Miguel de Unamuno

Mario J. Valdés

Miguel de Unamuno escribió "Niebla", en 1907, y desde su primera publicación en 1914 no ha dejado de reeditarse y se ha traducido a multitud de idiomas, lo que prueba su interés y vigencia, pero ¿qué es "Niebla"? Su autor la calificó de "novela malhumorada", de "nivola", de "rechifla amarga". La realidad supuesta de "Niebla" es la de un caso patológico en busca de su ser a través del diálogo, pero el autor ha organizado esta anécdota en un juego de espejos, un laberinto de apariencias y simulacros donde al final lo único real es el propio acto de lectura que estamos realizando, en el que Unamuno da a sus lectores importancia de re-creadores, de eslabón final de la cadena narrativa.

Niebla

Sarah Escorsa

Stephanie Alvarez

"Niebla" has been my favourite book for a long long time. I read it when I was 17 after my mother gave it to me. In contrast to me she never liked reading as a child until her teacher gave "Niebla" to her. It is a classic in spanish-speakig lit and not liking it is impossible. 

Miguel de Unamuno wrote "Niebla" (which means mist), in 1907. It was published in 1914 and is concidered a classic example of the modern novel. It tells the story of Augusto who falls in love with a girl he only saw once. She is in love with somebody else, but that doesn't matter to him. With his friends and dog he starts to philosophy about life, gets a girlfriend to pity himself, starts manipulating his loveinterest's family and boyfriend, gets her, loses her and falls into some kind of depression. In the end he dies. The epilogue is written from the point of view of his dog Orpheus.

Yes, the plot sounds silly and it is very easy to read since it's language is very clear and without unnecessary ornaments. Its magic lies in the way it is composed. Unamuno uses the charecters to think about and express opinions and philosophies he was working on. He lets a protagonist write the prologue to his novel (he calls it nivola – a wordplay between novela and niebla) and have this same protagonist talk about writing. Unamuno develops structural concepts and ideas behind the relationship between the real author and the fictional character. This way he creates a meta level obligating the reader to also think about the now blurred lines between reality and fiction, as well as his/her/their role in the communicacional process of writing and reading a book. 

Niebla

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