Unamuno’s work is characterized by an ever-present threat of nothingness and a longing for immortality in a world where its existence finds no rational confirmation. Faith and reason, although diametrically opposed, require one another, and the entire history of human thought can be viewed as a futile quest for harmony. Out of this realization emanates Unamuno’s well- known “tragic sense of life” which informs all of his works.

For Unamuno, the greatest hero, the most revered saint, is necessarily a fool, but a divine fool whose dream is the essence of life. Rejecting both fascism and communism, Unamuno tried to preserve the Spanish tradition in an age of metaphysical unrest and cataclysmic upheavals which changed the course of history.

Unamuno married his childhood sweetheart, Concha, and she was the one and only woman in his life. His son, Rafael, once commented, “whatever theme of love and extreme tenderness appears in his writings it is largely the inspiration of my blessed mother.” She brought him out of his depressions, mothered him through his frequent bouts of hypochondria, raised their children, and supported him in his struggles with his political foes. To Unamuno she was the incarnation of the eternal feminine. His positive view of women reflected his love for her.

Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (l864-l936) -- one of the most distinguished of Spanish literary figures who won additional fame for his face to face public denunciation of a fascist general at the risk of his own life.