Ficciones

A collection that showcases Unamuno’s versatility as a philosopher, essayist, and storytellerUnwilling to be bound by the categories of religion, Miguel de Unamuno also rejected the laws that distinguish one literary genre from another. Thus, some of his finest essays are stories and vice versa. Included in this volume are four stories—Tía Tula; The Novel of Don Sandalio, Chess Player; The Madness of Doctor Montarco; and Saint Manuel Bueno, Martyr—and the play The Other. Tía Tula (“Aunt Tula”) describes the dilemma of a virgin mother caught between duty and fidelity to self. Don Sandalio is a chess player without past or present except when he concentrates on his game. The story of Doctor Montarco contains one of Unamuno’s earliest answers to critics who wished to confine him to a party and deny him the freedom to be a whole man. And Saint Manuel Bueno is the nonbeliever who will not use his truth to disturb public peace and holds to orthodox morality while rejecting accepted religion. In the play The Other, Unamuno explores the problem of individual identity.