Publisher's Synopsis
Twentieth-century philosopher and novelist Miguel de Unamuno is a key figure in Peninsular Spanish thinking. This text offers a comparative psychoanalytic study of his work, examining firstly his philosophy and then seven of his major literary texts. Unamuno, philosopher, writer and academic, is well-known for his letters, yet his importance in a wider intellectual and literary context has remained largely unrecognised. In Part 1 of this book, Alison Sinclair revises our concept of Unamuno's intellectual parameters, and highlights in particular his consistent openness to burning intellectual and scientific issues of his day, both within and outside Spain. Part 2, which consists of essays on seven major literary texts, performs a different contextualization. Differing yet complementary psychoanalytic viewpoints, from Freud, Lacan, and "object relations" (often contemporary with the writing of the fictions) provide the framework for presenting Unamuno's view of the self: primitive, beleaguered yet curious, defensive yet exploring, a part of social relations and constructed by them, whilst resisting and struggling in the process.
