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I found that from the novel, One hundred years of solitude
Here is the text
Jose Arcadio Buendia made no attempt to console her, completely absorbed in his tactical experiments with the abnegation of a scientist...
I think the expression is a kind of metaphor but can't understand well. Would you explain in more detail?
An interesting usage. Normally, "abnegation" would imply a sort of humility involved with self-denial, as in, e.g., an ascetic's abnegation of worldly pleasures. Here it seems as if the author is using it synonymously with the absorption mentioned earlier in the sentence. The scientist appears lost to the world around him, completely preoccupied by his experiment. I'd say it almost implies denial of the existence of the outside world or solipsism in this context.
First of all, the title of the novel is actually Cien años de soledad, so we need to check the Spanish:
BuendÃa no trató siquiera de consolarla, entregado por entero a sus experimentos tácticos con la abnegación de un cientÃfico y aun a riesgo de su propia vida.
And we find that the translation is word for word. Next, we need to check the context fore and aft. "His tactical experiments" (sus experimentos tácticos) are BuendÃa's work to make a large magnifying glass into a weapon of war. To this end, he spends his wife's money (to her despair) and seriously burns himself. This is a completely self-indulgent project, since his efforts to interest the government in his plans come to nothing. Thus abnegation in the sense of self-denial is inapt. But abnegation also means simply rejection or refusal. And in the pursuit of his "scientific" project, BuendÃa has rejected his wife's pleas without providing her any consolation, and he has refused to take safety precautions for himself.
