Miguel de Unamuno and his time

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936) was the most important Spanish writer and philosopher of his time. Few authors have matched Unamuno's impact on Spanish culture and literature until his death during the Spanish Civil War. The recent film by Alejandro Amenábar Mientras dure la Guerra (While at War, 2019) recognizes this fact. During his life and after, Unamuno was also an important philosopher and writer in the European and Latin-America contexts. He wrote critical philosophical texts such as Del sentimiento trágico de la vida (The Tragic Sense of Life, 1913), novels, poetry, theater, and essays. In addition, he was fully immersed in the tumultuous politics of his time (Monarchy, Dictatorship, Second Spanish Republic, Civil War) as a figure of intellectual and ethical resistance. He was also the President of the University of Salamanca, where he confronted the Francoist General José Millán Astray, a clash that almost cost him his life. As a writer, he is a unique figure in Spanish literature. He had an original perspective on critical intellectual figures who influenced his work, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Søren Kierkegaard. His approach to these figures as well as his connection with German and English Romanticism makes his work highly ironic, experimental, theoretical, and remarkably relevant to contemporary culture. In this class, we will delve deeply into Unamuno's role as a public intellectual, his writings (mainly his novels), and his legacy.