The author expresses his existential philosophical thoughts in a literary language in the novel. Unlike other writers, Unamuno does not plan his novel heroes in advance; because he argues that life is random. That's why he doesn't know because the plot was formed randomly.
Spanish Poet/Writer and Thinker Miguel De Unamuno was born on September 29, 1864, in Bilbao and completed his philosophy and literature education in Madrid between 1880-1884. In 1891 he became a professor of Greek-Latin literature at the University of Salamanca.
He enters the political struggle during the coup d'état of dictator Primo de Rivera. When he expressed his thoughts fearlessly, he was banned from his profession and arrested. He is driven from the Canary Archipelago off the coast of Northwest Africa to Fuerteventura. He does not compromise on defending what he believes in throughout his life. He died while under house arrest on December 31, 1936.
Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (29 September 1864 – 31 December 1936) was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, professor of Greek and Classics, and later rector at the University of Salamanca. His major philosophical essay was The Tragic Sense of Life (1912), and his most famous novel were Abel Sánchez: The History of a Passion (1917), a modern exploration of the Cain and Abel story, and Mist (1914), which Literary Encyclopedia calls "the most acclaimed Spanish Modernist novel".
He wrote Mist in 1914 and developed an extraordinary method in his work. The author asks Victor Goti, to whom he bestows the title of a real human being, to write the foreword of the work.
In his article, Victor Goti, the friend of Augusto Perez, the hero of the novel like himself, tells his thoughts about his sad story and mysterious death.
Unamuno writes an article titled "Behind the Preface" criticizing Goti as if he were a real person. In the following pages, Goti appears before the reader as the hero of the novel. With this dilemma, he pushes the boundary between fiction and reality in the reader's mind.
Victor Goti's transformation into fiction causes the author to become a reality. The author is not satisfied with this; in the following chapters, he himself enters the work as a character and ensures that fictionality and realism are sharpened.
The author expresses his existential philosophical thoughts in literary language in the novel. Unlike other writers, Unamuno does not plan his novel heroes in advance; because he argues that life is random. That's why he doesn't know because the plot was formed randomly.
Unamuno explores various aspects of reality for his readers because he realizes the impossibility of getting to the essence of human truth and life. The thing that makes him think the most and produce thoughts on it is that it is the fate of man, the meaning of life, and whether the soul is actually mortal. An important problem that makes him think the most is the question "Where do I come from, where am I going?" While searching for answers to these questions, he also wants to solve the mystery of his own existence.
The author tells the reader that life is the only guide of life; no pedagogy can reach it. A person learns to live by living, and everyone must always start learning to live anew, without neglecting to give their faith and hope.
The author, who believes in the importance of philosophy and therefore existence in human life, argues that the greatest success in life is the discovery of oneself. The only thing that makes a human being is the soul. He also needs a soul. He argues that the body is not the soul, but the fiery soul will make even the body a soul from beginning to end. ,
As a result, Unamuno reflects on all the concepts he has doubts about. While presenting all philosophical inquiries regarding the nature of reality within a framework of love, it consciously opens up the relationship between existence, creator and creator, and death/immortality in the mind of the reader.
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Miguel de Unamuno
1864-1936
MIGUEL DE UNAMUNO, (29 September 1864, Bilbao - 31 December 1936, Salamanca) Spanish thinker and writer. Unamuno, one of the leading representatives of the 1998 generation, wrote novels, essays, plays and poems. He stood against both monarchy and fascism. He was appointed rector of the University of Salamanca three times. He died under house arrest on the last day of 1936, when he was removed from the rectorate by dictator Franco.
He studied philosophy and literature at the University of Madrid. In 1891, he became a professor at the Department of Ancient Greek Language at the University of Salamanca, and in 1901 he became rector of the same university. He was dismissed in 1914 when he announced that he supported the Allied Powers in the First World War. He was exiled to the Canary Islands for opposing the dictatorial rule in Spain, but he managed to escape to France from there. When the dictatorial government was overthrown, he returned to his country and was re-elected as rector of the University of Salamanca in 1931. In 1936, he was dismissed and sentenced to house arrest because he opposed the Phalangists loyal to Franco. He passed away two months later due to a heart attack. Considered one of the first representatives of existentialism, Unamuno was very influential intellectually in Spain in the first half of the twentieth century. He came to prominence with his essays and novels on metaphysics, religion, politics, and travel. He mainly deals with the themes of death, life, and identity in his works; It is about the conflict between man's desire to live after death and his logic.