Miguel de Unamuno

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Miguel de Unamuno
Miguel de Unamuno Meurisse 1925.jpg
Miguel de Unamuno in 1925
BornMiguel de Unamuno y Jugo
September 29, 1864
Bilbao, Biscay, Spain
DiedDecember 31, 1936 (aged 72)
Salamanca, Salamanca, Castile and León, Spain
ParentsFelix de Unamuno and Salome Jugo
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This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Unamuno and the second or maternal family name is Jugo.
Miguel de Unamuno
Miguel de Unamuno Meurisse 1925.jpg
Miguel de Unamuno in 1925
BornMiguel de Unamuno y Jugo
September 29, 1864
Bilbao, Biscay, Spain
DiedDecember 31, 1936 (aged 72)
Salamanca, Salamanca, Castile and León, Spain
ParentsFelix de Unamuno and Salome Jugo

Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (29 September 1864 – 31 December 1936) was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, and Greek professor and later rector at the University of Salamanca.

His major philosophical essay was The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), and his most famous novel was Abel Sánchez: The History of a Passion (1917), a modern exploration of the Cain and Abel story.



Miguel de Unamuno was born in Bilbao, a port city of Basque Country, the son of Félix de Unamuno and Salomé Jugo. As a young man, he was interested in the Basque language and competed for a teaching position in the Instituto de Bilbao against Sabino Arana. The contest was finally won by the Basque scholar Resurrección María de Azkue.

Unamuno worked in all major genres: the essay, the novel, poetry, and theater, and, as a modernist, contributed greatly to dissolving the boundaries between genres. There is some debate as to whether Unamuno was in fact a member of the Generation of '98, an ex post facto literary group of Spanish intellectuals and philosophers that was the creation of José Martínez Ruiz — a group that includes Antonio Machado, Azorín, Pío Baroja, Ramón del Valle-Inclán, Ramiro de Maeztú, and Ángel Ganivet, among others.




Sculpture of Unamuno in Salamanca by Pablo Serrano in 1968.

In 1936 Unamuno had a public quarrel with the Nationalist general Millán Astray at the University in which he denounced both Astray—with whom he had had verbal battles in the 1920s—and elements of the rebel movement. He called the battle cry of the elite armed forces group named La Legión—"Long live death!"—repellent and suggested Astray wanted to see Spain crippled. One historian notes that his address was a "remarkable act of moral courage" and that he risked being lynched on the spot but was saved by Franco's wife who took him out of the place. Shortly afterwards, Unamuno was effectively removed for a second time from his university post. Broken-hearted, he was placed under house arrest, and his death followed ten weeks later, on December 31.[4] Unamuno died while sleeping, which he regarded as the best and most painless way to die.




Balcón de Unamuno, Artenara, Spain

Nothing Less than the man (love story novel)


Unamuno seen by Ramon Casas (MNAC).


Unamuno's Del sentimiento trágico de la vida (The Tragic Sense of Life) (1912) as well as two other works — La agonía del cristianismo (The Agony of Christianity) (1931) and his novella "San Manuel Bueno, mártir" — were included on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.


Unamuno summarized his personal creed thus: "My religion is to seek for truth in life and for life in truth, even knowing that I shall not find them while I live."[6] He said, "Among men of flesh and bone there have been typical examples of those who possess this tragic sense of life. I recall now Marcus Aurelius, St. Augustine, Pascal, Rousseau, René, Obermann, Thomson, Leopardi, Vigny, Lenau, Kleist, Amiel, Quental, Kierkegaard—men burdened with wisdom rather than with knowledge."[7] He provides a stimulating discussion of the differences between faith and reason in his book The Tragic Sense of Life.

A historically influential paperfolder from childhood to his last, difficult days, in several works Unamuno ironically expressed philosophical views of Platonism, Scholasticism, positivism, and the "science vs religion" issue in terms of 'origami' figures, notably the traditional Spanish pajarita.[8]

Unamuno's 'pájaro sabio' (wise bird)




Among his outstanding works of poetry are:


Unamuno's dramatic production presents a philosophical progression.





Confrontation with Millán-Astray[edit]


From somewhere in the auditorium, someone cried out the motto "¡Viva la Muerte!" (Long live death!). As was his habit, Millán-Astray responded with "¡España!" (Spain!); the crowd replied with "¡Una!" (One!). He repeated "¡España!"; the crowd then replied "¡Grande!" (Great!). A third time, Millán-Astray shouted "¡España!"; the crowd responded "Libre!" (Free!) This –Spain, one, great and free–was a common Falangist cheer and would become a francoist motto thereafter. Later, a group of uniformed Falangists entered, saluting the portrait of Franco that hung on the wall.


Millán-Astray responded: "¡Muera la inteligencia! ¡Viva la Muerte!" ("Death to intelligence! Long live death!"), provoking applause from the Falangists. Pemán, in an effort to calm the crowd, exclaimed "¡No! ¡Viva la inteligencia! ¡Mueran los malos intelectuales!" ("No! Long live intelligence! Death to the bad intellectuals!")

Unamuno continued: "This is the temple of intelligence, and I am its high priest. [Éste es el templo del intelecto, y yo soy su gran sacerdote.] You are profaning its sacred domain. You will win [venceréis], because you have enough brute force. But you will not convince [pero no convenceréis]. In order to convince it is necessary to persuade, and to persuade you will need something that you lack: reason and right in the struggle. I see it is useless to ask you to think of Spain. I have spoken." Millán-Astray, controlling himself, shouted "Take the lady's arm!" Unamuno took Carmen Polo by the arm and left in her protection.

See also[edit]


  5. ^ Sean Farrell Moran, "The Disease of Human Consciousness," in Oakland Journal, 12, 2007, 103-110
  6. ^ Miguel de Unamuno, "Mi religión." (1907) http://www.ensayistas.org/antologia/XXE/unamuno/
  7. ^ Tragic Sense Of Life, I The Man Of Flesh And Bone
  8. ^ For example, in Amor y Pedagogica (1902) and a letter to the Argentinian Caras y Caretas the same year. For a bird-figure folded by him in November 1936, see Vicente Palacios, Papirogami: Tradicional Arte del Papel Plegado (Barcelona: Miguel Salvatella, 1972), p. 122. The term "origami" for such works is recent; Unamuno called it "cocotología".

Further reading[edit]

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