News From Barbaria: Miguel De Unamuno: A Follow-Up To My Most Popular Post Ever, "Unamuno And The Bakery Of Life"

Dear Josie,

Thanks for sharing your alma mater's summer's reading list!

If you have not read the "Senderos Fronterizos" series, it is extraordinary! https://www.amazon.com/Senderos-fronterizos-Spanish-Francisco-Jim%C3%A9nez-ebook/dp/B004H1UEF4

I have tremendous affection -- and respect -- for Miguel de Unamuno, who, in a very public encounter with one of Franco's generals, basically told him he was in league with the forces of evil. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno (See the subsection titled "Confrontation With José Millán Astray." Among the many literary projects rattling around my skull, I often think about dramatizing this encounter as a one act play.)

Unamuno was a great philosopher as well as a fine author and his novels are imbued with marvelous philosophical and theological insights.

Before you read "Abel Sanchez" (which is the very good Unamuno obra on your alma mater's reading list), I encourage you to read "San Manuel Bueno, Mártir."

It is brilliant!

Here is the Spanish original: http://www.saavedrafajardo.org/archivos/libros/libro0027.pdf (This PDF has a 20 page introduction (with pages noted in Roman numerals) which you "should" skip.

And here is a rather clunky but serviceable English translation: http://www.armandfbaker.com/translations/unamuno/san_manuel_bueno_martir.pdf

And finally, here are some additional Unamuno resources. (For some inexplicable reason, "Miguel De Unamuno And The Bakery Of Life" is my most popularr blog post with over 25,000 hits.)

"Miguel De Unamuno And The Bakery Of Life"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/09/miguel-de-unamuno-and-bakery-of-life.html