Spanish Literary Masters: Machado, Baroja, and Unamuno
Antonio Machado
At 8 years old, Antonio Machado moved to Madrid with his family. He completed his high school studies with his brother Manuel, frequenting Madrid’s literary and bohemian circles. His early work, such as Soledades (1903), reflects themes of loneliness and features modern imagery (sunsets, gardens with fountains, water that seems alive when it flows and dead when still). In 1907, Soledades expanded into Soledades, Galerías y Otros Poemas. Machado became a professor in Soria, where he discovered the Castilian landscape. He met Leonor, his future wife, 20 years younger than him. Two years after their wedding, she died of lung disease in 1912. He also wrote Campos de Castilla, a significant work.
Campos de Castilla (1912)
This work portrays the Castilian landscape and critiques the backwardness and poverty of Castile and Spain, leading to Machado’s association with the Generation of ’98. It also includes poems about Leonor’s illness and death, including a long romance titled “Land of Alvargonzález” (about children who kill their father to inherit his land). Poems set in Andalusia, written in Baeza, also appear in this collection.
Pío Baroja
Pío Baroja was born in San Sebastián. He studied medicine but barely practiced, leading a sedentary lifestyle. He died in Madrid, a maverick and radical thinker. He did not believe in God or humanity (describing humans as “malicious and cruel animals”), yet he felt great tenderness for the outcast.
Ideas on the Novel
Baroja’s novel is “a bag that fits anything”: anecdotes, episodes, characters that appear and disappear without a pre-established plan. The action is fast and agile, with a predominance of short phrases. Characters are often marginalized, confused, or frustrated individuals.
Novels
He wrote more than sixty novels, many grouped into trilogies. Notable works include:
- The Quest (depicts the slums of Madrid at the beginning of the century)
- The Tree of Knowledge (considered perhaps his best novel; the protagonist, Andrew Howard, a medical student, shares Baroja’s disenchantment with life and search for meaning)
- Zalacaín the Adventurer (an action novel set in the Basque Country)
Miguel de Unamuno
Miguel de Unamuno was born in Bilbao. He was a Professor of Greek at the University of Salamanca, where he lived until his death, except for six years of exile in Fuerteventura and France due to his opposition to the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. He died on the last day of 1936, months after his famous confrontation with Millán Astray (“You will win, but you will not convince”).
Essays
Two key themes in his essays are the topic of Spain and the meaning of human life (existentialism).
Spain
- Topic: His love for Spain begins with the cry: “It pains me, Spain!”
- Around Casticismo (where he develops his concept of “intra-history”)
- Life of Don Quixote and Sancho (a personal and passionate interpretation of Don Quixote as an expression of the Spanish soul)
Meaning of Human Life
For Unamuno, the great theme of philosophy is humanity and the meaning of life, including the problem of God and immortality, which give meaning to existence. There was a conflict between his reason, which led him to disbelief, and his heart, which desperately needed God. His two major essays on this topic are: The Tragic Sense of Life and The Agony of Christianity (using “agony” in its etymological sense of “struggle”).
Novels or “Nivolas”
Unamuno’s novels differ from traditional ones. They are characterized by:
- Minimal descriptions
- Extensive philosophical dialogue
- Fog: Augusto Pérez, after a disappointment in love, decides to commit suicide but first consults Miguel de Unamuno, an expert on existential issues, for advice. In their conversation, Unamuno reveals that Augusto cannot commit suicide because he is a fictional character, not real or free. Moreover, Unamuno, his creator, has decided he will die. Augusto cries out to Unamuno, and to us, the readers, that we are also fictional characters, created by God, who will also die when He decides.
- Saint Manuel Bueno, Martyr: Don Manuel is the beloved priest of a village. Everyone admires and loves him for his kindness and faith. What they do not know is that he has lost his faith but pretends to have it so that people can live with hope and the consolation of an afterlife.
- Aunt Tula: Tula is a strong, cold woman who cares for her sister’s family after her death. She takes care of her nephews and brother-in-law but refuses love in her own life. At the end of her life, she realizes that despite her hard work, her life has been without meaning.