UNAMUNO, MIGUEL DE (1864-1936), Spanish scholar and man of letters, was born at Bilbao on September 29, 1864. He was educated in Madrid, receiving a doctor's degree in philoso phy and letters, and in 1892 was appointed to the chair of Greek language and literature at Salamanca University. In 1900 he became rector of the university. He was always vitally interested in practical affairs and later in a campaign by means of newspaper articles and addresses against governmental corruption and abuses he was so outspoken that he was removed from the rectorship of the university. The coup d' etat of Primo de Rivera in 1923, which established a military directorate, aroused him to such vehement denunciation that in February, 1924, he was exiled to one of the more remote of the Canary Islands. The sentence aroused much criticism and the government granted amnesty in July, 1924, but Unamuno refused to return to Spain and took up his residence in Paris. In letters Unamuno was a man of wide cul ture and of great influence in Spanish-speaking countries. In his poems there is vigorous thought and lofty passion which strains at the bonds of rhyme, while his blank verse is weighted with mysticism. There are many excellent sonnets in the collection Rosario de Sonetos liricos (1911). His most remarkable poem was
El Cristo de Velazquez (1920), a long series of mystic medita tions, which is often compared by critics to the work of Blake. His novels are made impressive by their philosophical quality. Superfluous details and descriptive writing are suppressed and the stage is stripped for the interaction of passions and ideas. Niebla (1914), Abel Sanchez (1917), La Tia Tula (1921) and Tres Novelas Ejemplares (1921) are all important, but his master piece is generally acceded to be Del Sentimiento Tragico de la Vida (1913 ; trans. into English, 1921). Much of his thought, as well as more colourful descriptive writing, is to be found in the Ensayos (7 vols., 1916-19), while warmth of feeling for the people and countryside of Spain are shown in De mi pais (1903) ; Por tierras de Portugal y de Espana Ow I) and Andanzas y Visiones (1922). In the Vida de Don Quijote y Sancho (1914; trans. into Eng. 1927) he preached the cult of quixotism as an ideal.
A number of selections and extracts from his essays are trans lated in Essays and Soliloquies (1925) ; other translations are The Agony of Christianity (1928) and the novel, Mist (1929).