Miguel de Unamuno

Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, and academic. He worked across all major literary genres and, as a modernist, played a significant role in dissolving the boundaries between them. His major philosophical work, Tragic Sense of Life, was published in 1913. His most celebrated novels include Mist (1914), described by The Literary Encyclopedia as the most acclaimed Spanish Modernist novel, and Abel Sánchez: The History of a Passion (1917), a modern reinterpretation of the biblical story of Cain and Abel.

Unamuno was born in Bilbao, a port city in the Basque Country, and as a young man was interested in the Basque language, which he could speak. He competed for a teaching position against Sabino Arana, though the post was ultimately won by the Basque scholar Resurrección María de Azkue. Unable to secure a philosophy professorship, Unamuno became a Greek professor at the University of Salamanca in 1891. He served as rector of that university for two periods, from 1900 to 1924 and again from 1930 to 1936, during a time of significant social and political upheaval.

A passionate advocate of Spanish social liberalism, he linked his political views to his upbringing in Bilbao, which he believed fostered individualism and an independent outlook. He was an outspoken supporter of the Allied cause during the First World War and intensified his attacks on King Alfonso XIII. Unamuno was removed from his university chairs in 1924 by the dictator General Miguel Primo de Rivera and lived in exile until 1930, first on the Canary Island of Fuerteventura and later in France. After the fall of the dictatorship, he returned to Spain and resumed his rectorship.