandum, but ad probandum.
When I gave him The House of Aizgorri, he was outraged by the optimistic conclusion of the book, and advised me to change it. According to his theory, if the son of the Aizgorri family came to a bad end, the daughter ought to come to a bad end also.
Being of a somewhat fantastical turn of mind, Silverio Lanza was full of political projects that were extraordinary.
I remember that one of his ideas was that we ought all to write the King a personal note of congratulation upon his attaining his majority.
"It is the most revolutionary thing that can be done at such a time," insisted Lanza, apparently quite convinced.
"I am unable to see it," I replied. Azorín and myself were of the opinion that it was a ridiculous proceeding which would never produce the desired result.
Another of Lanza's hobbies was an aggressive misogyny.
"Baroja, my friend," he would say to me, "you are too gallant and respectful in your novels with the ladies. Women are like laws, they are to be violated."
I laughed at him.