Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo

Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (1864-1936), Spanish philosopher and author, regarded by many as the greatest Spanish writer of modern times. He was born in Bilbao, and educated at the University of Madrid. He was professor of Greek at the University of Salamanca from 1891 until 1901, when he became rector. In 1914 he was forced to resign from his administrative post at the university because of his attacks on the government of King Alfonso XIII; he continued to teach Greek, however. In 1924 his attacks on the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja caused his exile to the Canary Islands. Later he went to France, where he lived in voluntary exile until 1930, the end of the Primo de Rivera regime. Unamuno then returned to his post as rector at Salamanca. He originally supported the rebellious Spanish army and its general, Francisco Franco, but denounced them shortly before his death.

Unamuno was a poet, novelist, playwright, and literary critic. His philosophy, which he carefully pointed out was not systematic but rather a denial of any system and an affirmation of “faith in faith itself,” pervades all his work. Among his books are the novels Mist (1914; trans. 1928) and Three Exemplary Novels and a Prologue (1920; trans. 1930) and the philosophical works The Tragic Sense of Life in Men and in Peoples (1913; trans. 1921) and The Agony of Christianity (1925; trans. 1928).