Generation of 98

[Sergius]

Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (1864-1936)

Spanish author, philosopher, and educator, predecessor of Existentialist philosophy with Søren Kierkegaard. Unamuno was one of the foremost representatives of the movement Generation '98 (see also: Ángel Ganivet). Main themes in Unamuno's work are the conflict between life and thought, the tension between reason and Christian faith, and the tragedy of death in man's life, in which reason offers no consolation. As a philosopher Unamuno did not create a systematic presentation of his thought. He objected strongly to academic philosophers and stressed that the deepest of all human desires is the hunger for personal immortality against all our rational knowledge of life. Unamuno wrote his works in Spanish, although his mother tongue was Basque. His essays had a great influence in early 20th-century Spain.

"The man of flesh and blood; the one who is born, suffers and dies - above all, who dies; the man who eats and drinks and plays and sleeps and thinks and wills; the man who is seen and is heard; the brother, the real brother." (from The Tragic Sense of Life, 1913)

Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo was born in Bilbao as the third of six children of Félix Unamuno, a proprietor of a bakery shop, and Salomé de Jugo, who was also his niece. When his father died, Unamuno was brought up by an uncle. In his childhood he witnessed the violence between traditionalist and progressive forces during the siege of Bilbao. This experience left deep traces in his political thinking. Unamuno studied in his native city at the Colegio de San Nicolás and the Instituto Vizacaíno. In 1880 he entered the University of Madrid, where he studied philosophy and letters, receiving his Ph.D. four years later. Unamuno's dissertation dealt with the origin and prehistory of his Basque ancestors.

Unamuno's early years were deeply religious, but in Madrid he started to visit the Ateneo, sometimes called the blasphemy center of the city. In its library he read works of liberal writers. After completing his doctorate, Unamuno worked as a private tutor in Bilbao, where he also founded with his friends the socialist journal La Lucha de Clases. From Bilbao he moved to Salamanca, to assume the chair of Greek at the University. In 1891 he married Concepción Lizárraga Ecénnarro; they had ten children. In 1896-97 he went through a religious crisis, which shattered his belief in finding a rational explanation of God and meaning in life. From universal philosophical constructions and outer reality, he turned his attention to the individual person, inner spiritual struggles in the face of questions of death and immortality. Unamuno once stated: "Wisdom is to science what death is to life or, if you will, wisdom is to death what science is to life." Seeing that reason leads to despair, Unamuno concluded that one must abandon all pretence of rationalism and embrace faith.

In 1901 Unamuno became rector of the university; he held the post intermittently until his death. For the first time he was relieved of his duties in 1914 due to political reasons. In 1924 he was exiled to Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands for opposing the military dictatorship of General Primo de Rivera. After a few months, he escaped to Paris, where his friends helped him create attention internationally to his exile. He then settled in Hendaye, the French Basque town nearest to the Spanish frontier, where he spent five years. General Rivera died in 1930 and Unamuno returned to the University of Salamanca, and was reelected rector in 1931. He worked as professor of the history of the Spanish language, but in 1936 he was removed once again - this time denouncing Francisco Franco's Falangists. Unamuno was placed under house arrest. He died in Salamanca on December 31, 1936, a few months after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.

Unamuno mastered 14 languages. In order to read Kierkegaard in the original language he learned Danish. Among his major works are DEL SENTIMIENTO TRÁGICO DE LA VIDA EN LOS HOMBRES Y EN LOS PUEBLOS (1913), an example of his longing to find some assurance of immortality, ABEL SÁNCHEZ: UNA HISTORIA DE PASIÓN (1917), a modern exploration of the Cain-and-Abel theme and the effects of hatred, EL CHRISTO DE VELÁZQUEZ (1920), meditations on Velazquez' painting in the Prado, the Crucifiction. Unamuno's highly concentrated poems, written between 1928 and 1936, were published in CANCIENERO (1953).

The poetic novella Saint Manuel Bueno, Martyr (1931) focuses on a country priest, Don Manuel Bueno, who doesn't believe in afterlife. Don Manuel continues to take care of his parishioners, revealing his tragic secret only to a few people before his death. In NEBLA (1914, Mist) Unamuno presents the reader with a multitude of characters in an unnamed town. Unamuno himself takes the role of God - he has created his characters. One of them is Augusto Pérez, who decides to commit suicide. Before it he meets the author, his creator, and realizes that he is a fictive person, a shadow destined to vanish in the mist. Augusto rebels against Unamuno, and dies - perhaps by suicide or because of disappointment in love.

As an essayist Unamuno's career began in the mid-1880s under the spell of German ideological romanticism and positivism. From this period dates EN TORNO AL CASTICISMO (1895), a series of essays, in which he attempted to define Spain's character and its collective psychology. He was briefly interested in Marxism, but by 1917 he became openly anti-Marxist. A religious crisis in 1897 broke Unamuno's trust in the power of science and progress. According to Unamuno, "It is not our ideas which make us optimists or pessimists, but our optimism and pessimism, derived as much from physiological or perhaps pathological origins, which makes our ideas" (from Del sentimiento trágico de la vida, 1913). Sentimiento (the tragic sense of life), arising from our desire for immortality and from the certainty of death, is no exception although it can be corroborated by rational beliefs. Unamuno's most famous sonnet, 'La oración del ateo' (The Atheist's Prayer), closes with the lines: "Sufro yo a tu costa, / Dios no existente, pues si Tú existieras / existiría yo también de veras." (Because of You I suffer, Inexistent God, since if You existed I too would really exist.)

Unamuno's articles written during the Spanish Republic (1931-36) reveal a liberal, who welcomed secular legislation but yet wished to preserve some traditional religious values. Unamuno caused a great stir with his attacks on casticismo, the dominance of the Castilian center over other regions, such as the Basque. He was against bullfights and was often horrified by the devastation he saw imposed by the modern age on the genuine Spanish peasant.

One of Unamuno's most stimulating works is The Life of Don Quixote and Sancho (1905), in which the heroic and tragic knight assumes the virtues of Christ. Quixote is the crystallization of our wish to overcome our destiny. With his unyielding will to create new spiritual values in the world of materialism, Don Quixote finally solves his existentialist quest: "I know who I want to be." In an introductory essay called 'The Sepulchre of Don Quixote,' the Spaniards are asked to find Don Quixote's tomb, and after many wandering, they conclude that there is no tomb, that they must think Don Quixote only as the incarnation of the Spanish mind. Unamuno draws parallels between Don Quixote and the life of the founder of the Jesuit order, Ignatius of Loyola.

Unamuno's thoughts influenced among others the Nobel writer Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881-1958) and Antonio Machado y Ruiz (1874-1947). The English writer Graham Greene said in his book of memoir, Ways of Escape (1980), that he had read Life and Death of Don Quixote and forgotten it, but after publishing the short story 'A Visit to Morin', and later the novel A Burnt-Out Case (1961), he noted that he shared the same distrust of theology. "Faith which does not doubt is dead faith," was Unamuno's argument. And in Ways of Escape Greene stated: "The Catholic solution of our problems, of our unique vital problem of the immortality and eternal salvation of the individual soul, satisfies the will, and therefore satisfies life; but the attempts to rationalize it by means of dogmatic theology fail to satisfy reason. And the reason has its exigencies as imperious as those of life."

Generación del 98: cultural movement, born after the Spanish-American War (1898). In was an attempted to reestablish the lost values of Spanish life through education and through opposition to all forms of provincialism. At the same time the movement embraced Spanish people, medieval and Arab heritage, and sought to introduce modernist influences to literature. Most prominent members of the group were Antonio Machado, Ángel Ganivet y García, Ramon Pérez de Ayala, Jacinto Benavente, Ramon Valle-Inclán, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Pío Baroja, Miguel de Unamuno, and José Martínez Ruiz, who was the first to identify the Generation of '98 as a group..

For further reading: Unamuno by A. Barea (1952); Unamuno, a Philosophy of Tragedy by José Ferrater Mora (1962); The Lone Heretic by M.T. Rudd (1964); En torno Unamuno by M. García Blanco (1965); Miguel de Unamuno by J. Marías (1966); Death in the Literature of Unamuno by M. Valdés (1966); Miguel de Unamuno: The Rhetoric of Existence by Allen Lacy (1967); Miguel de Unamuno by D. Basdekis (1969); Vida de don Miguel by E. Salcedo (1970); Miguel de Unamuno by Martin Nozick (1971); Unamuno Novelist by R.E. Batchelor (1972); Reason Aflame by V. Quimette (1974); Miguel de Unamuno: the Contrary Self by F. Wyers (1976); Miguel de Unamuno: The Agony of Belief by Martin Nozick (1982); The Word in the World by Thomas Franz (1987); The Elusive Self by Gayana Jurkevich (1991); Las máscaras de lo trágico by Pedro Cerezo-Galán (1996); One Hundred Twentieth-Century Philosophers, ed. by Stuart Brown, Diané Collinson, Robert Wilkinson (1998); The Great Chiasmus: Word And Flesh In The Novels Of Unamuno by Paul R. Olson (2003); Unamuno's Paratexts: Twisted Guides to Contorted Narratives by Thomas, R. Franz (2006)

Selected works:

* EN TORNO AL CASTICISMO, 1895
* PAZ EN LA GUERRA, 1897 - Peace in War (trans. by Allen Lacy and Martin Nozick with Anthony Kerrigan)
* TRES ENSAYOS, 1900
* AMOR Y PEDAGOGÍA, 1902
* PAISAJES, 1902
* DE MI PAÍS, 1903
* LA VIDA DE DON QUIJOTE Y SANCHO, 1905 - The Life of Don Quixote and Sancho (trans. by Homer P. Earle)
* POESÍAS, 1907
* RECUERDOS DE NIÑEZ Y LA MOCEDAD, 1908
* LA ESFINGE, 1909
* MI RELIGIÓN, 1910 - Perplexities and Paradoxes (trans. by Stuart Gross)
* Rosario de sonetos líricos, 1911
* SOLILOQUIOS Y CONVERSACIONES, 1911 - Essays and Soliloquies (trans. by J.E. Crawford Flitch)
* POR TIERRAS DE PORTUGAL Y ESPAÑA, 1911
* FEDRA, 1911
* CONTRA ESTO Y AQUELLO, 1912
* EL ESPEJO DE LA MUERTE, 1913
* SENTIMIENTO TRÁGICO DE LA VIDA EN LOS HOMBRES Y EN LOS PUEBLOS, 1913 - The Tragic Sense of Life in Men and People (translated by Anthony Kerrigan)
* NEBLA, 1914 - Mist, a Tragicomic Novel (trans. by Warner Fite) - Usva (suom. Sulamit Reenpää)
* ENSAYOS, 1916-18 (7 vols.)
* ABEL SÁNCHEZ: UNA HISTORIA DE PASIÓN, 1917 - Abel Sánchez
* TRES NOVELAS EJEMPLARES Y UN PRÓLOGO, 1920 - Three Exemplary Novels and a Prologue (trans. by Angel Flores)
* EL CHRISTO DE VELÁZQUEZ (1920) - The Christ of Velázquez
* LA TÍA TULA, 1921
* FEDRA, 1921
* LA VENDA 1921
* SOLEDAD Y RAGUEL, 1921
* RAQUEL, 1921
* ANDANZAS Y VISIONES ESPAÑOLAS, 1922
* RIMAS DE DENTRO, 1923
* TERESA, 1923
* DE FUERTEVENTURA E PARIS, 1925
* LA AGONÍA DEL CRISTIANISMO, 1925 - The Agony of Christianity (trans. by Kurt F. Reinhardt)
* RAQUEL ENCADENADA, 1926
* EL OTRO, 1927
* CÓMO SE HACE UNA NOVELLA, 1927
* DOS ARTÍCULOS Y DOS DISCURSOS, 1928
* ROMANCERO DEL DESTIERRO, 1928
* SOMBRAS DE SUEÑO, 1930
* DOS ARTÍCULOS Y DOS DISCURSOS, 1930
* ENSAYOS Y SENTENCIAS, 1932
* EL OTRO, 1932 - The Other
* SAN MANUEL BUENO, MÁRTIR, 1933 - Saint Manuel Bueno, Martyr - Pyhän miehen uhri (suom. Taina Hämäläinen)
* EL HERMANO JUAN O EL MUNDO ES TEATRO, 1934
* DISCURSO LEÍDO EN LA SOLEMNE APERTURA DEL CURSO ACADÉMICO 1934-35 EN LA UNIVERSIDAD DE SALAMANCA, 1934
* LA CIUDAD DE HENOC, 1941
* ENSAYOS, 1942 (2 vols.)
* EL PORVENIR DE ESPAÑA, 1942
* ANTOLOGÍA POÉTICA, 1942
* CUNCA IBÉRICA, 1943
* TEMAS ARGENTINOS, 1942
* LA ENORMIDAD DE ESPAÑA, 1944
* PAISAJES DE ALMA, 1944
* LA ENORMIDAD DE ESPA¨NA, 1945
* Perplexities and Paradoxes, 1945
* ALGUNAS CONSIDERACIONES SOBRE LA LITERATURA HISPANO-AMERICANA, 1947
* VISIONES Y COMENTARIOS, 1949
* MI SALAMANCA, 1950
* MI VIDA, 1950 (2 vols.)
* DE ESTO Y DE AQUELLO, 1950-54 (4 vols.)
* OBRAS COMPLETAS, 1951-58 (16 vols.)
* Poems, 1952
* CANCIONERO, 1953
* Abel Sanchez, and Other Stories, 1956
* EN EL DESTIERRO, 1957
* INQUIETUDES Y MEDITACIONES, 1957
* CINCUENTA POESÍAS INÉDITAS, 1958
* ESPAÑA Y LOS ESPAÑOLES, 1959 (2 vols.)
* INQUIETUDES Y MEDITACIONES, 1957
* MI VIDA Y OTROS RECUERDOS PERSONALES, 1959 (2 vols.)
* AUTODIÁLOGOS, 1959
* PENSAMIENTE Y POLÍTICO, 1965
* LA VIDA LITERARIA, 1967
* EL GAUCHO MARTÍN FIERRO, 1967
* Our Lord Don Quizote: The Life of Don Quixote and Sancho, with Related Essays, 1967
* LA AGONÍA DEL CRISTIANISMO, MI RELIGIÓN Y OTROS ENSAYOS, 1967
* DESDE EL MIRADOL DE LA GUERRA, 1970
* The Agony of Chtistianity, 1974
* The Last Poems of Moguel de Unamuno, 1974
* Ficciones: Four Stories and a Play, 1975
* ESCRITOS SOCIALISTAS, 1894-1922, 1976
* ARTÍCULOS OLVIDADOS SOBRE ESPAÑA Y LA PRIMERA GUERRA MUNDIAL, 1976
* EL TORNO A LAS ARTES, 1976
* CRÓNICA POLÍTICA ESPAÑOLA (1915-1923), 1977
* REPÚBLICA ESPAÑOLA Y ESPAÑA REPUBLICANA (1931-1936), 1979
* ARTICULOS Y DISCURSOS SOBRE CANARIAS, 1980
* ENSUEÑO DE UNA PATRIA, 1984
* The Private World, 1985
* EL RESENTIMIENTO TRÁGICO DE LA VIDA, 1991
* ARTÍCULOS EN 'LA NACIÓN' DE BUENOS AIRES, 1919-1924, 1994

[source]

Ganivet, Unamuno and Revindicating a '98 Precursor


by Mark P. Del Mastro
The Citadel

"Es el caso que al hablar de Ganivet algunos le han llamado precursor,...

lo digo redondamente y sin ambajes, que si entre Ganivet y yo hubo influencia mutua,

fué mucho mayor la mía sobre él que la de él sobre mí [sic]."

(Unamuno, Obras completas 4: 955-56, from Salamanca, February 1912)


The question of precursors of literary movements is complicated by the impossibility--and perhaps absurdity--of identifying a sole figure. Over the years, the "Generation of '98" has also suffered the same problems of definition. Of the possible precursors--generally designated by their ideological influence over the movement or "generation"--Angel Ganivet's name began to surface predominantly at the beginning of the 20th century as a result of two events: 1) the commemoration in the Ateneo de Madrid on 29 November 1903 of the 5th anniversary of Ganivet's death and 2) the publication of his Idearium español in August of 1897, which initiated critical interest in his works.1 Unamuno, however, protested this new focus on Ganivet, especially the position of Carlos Malagarriga who claimed that Ganivet was the true spiritual source of contemporary--early 20th century--Spanish intellects. Perhaps partially due to his own written protests, Unamuno's reputation as ideological "father" of the noventayochistas remained. But certainly reinforcing this distinction was En torno al casticismo (first published as separate essays in the journal La España Moderna in 1895, two years prior to the Idearium),2 one of the first recognized works of the Generation that systematically and philosophically proposed solutions for the social and ideological crises of "fin de siglo" Spain. Because the Idearium and ETC share similar '98 principles, the appearance of numerous comparative studies was logical.3 Unfortunately, few recognized the importance of Ganivet's doctoral dissertation, España filosófica contemporánea, a work that also presented '98 concepts but was written in 1889, six years prior to the circulation of ETC. The only study that approaches a comparison of EFC and ETC is Donald Shaw's book La Generación del 98, although Shaw seems to leave the door open intentionally for others to undertake the task. The following analysis will attempt to enter this open door and revindicate Ganivet as one of the important precursors of "La generación del 98."

The primary reason for scant comparative studies is EFC was not published until 1930 in Ganivet's Obras completas; consequently, for critics it has been unjustified to consider EFC influential in contemporary Spanish thought, including Unamuno's. Then why and how can one claim the contrary? In Madrid in May and June of 1891, during the competitive examinations for the chairs of Greek at the Universities of Granada and Salamanca respectively, Ganivet and Unamuno were introduced and, as Unamuno himself explains, they met and conversed daily for about 6 weeks (Unamuno, Obras completas 4: 954). Although he observes that Ganivet was "silencioso de niño y de mozo" (Obras completas 10: 175) during these cordial meetings, Unamuno admits that his friend did make "observaciones de cuando en cuando" (175). Despite Unamuno's denial, mutual influence was certainly possible, and as will be demonstrated in this analysis, a strong argument exists for Ganivet's impact on Unamuno's thinking, thereby reinforcing the claim that Ganivet represents a precursor of both Unamuno's ideas and those of the Generation of 1898.4

As the title suggests, EFC addresses the philosophical problem of Spain with applications to the country's society of the period. According to Ganivet, Spain is in decay because a fragmented and inappropriate philosophical base has prevented the proliferation of beneficial ideas. This fragmentation is due to the Spanish adoption of multiple foreign ideologies--the "medios puramente externos" (EFC 591)--such as Krausism, positivism, materialism and social Darwinism of Haeckel, all of which fail to share a collective and uniquely Spanish mission. For Ganivet, the possibility of social reform is found in a collective ideological mission that begins with a system of philosophical education focused on the directive ideas (592), or mother ideas (598), and a combination of common philosophy, or "filosofía vulgar," and scientific philosophy, or "filosofía científica" (592).

Common philosophy, Ganivet explains, is distinct from scientific philosophy--"los medios externos" or the "sistemas contradictorios" (EFC 609)--by forming part of the Spanish essence--the common cultural trait of Spain--that corresponds to all Spaniards. According to the author, it is:

...la que carece de un fondo sistemático u ordenado y una organización completa; …la que es patrimonio de todos los hombres, la que inspira la vida de la sociedad y forma lo que generalmente se denomina medio ambiente, es decir, la idea que flota en todos los espíritus e imprime cierto sello de unidad a cada época histórica." (593)

This is akin to the notion of tradition: customs and ideas that originate from the psychological union of people with the land that surrounds them; ideas and customs already founded and passed along to their predecessors.5 For Ganivet, it is critical to initiate educational reform with both special consideration to and the implementation of this collective ideology.

Nevertheless, the author believes that people ignore this ideology when learning scientific philosophy, the contradictory systems. Isolated from common philosophy, the scientific is:

contenida en explicaciones que no traspasan las paredes de las aulas universitarias, o en volúmenes que rara vez son sacados del estante de la biblioteca, no puede ser utilizada con otra representación que con la suya propia... como expresión de un núcleo más o menos numeroso de individuos. (EFC 593)

Ganivet claims that all philosophical frameworks not originating from Spanish society, or common philosophy, pertain exclusively to the scientific. Individuals that adopt the scientific ignore their common philosophy and consequently fail to achieve results that will benefit collective society; in this case, it is egotism that motivates them. Each social institution in Spain, as around the globe, is motivated by the group's special interests, which Ganivet labels as "las ideas particulares" (592) and the "interés particular" (612). However, the "ideas particulares" are not related to the "ideas madres" mentioned previously. While the mother ideas serve to benefit all Spaniards and represent the harmonic union of common and scientific philosophies, the "ideas particulares" benefit exclusively distinct groups and are the result of the "divorce" of these two philosophies. The complementing presence of selfishness naturally leads to the particular ideas and prevents the achievement of the mother ideas or the "grandes ideales" (608).6

Motivated solely by their individual interests, Spaniards are incapable of identifying their common philosophy, thereby missing the critically important mother ideas. Because of the false promise of utopia, Spanish society seeks purely external mechanisms or ideas. The resulting condition of this fruitless quest is "indeterminación" (EFC 611), "la apatía" (602) and "letargo mental" (608), and Spain is rendered an "enfermo... débil y postrado" (653). The author claims that the conflict among the numerous external ideas--ideologies originating outside of Spain--inevitably confuse the Spaniards, ultimately creating indifference, apathy and a mentally hampered state. Ganivet identifies this condition later as "la abulia" in a letter dated 18 February 1893 to his friend Francisco Navarro y Ledesma:

El temor de perder las ideas es un signo mortal; no es que las ideas se van a perder, es que se va a escapar de nuestro dominio la inteligencia, que no podremos tener ideas cuando queramos porque la inteligencia no quiera fijarse en los objetos. Esta aversión es muy frecuente en los tontos, porque en ellos la inteligencia no tiene posibilidad de apropiarse sinnúmero de cosas; es también síntoma de la abulia o debilitación de la voluntad, porque en este padecimiento la vida retrograda, no pudiendo vencer la pereza, que le impide continuar asimilándose elementos nuevos para renovar la vida al compás del tiempo. …La causa de la enfermedad es la falta de atención (sic). (Epistolario 26-27)

The origin of this clinical metaphor is the reference adopted by the French psychologist Théodule Armand Ribot in the late 19th century. Nevertheless, Ganivet's use of "la abulia" to diagnose metaphorically the condition of his country echoes within the works of several Generation of '98 writers and contemporaries such as Azorín, Baroja, Maeztu, Cajal and Machado.7

As previously noted, Ganivet's envisioned remedy for the "abulia" is achieved by the reconciliation of the common and scientific philosophies. When the scientific establishes roots in Spanish tradition and its "realidad," or common philosophy, this union will reflect the "ideas directivas," the only solution for successful social reform in Spain. To initiate this process, however, a Ganivetian "maestro" (EFC 668) must determine the appropriate combination of common and scientific philosophies for each individual of society. The "maestro" is responsible for presenting the mother ideas to each person or student and, at the same time, the student must trust in the good will of the "maestro" in order to adopt without reservations these new ideals. Also, the "maestro" must act with a pure love--free of self interest--and be indifferent with the pupil. This indifference, however, is not of the abulic sense. Ganivet refers to an indifference that connotes unselfishness: one's de-emphasis of the material, the rejection of surpassing fellow man, and not taking advantage of him. Ganivetian indifference and love are the qualities of assuring that the "maestro" does not intervene with selfish and negative motives.

The process of obtaining new directive ideas should be realized individually and not collectively because the inappropriate acquisition of generic ideas by all members of society will again lead to the period's problem with scientific philosophy. All citizens are unique and, consequently, their intellectual needs--the individual aptitudes of EFC (673)--vary. These distinct aptitudes should be recognized and cultivated by the "maestro" in harmony and conjunction with Spanish history, tradition and reality; in other words, with common philosophy. In this manner, the "maestro" will not commit the same egotistical error reflected in special interests because the mother ideas --although containing some unique characteristics-- will be founded upon Spain's history, tradition and contemporary reality.

Parallel to EFC is Unamuno's ETC. Of the concepts most widely recognized from this work, perhaps the most notable is "la intrahistoria" (56).8 Within this notion, which Unamuno also terms "eterna esencia" and "la tradición eterna," is the remedy for Spain's abulic condition. Unamuno writes: "Esa vida intrahistórica, silenciosa y continua como el fondo mismo del mar, es la sustancia del progreso, la verdadera tradición, la tradición eterna, no la tradición mentira que se suele ir a buscar al pasado enterrado en libros y papeles, y monumentos, y piedras" (28). Further ahead in the same series of articles, Unamuno elaborates his definition: "La tradición eterna es lo que deben buscar los videntes de todo pueblo para elevarse a la luz, haciendo conciente en ellos lo que en el pueblo es inconciente, para guiarle así mejor [sic]" (29). Here are clear echoes of Ganivet's common philosophy in the "vida intrahistórica" and the "tradición eterna," concepts that for both authors are essential for society's guidance by the directive ideas explained by Ganivet. Without these guides, society is misdirected and without possibilities for progress. According to Unamuno, "La tradición eterna es el fondo del ser del hombre mismo. El hombre, esto es lo que hemos de buscar en nuestra alma (ETC 30)… Hay que ir a la tradición eterna, madre del ideal, que no es otra cosa que ella misma reflejada en el futuro" (34). Like Ganivet, Unamuno emphasizes the need to discover the "madre del ideal" or "idea directiva" to progress, and he explains this with the complicated notion he labels "el nimbo," "un fondo de continuidad... que envuelve a lo precedente con lo subsiguiente" (ETC 60), like an eternal sea of knowledge that unites past, present and future of society's ideas.

With this concept, Unamuno alludes to the Spaniards' individual efforts of turning inward to discover the "la tradición eterna"/"la intrahistoria" to unite this with surrounding/contemporary reality. In the author's time, people do not achieve the "nimbo" or directive idea because their lives are isolated in a "presente momento histórico" (ETC 27)--or Ganivet's scientific philosophy--which is not associated or linked to the eternal tradition--Ganivet's common philosophy--in a continuum. This "presente momento histórico" is "la superficie del mar, una superficie que se hiela y cristaliza en los libros y registros... " (27); like Ganivet's scientific philosophy it is found separated on library shelves (EFC 593).

Similar to Ganivet, Unamuno describes the treatment of this history, of "los libros y registros," as disassociated from man's eternal tradition, or common philosophy; in other words, that which forms part of the Spaniard's essence. Explaining this problem in Spain, Ganivet refers to scientific philosophy, which is parallel to Unamuno's "tradición mentira," the symbolic sea's surface. As noted previously, Ganivet states that the divorce or separation of scientific and common philosophies is the main cause of Spain's demise. This common philosophy, or Unamuno's "tradición eterna," is distinct from scientific philosophy. When both ideologies are linked is when the mother idea or Unamunian "nimbo" will come forth. The "intrahistoria" is progressive, like the directive idea, when it is associated with present reality. For Unamuno, a sound example of disassociation is that which exists between literature (corresponding to "intrahistoria") and science (corresponding to reality or the "presente momento histórico"). Both Unamuno and Ganivet recognize the same result of this ideological separation: egotism and the subsequent "abulia."

The Unamunian ideas of egotism and love also align with Ganivet's. For both authors, selfishness completely inhibits personal and social reforms by preventing the indispensable component of love. In the views of Ganivet and Unamuno, love is a pure and noble sentiment manifested in the help of others and the control of egotistical tendencies. The person who adopts this ideal love will prove a formidable collaborator in the utopian missions postulated by the two authors. For Unamuno, "El fuerte, el radicalmente fuerte, no puede ser egoísta: el que tiene fuerza de sobra, la saca para darla" (ETC 46). The ideas of force and power go hand-in-hand with love, and not egoism. By exhibiting this same quality, the Ganivetian "maestro" is essentially the same "radicalmente fuerte" of Unamuno: a selfless individual whose pure love results in his/her pupils' attainment of the mother ideas, as explained previously in terms of Ganivetian indifference. In Unamuno's eyes, love itself makes possible the true success of ideal reform and the collective, individual benefits of the Spanish people: "A través del amor llegamos a las cosas con nuestro ser propio" (24). These "cosas" are the ideas or the superficial history found in the "libros y registros" but that are achieved and understood appropriately by means of "nuestro ser propio," in other words, by means of the "intrahistoria" and the eternal tradition of the people. Unamuno believes love establishes the union between "intrahistoria" and science, while Ganivet sees love as the first step to reconciling common and scientific philosophies.

Nevertheless, the actual separation of these two ideologies results in the Spanish condition that Ganivet labels as "letargo mental" (EFC 608) and "abulia" (Epistolario 26), and that Unamuno calls "el marasmo" (ETC 125) and "la abulia" (138). With these akin clinical metaphors, both authors view Spain as ill. In the case of the "abulia," Ganivet selects a medical term from a French psychologist--as previously noted--to describe the hampered mental state of the afflicted Spaniards. With marasmus, Unamuno refers to a physical condition: the chronic illness of semi-starvation typical in children suffering reduced growth. In advanced stages, marasmus is exhibited as muscle deterioration and the absence of subcutaneous fat. For Unamuno, it is a problem of a Spain malnourished by scarce new ideas: "No hay corrientes vivas internas en nuestra vida intelectual y moral; esto es un pantano de agua estancada, no corriente de manantial" (ETC 132). In Ganivet's view, Spain's condition is perpetuated by the overabundance of inappropriate, non-Spanish ideals. Contemporary ideology, for both authors, is insufficient to rehabilitate the country.

Both Unamuno and Ganivet believe that ideological rehabilitation has its key step in the association between reality, the "presente momento histórico"/"la filosofía científica" and "la intrahistoria"/"la filosofía vulgar." However, in contrast to Ganivet, Unamuno does not propose that this reform be achieved through a "maestro," but rather by the Spaniards themselves. For Unamuno, the "europeización" of Spain is critical for initiating this social and intellectual process since Spanish ideas are stagnated. Together with the attempt of each citizen to discover their "tradiciones eternas," Spaniards should Europeanize themselves. They must join the process of internal discovery with contemporary European ideas in order to stimulate and enhance the immobile intellectual current of the present: "Con el aire de fuera regenero mi sangre, no respirando el que exhalo" (ETC 145). Ganivet views Spain's crisis as caused precisely by the invasion of foreign ideologies. What must be done, therefore, is reduce external influences in favor of the dominance of Spanish ideals. Foreign philosophies can only be implanted in Spain if they conform to the country's contemporary common philosophy. Of all the similarities noted in this study, it is this point that most distinguishes the proposed reforms of the authors.

Typical of Unamuno's proud demeanor is his insistence that his ideological influence on Ganivet was greater than Ganivet's on him during their "tertulias" in Madrid in 1891. However, Unamuno's assertion is challenged by the fact that two years earlier--in 1889--Ganivet had already outlined ideas in his doctoral thesis that Unamuno later presents in ETC (1895). Ganivet, and not Unamuno, first explained ideas that appear, although with different terminologies, in numerous works that follow by Unamuno, Azorín, Baroja and Maeztu, among others. The literary impact of Unamuno on his contemporaries should not be de-emphasized, but it is certainly possible that Ganivet discussed the regenerationist ideas of EFC with Unamuno during their encounters in Madrid in 1891 and, consequently, Unamuno expounded some of those concepts in ETC. Despite opposing views such as José Luis Abellán's, and in light of the ideological comparisons realized in this study, Ganivet should be revindicated as one of the important predecessors of Unamuno and the Generation of 1898.





Notes



1 Shaw notes that the first references to Ganivet as precursor of the Generation of '98 come "del esfuerzo de algunos amigos para publicar su obra después de 1897, y del hecho de que la mayoría de su obra apareciera en un corto período entre 1896 y 1898" (La Generación del '98 71-72).

2 En torno al casticismo will be henceforth referred to as ETC, and España filosófica contemporánea as EFC.

3 During the 20th century, various critics such as Fernández Almagro, Espina, Sobejano, García Blanco, and Ramsden, among others, have referred to the connections between Idearium and ETC. The following more recent studies have recognized these correlations: Guyana Jurkevich's article "Abulia, Nineteenth-Century Psychology and the Generation of 1898" (1992), E. Inman Fox's "Introducción" (1990) in his edtion of Idearium español, and Shelby G. Thacker's "Geoteleology in the Regenerationist Essays" (1988).

4 In "Ganivet y yo," Unamuno refutes Ganivetian influence on ETC: "Cuando di al público mi En torno al casticismo y mi Paz en la guerra, no sabía nada, absolutamente nada, del pensamiento de Ganivet..." (Obras completas 10: 178).

5 This idea corresponds to the "espíritu territorial" of Idearium español:

... cuando se estudia la estructura psicológica de un país, no basta representar el mecanismo externo, ni es prudente explicarlo mediante una ideología fantástica: hay que ir más hondo y buscar en la realidad misma el núcleo irreductible al que están adheridas todas las envueltas que van transformando en el tiempo la fisonomía de este país. Y como siempre que se profundiza se va a dar en lo único que hay para nosotros perenne, la tierra, ese núcleo se encuentra en el «espíritu territorial». (66)

6 The "ideas madres" and the "grandes ideales" are concepts that precede the "ideas redondas" of Idearium español: "A esas ideas que incitan a la lucha las llamo yo ideas «picudas»; y por oposición, a las ideas que inspiran amor a la paz las llamo «redondas»" (171).

7 For a study of the origens of Ganivetian "abulia," see again Jurkevich's article and Ricardo Senabre's study "Ganivet y el diagnóstico de la abulia"; for one of the sources of "la abulia," see Théodule Armand Ribot's book The Diseases of the Will.

8 Fox in "Unamuno, Ganivet y la identidad nacional," Moreno Hernández and Maravall also contribute to the critical trend of comparing ETC and the Idearium with their own interpretations of "la intrahistoria" and its correlations with ideas of Ganivet's Idearium español .



Works Cited



Abellán, José Luis. "La idea del precursor en literatura. Los 'casos' de Ganivet y Unamuno." Insula: Revista de Letras y Ciencias Humanas. 41 (1986): 470-71.



Alonso, José A. "España filosófica contemporánea, antecedente del Idearium español." Proceedings: Pacific Northwest Conference on Foreign Languages. Ed. Walter C. Kraft. Corvallis: Oregon State University, 1973, 317-20.



Butt, John. "The 'Generation of 98': A Critical Fallacy?" Forum for Modern Languages Studies 16 (1980): 136-55.



Dobón, María Dolores. "Sociólogos contra estetas: Prehistoria del conflicto entre modernismo y 98." Hispanic Review 64.4 (1996): 57-72.



Espina, Antonio. Ganivet, el hombre y la obra. Buenos-Aires: Espasa-Calpe, 1944.



Fernández Almagro, Melchor. Vida y obra de Angel Ganivet. Madrid: Revista de Occidente, 1952.



Fox, E. Inman, ed. "Introducción." Idearium español con el porvenir de España. By Angel Ganivet. Madrid: Austral, 1990.



---. "Unamuno, Ganivet y la identidad nacional." Negotiating Past and Present: Readings in Spanish Literature for Javier Herrero. Ed. David Thatcher Gies. Charlottesville: Rockwood P, 1997. 54-75.



Ganivet, Angel. Epistolario. Obras completas. 3rd ed. Vol 10. Madrid: Victoriano Suárez, 1944.



---. España filosófica contemporánea. Obras completas. Ed. M. F. Almagro. Vol. 2. Madrid: M. Aguilar, 1943. 591-674. 2 vols.



---. Idearium español con el porvenir de España. Ed. E. Inman Fox. 12th ed. Madrid: Austral, 1990.



García Blanco, Manuel. En torno a Unamuno. Madrid: Taurus, 1965.



Gullón, Ricardo. La invención del 98 y otros ensayos. Madrid: Gredos, 1969.



Herrero, Javier, ed. Correspondencia familiar de Angel Ganivet (1888-1897). Granada: Anel, 1967.



Jurkevich, Guyana. "Abulia, Nineteenth-Century Psychology and the Generation of 1898." Hispanic Review. 60 (1992): 181-94.



Laín Entralgo, Pedro. La generación del '98. 10th ed. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1983.



Maravall, José Antonio. "Ganivet y el tema de la autenticidad nacional." Revista de Occidente. 11 (1965): 389-409.



Moreno Hernández, Carlos. "Regeneracionismo, noventayocho y determinismo geográfico: la aplicación de la Geografía a la Literatura." Arbor. 140.549 (1991): 85-109.



Ramsden, Herbert. The 1898 Movement in Spain: Towards a Reinterpretation withSpecial Reference to Idearium español and En torno al casticismo. Manchester: Manchester P, 1974.



Ribot, Théodule. The Diseases of the Will. Trans. Merwin-Marie Snell. Chicago: Open Court, 1894.



Russell, Robert. "La generación del 98: ¿Nombre obsoleto?." Alba de América: Revista Literaria. 12 (julio 1994): 319-26.



Santiáñez-Tió, Nil. Angel Ganivet, escritor modernista. Madrid: Gredos, 1994.



Senabre, Ricardo. "Ganivet y el diagnóstico de la abulia." En Studia hispanica in honorem R. Lapesa. Vol. 2. Madrid: Gredos, 1974. 595-99. 3 vols.



Shaw, Donald L. "Ganivet's España filosófica contemporánea and the Interpretation of the Generation of 1898." Hispanic Review. 28 (1960): 220-32.



---. La Generación del '98. 7th ed. Madrid: Cátedra, 1997.



Sobejano, Gonzalo. "Ganivet o la soberbia." Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos. 104 (1958): 133-51.



Thacker, Shelby G. "Geoteleology in the Regenerationist Essays." Crítica Hispánica. 10.1-2 (1988): 83-91.



Unamuno, Miguel de. En torno al casticismo. 8th ed. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1972.



---. Obras completas. Madrid: Afrodisio Aguado, 1958.

[source]

Ramón María del VALLE-INCLÁN
Biography

It is difficult to properly describe someone whose name was Ramón Valle Peña but who changed it to Ramón María del Valle-Inclán. He had decided to unite fiction and reality and wanted to build up, from then on, his own biography in a free and imaginative way, as if he were making a piece of art.

He was born in Villanueva de Arosa, located in the Galician province of Pontevedra, in 1866. He studied Law at the University of Santiago de Compostela, although forced by his family. He abandoned these studies after the death of his father. As many other Galician people, he moved to Mexico, where he worked as a journalist. Not having succeeded economically, he returned to Spain and settled in Madrid in 1895. Unable to adapt himself to any conventional job, he entirely devoted himself to a bohemian life of intense writing and severe financial needs. It is worth recalling the true and relevant anecdote of the loss of his left arm. When he was already popular in Madrid, he had to have one of his arms amputated due to injuries suffered in a night street duel against Manuel Bueno, who was also a journalist and a writer himself. Of course, Valle-Inclán made a literary fact of the amputation and decided that he had lost his arm during his stay in Mexico, when he had offered it to a group of lions so as to keep them occupied while his soldiers managed to run away. It is true, though, that in 1921 he travelled back to Latin America due to some obligations related to the world of theatre (some years before, he had married Josefina Blanco, an actress who he would divorce years later). It is also true that he visited the French front line during the I World War, was imprisoned by the Spanish dictator Primo de Rivera in 1929 and lived in Rome between 1933 and 1935, when Spain was still under the Republican Government. There, he worked as the director of the Spanish Academy of Fine Arts, although his severe health problems, as well as the fact that he did not like this civil servant job either, made him go back to his native Galicia, where he died in January 1936, after refusing the extreme unction.

The arbitrariness of his ideas about aesthetics as well as his ideological convictions is also true. He paid special attention to his physical appearance, which he preferred provocative and noticeable (he was an unkempt-looking long-bearded and long-haired man with a scrawny body he had come to have due to privations, insomnia, alcohol and some other stimulating substances). This look corresponded to his Madrid lifestyle: he was a bohemian opposed to any type of bourgeois behaviour who regularly attended night literary talks. All these true aspects of his personality confirm the truest truth of all: Valle-Inclán’s total dedication to literature, which was the undoubted axe of his life. His lifestyle and attire were accurately defined in his literary self-portrait at the beginning of Autobiografía [Autobiography]: “He, whom you see, with a Spanish Quevedesque face, a long black beard and lengthy hair is me: Ramón del Valle-Inclán. I was a convert brother in a Carthusian monastery and a soldier in the lands of New Spain.” In that same book he affirmed that he was the nephew of the glorious literary character of one of his novels Sonatas [tr.The pleasant memoirs of the Marquis de Bradomín: four sonatas], “my noble uncle, the Marquis of Bradomín”. He ideally identified himself with him as he added: “That great man, who was ugly, Catholic and sentimental. I am him too, and this similarity makes him even more beloved to me”. This quotation is included just to show the audacity and aesthetic quality which characterise the way he built up his image, by mixing fiction and reality, truth and lie, which were the same thing to him.

He was verbally talented for wits and wicked comments, and a man of irritable and nervous character. He hated vulgarity but loved beauty and art. He showed an extremely personal and decadent sense of aesthetics which guided all his acts. Some of them can be considered to be staggering, including his affiliation to the traditional political ideology of Carlism or his admiration for religious rites despite his deep agnosticism to which he remained loyal until the end of his life.

To finish this biographical sketch, it might be necessary to recall Gómez De la Serna’s brilliant words: “he was the best walking masque crossing Alcalá street”. Worthy of mention are also those pronounced by the dictator Primo de Rivera who, during the artist’s prosecution process prior to his imprisonment, defined him as a “distinguished writer and extravagant citizen.”

Ideological positions

Some of Valle’s political attitudes are surprising. The most shocking period of his political evolution corresponds to his Carlist years, between 1909 and 1911. This very traditionalist political ideology was quite popular at the beginning of the 20th century. The ideological points shared by Carlism and Valle-Inclán were limited to very circumstantial topics (i.e. opposition to political centralism and industrial bourgeoisie). Except for the Carlist idealization of the advantages of the agrarian world, Valle-Inclán revised, as usual in a very personal way, all the other postulates of Carlism.

At the same time, displaying his independence and arbitrary methods again, he admitted his paradoxical admiration for left-wing popular movements, and supported the allies during the WWI, while most of the Carlists supported the Germans. This fact forced his rupture with Carlism. In 1906 he visited the French front lines, thus giving clear evidence of his preferences.

This rupture with conservatism, together with his clear personal evolution, allowed him to express, in an increasingly virulent way, his opposition to the principles of the capitalist system. Disapproval of the Army and the Church was added to his aversion to the bourgeoisie. Moreover, he got closer to anarchism and to political parties which defended the interests and views of the working class. This would appear in his esperpentos, of course.

The best symbol of his political tendency at the end of his life, especially because it was published under the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera in Spain, and except for the aggressive and satirical esperpentos, is his novel Tirano Banderas. It was inspired in Valle’s second stay in Mexico and represents a harsh attack against tyrants and their world. As in the case of marginal characters in his esperpentos, the indigenous are treated with tenderness in the novel.

When the Second Republic was declared in Spain, in 1931, Valle-Inclán happily welcomed it, to the extent that he was the Radical Party’s candidate for the Constituent Parliament. From then on, he would collaborate with the different governments in tasks regarding cultural affairs.

Regarding Valle’s ascription to the literary group known as the “generation of 1898”, it may be said that his very personal ways and independence make it very difficult to relate him definitely to any group. His firm defence of the concept of pure art was an innate personal trait which made him accept amorality against the deep ethical principles of that literary group and made of him a political reactionary, although less and less along the years. However, Valle-Inclán shared with them a radical opposition to the aesthetics of the Restoration, the acceptance of realism, and a sincere interest in the problems of Spain. Clear signs of this interest are both his critical reconstruction of the 19th century Spain and his harsh representation of Spain at his time.

[source]

Discovering Miguel de Unamuno

by María L. Trigos-Gilbert

October 27, 1998

Miguel de Unamuno is the writer of the masterpiece called San Manuel Bueno, mártir, Saint Manuel Good Martyr; this is one of his best works. The life of Unamuno wasn’t easy since he was always crying out for acceptance in the Spanish world. Unamuno was a native of the Basque Country, and as a consequence this didn’t count in his favor. His language and his demeanor differed greatly with the Spaniards’, people from Spain. Nevertheless, he attended the best universities and studied Spanish as much as any educated Spanish speaking person would have done it in during those years (1865-1936) in the European country of Spain.

His work speaks for himself, and it speaks a language of excellence. The passion, that we see in his works, is tremendous. Mr. Unamuno is well known around the world, and in case you say, "How come I haven’t heard about him?" I would just say that it may has been a lack of choices at those times that you have had the possibilities of reading different authors from different countries. It is never too late when there is still time!

Lack of Faith; Good or Bad?
Unamuno is one of those writers who makes ourselves ask where does his fiction start, and where does his fiction end since there are moments that his work has been related to his own life, the life of Saint Manuel Good Martyr. It is also mandatory to say that Unamuno forms part of that famous ’98, 1898, Generation. This is a generation of chaos, confusion, in Spain during that time. Spain has been experiencing a huge crises which is generalized in the Spaniards’ society, government, economic, and military system. Saint Manuel Good Martyr touches all those aspects, except the military system. Yet Unamuno emphasizes the religious life that the Spaniards have been having for a long time in the Catholic religion.

Unamuno is almost challenging the Spaniards’ way of thinking as if he is saying, Let’s question our faith; do we really believe? Or are we just accepting what it has been taught to us? It is the constant battle within oneself that the religious people of Spain face. It is the constant debate within oneself: Should we take existence as matter of God’s work? Or as a matter of men’s invention? Those questions have been in the Spaniards’ mind for a long time, and perhaps in everyone’s mind around the world. Saint Manuel Good Martyr is the portrait of a self sacrifice, living in a society that has been made to believe no matter what. Mr. Manuel believes in God, but he has a very difficult time accepting paradise, an everlasting life after physical death.

Life After Death?
Mr. Manuel is a priest of the Catholic church; he is preaching to everybody, but he would not talk about life after death, and even more he tells them that there is just one life. This life is on earth. So they must make the best of it, hoping to live life as a huge dream with nightmares filtering in it. He is always busy, helping his town in all possible tasks. His life is a constant work after work, avoiding the thought of the so-called paradise or even the so-called hell. So Mr. Manuel makes of earth his forever promised land, eternity. He prays everything that the Catholic church prays, but "I believe in the resurrection of the flesh and in the eternal life."

Manuel's Disciples
This lack of faith is driving him crazy, and about to give himself away, but his two best disciples, Angela Carballino and her brother Lázaro Carballino, practically save him from saying to all his church and town his deep feelings. He confides his thoughts and feelings to Lázaro, a young man who is not a religious person. Lázaro becomes a believer in God with Mr. Manuel’s teachings and talks; yet Mr. Manuel makes clear to Lázaro that he doesn’t think there is a paradise or hell. All those things are right here on earth as far as Mr. Manuel is concerned. He tells Lázaro to pretend his faith because he doesn’t want the people in the town to feel, think, or believe that there is not hell or paradise.

When Lázaro tells his sister, Angela, how he becomes a Christian, Angela is speechless. She has some sadness and bitterness toward such a conversion. Angela is the one who believes in God and all the Catholic church teaches, though she questions some of the teachings and beliefs.

Manuel's Fragility
Angela and Lázaro don’t question or judge Mr. Manuel, their priest. Angela feels a deep compassion toward Mr. Manuel, and now understands the inexplicable sadness that draws his face at times, although he works his gestures pretty well in order to hold himself up in the religious world. For Mr. Manuel it is enough to say to his people the trust that he has what the Catholic Church professes.

He literally says, "To believe in the Catholic Church and its beliefs are enough, enough!" He shows an absolutist way of conducting his services and Catholic life, but deep inside he is fragile and extremely vulnerable to all those beliefs.

Blind Faith
Unamuno shows through the Spanish mind of Mr. Manuel, and that is the stubbornness toward progression, technology, and sciences besides the lack of freedom to question a church’s methods as if there is nothing beyond what has been established.

It could be said the fear of confronting something that one’s faith doesn’t or won’t explain, paralyses the possibility of using the time’s science and technology advancements. This is what Unamuno is trying to point out to the reader. Unamuno is telling Spain it is okay to question; it is okay to have different beliefs, and it is okay to use technology and science tools to get what we need. He is telling Spain to wake up and smell the coffee. Why would people have a blind faith? Why not to question? Why? Why not? Unamuno knows what is not to be accepted; he knows how it feels to be overlooked by the so-called important and religious people of Spain. This is why his work at times seems kind of personal.

A writer, whose name I do not remember, once said, "The matter of writing is a painful road. You end up being and meditating of those undesirable places and peoples that have been making your life’s collage. Yet you also get in touch with those good memories that some other people and places have left. The matter of writing is serious" I must admit that I am quoting this author whose name I have already forgotten because although he didn’t say every single thing as I wrote it, I am not the one with those thoughts and must respect his words. Yet I do agree with the author greatly, "The matter of writing is serious." You may even remember the famous Robert Frost, ". . . the road less traveled . . . " Yes, this is the writer’s work a bit spacious, but never so lonely.

Faked Faith
Mr. Manuel is like an existentialist Christian; he knows that he doesn’t have a way of proving his beliefs or the lack of them, nor does he have a way of proving them wrong. Yet it would be very nice for him to prove either one, but it won’t happen. Mr. Manuel the martyr drives many people in his town closer to God with a faked faith, but Lázaro knows his secret and becomes his partner in the task.

We would think that Lázaro should hate him for his lack of believing and his many sermons contradicting his thoughts. Yet it happens to the contrary; Lázaro thinks of him as a real good man, good saint, " . . . Sister, he is a saint, a real saint . . . because his cause is a holy cause, super holy . . . for the peace, for the happiness, for the illusion if you would, of those that are charged to his care not a fraud." That’s the plan that these two religious partners, Mr. Manuel and Lázaro, have to make people believe and keep their beliefs. This kind of confidentiality among these two crazy guys, if you would call them so, ties them forever, for all the remaining time of their lives.

Mr. Manuel grows older and each day is graver to him, to his rare faith and work. He dies and before he dies, he is sure to tell these two disciples of him, Lázaro and Angela, to please keep believing and if not FAKE IT. He tells Lázaro when he is dying with a very ill voice that there is not more than this earth. He thinks that he is Moses. Lázaro is Joshua, and he must try to do better than he has been doing, but must not expect too much out of nothing.

Uanmuno's Universal Novel
I guess that by this time you are almost about to vomit. I feel the same way when I am reading Unamuno’s novel because I don’t conceive the idea of someone who chooses a faith demanding profession without the needed quality if we may name it "quality" the matter of having faith. Why would a person become a priest, a Catholic priest, if he doesn’t believe there is a paradise or a hell waiting for us after physical death? I don’t know, and I have found out that Unamuno’s work is pretty universal because what was thought to be a unique problem in Spain, seems to be an ubiquitous problem.

Spain: Yesterday and Today
Mr. Manuel may have become a Catholic priest because it is Spain’s main choice, a productive and an astounding choice of all times. We must recall a bit of Spain’s history: Spain in 1492 sent Christopher Columbus on a huge important voyage. He counts with the Spaniard queen’s and king’s money support and with the Catholic Church of Spain’s blessing. What do they do in order for the whole journey to turn out like a real success? They send Christopher Columbus with many priests on the three ships. Why would they do that? "Because if you are not a Catholic, you are ‘lost’."

The Catholic church is managing Spain as much as the queen and king are in that time of Spain’s powers. They continue to manage Spain’s life, and it is pretty remarkable to be a priest plus it is profitable. Now, I guess that you may be saying that things haven’t changed, and that they don’t seem that way just in Spain. I live in the northeast side of the USA’s south side, and it seems to me there are many people who have God in their "hearts" like a money-maker. I do believe that God has money, and please don’t think that I am being disrespectful. I am just being sincere. God has money, but He is not like a Miss Universe coach, preparing a bunch of girls to go into competition against other.

Questioning the Title
The other question that comes to my mind is the name of Unamuno’s novel. Is Mr. Manuel a good man? Is Mr. Manuel a martyr? In my opinion he is not a bad man, but he is definitely not a martyr. A martyr is someone who suffers and dies for his cause. Mr. Manuel doesn’t die for his caused in the novel; he dies of old age as more likely most people die. I don’t like people who make themselves martyrs because they don’t seem to have a clear and an honest cause. You may have a problem with my previous thought, opinion, but at least I am trying to make my point across. He, Mr. Manuel, doesn’t have to pretend to believe; it is his choice. He doesn’t have to put such burden on Lázaro, nor on Angela, but he is about to scream to the whole town his lack of beliefs.

It is almost like running for the presidency of a country, knowing deep inside there are no solutions for the country. It is like offering a total healing to a terminally ill person when one knows that it won’t be possible. Mr. Manuel is running against all that progression means for Spain and its people. He is denying the fact of the unstoppable changes that Spain is going to face. Why would a person use religion to dispute reality? As he says in the novel, "Drugs, they want drugs." Is religion a drug? It may be so if one doesn’t think for oneself as any other thing or subject may be in life, unless you ponder the so-called facts.

Why would Lázaro and Angela still respect the man, their teacher, when they find out that he doesn’t believe what he is preaching? The possible answer is that they also have many questions as Angela lets Mr. Manuel know. "Sinners, why are we sinners? Forgiveness, where and what is our sin?" Mr. Manuel never gives her a straight answer, but just says, "Angela, if you believe, keep believing. Pray for us, for Lázaro and me, pray for Jesus Christ." Mr. Manuel thinks that even Jesus Christ needs all the prayers he may get from all those who really have faith in life after death. Lázaro and Angela have many debates in their minds, trying to believe all the time, although reality points something different. Here is the answer; they must show tenderness and understanding toward Mr. Manuel because he is not alone with his huge doubts.

To Believe or Not to Believe
Have you question your beliefs? I have done so, and I have done it many times plus I will keep doing it while I am on this earth. There seems to be things that make us doubt God’s existence as there are many other things that point the indubitable existence of God. Is it okay to question one’s faith? I do think that it is very healthy to do so; otherwise, you may ended up having a blind faith which is not helpful nor healthy. Since I came to the USA, I have gotten sick of seeing so many people with their bumper stickers saying how much Jesus loves them and loves me. Yet how come I feel that the majority are almost showing off?

Most women love to hear from time to time how much their husbands love them. Now, if you ask any of them, what they prefer, they will simply tell you, "I would love to feel it and see it a lot more than I would love to hear it, IF the words don’t match the sentences." Are men different from women? Oh, yes, they are. I lived with an alien, a man, but as people say, "We don’t stand the thought of living without them, nor with them."

Personal Faith
People don’t care how much one knows about religion. People want to know that you and I care, PERIOD! Mr. Manuel does a good job showing people that he cares. He lives doing all kinds of works for them, yet his only and huge mistake is to get involved in a demanding job that is related to faith and to the love of God.

At times I have had my doubts, and I must confess that I have kept them to myself. Why have I done such thing? Well, because it is not nice to tell everybody how thin my faith is at times. Have I kept preaching the Gospel to people in spite of my lack of faith? Yes, I have done so just as Mr. Manuel does in the novel. Have I told anyone about it? I am telling you! Yet there is a difference between me and Mr. Manuel; I believe in Hell as much as I believe in Paradise. That’s why I must behave well! I don’t know about you; I just should speak for myself. It is a personal matter between you and God.

Five Points of My Faith
I have a last question: Do you think that Mr. Manuel is going to Hell or to Paradise? Hum, good question, isn’t it? I will answer that according to the Catholic church beliefs.

A) You are not saved from Hell by good deeds, yet you are not going to Paradise, Heaven, without good deeds.

B) You are not saved if you don’t believe there is a God and that there are things which he has created for our sake and for a purpose on this earth.

C) You are saved by the Grace of God; you are not saved because of your good deeds, nor are you saved because you are an intelligent and sharp person.

D) If one really believes, he must confess God’s name among all human beings.

E) If one really believes, he/she will know there is a life after death, for good or for bad. Where is Mr. Manuel standing? We know that he doesn’t believe in life after death, physical death.

Conclusion
So, is Mr. Manuel going to Paradise? No, he is not! Am I having a legalistic point of view? Yes, I am. Do I have the right to say who is going to Heaven and who is not? No, I don’t have that right. Therefore?

Well, it is up to God who is getting in and who is not! I am pretty thankful toward God that I am not Him because I am not merciful as He is. I am not as good as He is. I guess that we are all thankful that our entrance into Heaven doesn’t depend on our friends, relatives, bosses, co-workers, neighbors, or citizens. Yet, how come we feel that we are always put on the spot? People are quick to point to our mistakes, and we are quick to point to theirs. It is a never ending issue.

Now, although our entrance to Heaven doesn’t depend on someone’s acceptance toward us, I must say that our bad attitudes may keep someone from believing that there is a God, a Paradise, and a Hell. Should we watch our behavior? I think that we should not become so religious in order to have a good behavior. Yet I do think that we must have a relationship with God and a GOOD ONE! Otherwise, life feels more empty than it already feels. Am I preaching to you? YOU BET! Am I being pushing? No, I am not. I am just expressing my thoughts as you do from time to time. I know that to talk about faith is a touchy subject.

Our dear Unamuno knew that while alive, but it didn’t stop him from writing about it, and let me tell you it was pretty difficult to write about those issues in Spain because Spain is not well known for its acceptance of different religions or thoughts. Spaniards are more emotional and faith-driven than logical, if we may use that last term. Are they illogic people? I don’t think so. I just think that we all have our passions. We live and die for those passions, a matter of choice. Life is a constant choice!

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