Of a philosopher like Miguel de Unamuno converted to writer can anticipate the depth of his narrative proposal. If we add to that notion a decadent and certainly sinister historical context, we end up profiling the author as a chronicler in the midst of historical disasters, existential fatalism and enervating creative restrictions.
And despite sometimes succumbing to the fatal, Unamuno resisted the corsets, even going so far as to define his novels as nivola, a neologism that differentiated, not without sarcasm, the fact that his novels, if they had to be according to the patterns set , they would then be something else: nivolas.
This is how the philosophy so loved by Unamuno reaches its characters. Each one is what speaks. And discovering the characters of Unamuno's "nivolas" is enlightening. Philosophy can also be the thought that everyone applies to their subjective world and the set of perspectives is that kind of common philosophy that leads to idiosyncrasy.
If to his ability to provide transcendental thinking to each character, we add the author's will to break with strict previous currents in thematic and formal aspects plus his taste for the intrahistory between bleak and authentic of the exhausted and defeated Spain in its last strongholds. of splendor, we ended up outlining one of the most genuine writers of that labeling of authors of the generation of 98 where he will always accompany him, in my opinion, as the most outstanding, Pio Baroja.
Recovered for the present thanks to Amenabar's film «While the war lasts», it never hurts to return to one of our great cultural references.
3 recommended novels by Miguel de Unamuno
Fog
Nothing lighter than a love story under Unamuno's pen becomes a framework towards the soul. To tell us that Augusto Pérez enjoys the ideal love to end up suffering from heartbreak, the author blurs the reality around it. It is about raising a magical fog at times surreal and at other moments dreamy.
Even Augusto's companion dog ends up speaking about good and evil to complete a series of unforgettable monologues. The voices of the characters seem to reach the level of the audible, as if anyone dares to tell you the story of their life.
The end of the book shares equal parts tragic flavor and sweet aftertaste. A book that contributes a lot to the reader in a sum of variable impressions in different readings.
Saint Manuel Good, Martyr
In some way it must be understood as the author's own favorite work. On more than one occasion, Unamuno recognized how he had emptied himself into her.
And when a writer of great significance like Unamuno pours himself into a novel, you can be sure that you will find existentialism, but also very diverse impressions in a wonderful mosaic about life and the times lived. Ángela Carballino insists on transcribing, as it sounds, an entire life, as if it were a sum of words.
His laudable intention is endorsed as he tells us who Don Manuel Bueno was. Because Don Manuel, the parish priest comes to confess that he no longer believes in God. It is something like waking up to the call. And the priest's motives are as lucid as they are enlightening for everyone.
Aunt Tula
It will be because of the musicality of the title. The truth is that this novel is one of those that anyone names you first. I will not deny that it is a good novel, but not above the other two. The story exudes an agonism that seems to define in all her actions what a Spanish woman of the early twentieth century was.
Slave of moral principles and determined to annul herself in favor of the family at the same time as a victim of her passions locked between her bones and her soul. Without becoming a novel claiming feminism, it does seem to spread its wings towards an inner liberation of any person.
Self-denial is fine for martyrs, saints, and others, but the recognition and assumption of internal passions is posed as a necessary balance. Unamuno seemed to intuit that many of those women depicted in Aunt Tula's exaggeration would like better scenarios than those.
