Humor in Selected Works of Unamuno by Tara Lockwood, B.A., M.A. A
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Humor in Selected Works of Unamuno by Tara Lockwood, B.A., M.A. A Dissertation In SPANISH Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved Dr. Janet Pérez, Chair Dr. Julián Pérez, Committee Member Dr. Carmen Pereira-Muró, Committee Member Fred Hartmeister Dean of the Graduate School August 2009 Copyright 2009, Tara Lockwood Texas Tech University, Tara Lockwood, August 2009 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my deepest gratitude to the Chair of my dissertation committee, Dr. Janet Pérez, for her help and guidance. I would also like to extend my appreciation and thanks to the other members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Julián Pérez and Dr. Carmen Pereira-Muró. ii Texas Tech University, Tara Lockwood, August 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii ABSTRACT iv CHAPTERS I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. LITERARY CRITICISM OF UNAMUNO 8 Criticism pertaining to the philosophical/serious Unamuno 8 Criticism directly related to the humor in Unamuno’s work 37 III. THEORY 78 IV. THE NON-TRAGIC 105 Cómo se hace una novela 108 Don Sandalio 131 Un pobre hombre rico 151 V. THE OBSESSIVE 176 Cómo se hace una novela 180 Don Sandalio 190 Un pobre hombre rico 196 VI. THE RIDICULOUS 208 Cómo se hace una novela 208 Don Sandalio 213 Un pobre hombre rico 217 VII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 239 WORKS CITED 248 iii Texas Tech University, Tara Lockwood, August 2009 ABSTRACT Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936) remains one of the most studied, and, perhaps, nevertheless, one of the most enigmatic literary figures of Spain. He is also probably the best-known of the group of writers referred to as the Generation of 1898. Although a vast amount of criticism exists on the extensive literary production of this Basque writer (whose repertoire encompasses poetry, novels, short stories, essays, and drama), the majority of critics have focused on his contemplative side and characterized much of his work as tragic. A few, however, have discerned in his work an underlying pervasive playfulness inextricably linked to Unamuno’s process of literary creation. Thus, this dissertation proposes to develop and expand the scope of the research by this relatively small group of critics. To achieve this goal, the present study examines three of Unamuno’s narratives from approximately the same time period (1927-1930) with an eye toward how the writer incorporates comical and non-tragic elements into his fiction. By analyzing these novels according to three categories of humor (the non-tragic, the obsessive, and the ridiculous), this dissertation demonstrates the veracity of its initial hypothesis that Unamuno maintains a ludic relationship with the reader, which he accomplishes by incorporating multiple levels of burla and engaño in his work. In addition, certain components of Henri Bergson’s theory on laughter prove relevant to the present study. Specifically, the description given by the French philosopher as to what constitutes humor and how a writer achieves it serves as a reference point for the analysis of several manifestations of humor discussed in the present investigation. This dissertation is presented in the hope iv Texas Tech University, Tara Lockwood, August 2009 that it may make contribute to the ongoing study of the under-appreciated humorous facet of Unamuno. v Texas Tech University, Tara Lockwood, August 2009 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION “…hay que cultivar el sentimiento cómico de la vida, diga lo que quiera ese Unamuno…” (Emeterio in Un pobre hombre rico 101) The above quotation illustrates a couple of the techniques used by the Basque writer Miguel de Unamuno to disconcert and play with the reader. First, a fictional entity who makes a third-person reference to his author blurs the boundary between fiction and reality; second, since Unamuno strongly linked the development of a sense of humor with a person’s attainment of true authenticity and therefore certainly did believe in the importance of cultivating the comical facet of life, he most probably is poking fun at the fairly large number of critics who focus nearly exclusively on the tragic element in his work. At the same time, he turns the joke upon himself by the burlesque intertextual allusion to El sentimiento trágico de la vida and “diga lo que quiera ese Unamuno.” Despite his supposed seriousness, his jokes are often self-referential. The relationship that Unamuno discerns between the cultivation of a sense of humor and the achievement of personal authenticity also coincides with his belief that authenticity can not be attained intellectually, but rather only through being alive in the present moment. The purpose of this study is to explore the humor found in some of the writer’s fictional work. In El humor y la novela española contemporánea (1968), Santiago Vilas argues that Unamuno was the Spanish intellectual who “potencialmente ha sido el intelectual español mejor dotado para ser el más grande humorista después de Cervantes; no le faltó a don Miguel más que decidirse a ‘dar esa vuelta a la esquina’ que nunca dio” (108). Although this statement may not be completely accurate, and it is true that Unamuno did 1 Texas Tech University, Tara Lockwood, August 2009 not dedicate himself exclusively to the cultivation of humor (but neither did Cervantes), without doubt humor plays an important role in much of his work. The life of Unamuno (1864-1936) spans one of the most complex periods of Spanish history. He belongs to the Generation of 1898, a group of writers characterized by its rejection of the political system imposed by the Restoration in 1876, which lacked institutional, economic, and social stability. Spain’s loss of its last colonies in 1898 culminated an ongoing crisis of confidence and affected the Spanish intellectuals, each of whom attempted to find a way to regenerate Spain and Spanish culture. Within these circumstances at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries, Spanish writers composed many significant and memorable works, making this period one of the most vital in the history of Spanish literature. Humor is frequently used as a means of social criticism during this period, as it enables a writer to criticize discreetly the conditions of the country. As Vilas states: “Abunda el humorista especialmente en momentos de crisis espiritual, de mayor escepticismo, de pasión y de coerción” (101). Thus, the use of humor among the Generation of ’98 comes as no surprise. Unamuno reflects on the complexity of the circumstances in which he lived and the effect this had on his life in a speech given to a group of students in 1931: …creo que más que un hombre soy un pueblo, dentro del cual luchan varios partidos entre sí. Mi niñez ha trascurrido entre contiendas civiles, las de los carlistas y los liberales, que se me metieron dentro, y he llevado siempre en el pecho un carlista y un liberal. Siempre he vivido en duelo íntimo, alimentando contradictorias posiciones y sintiendo la necesidad de cualquiera que defendiese una de ellas. (El Sol 7 de julio) 2 Texas Tech University, Tara Lockwood, August 2009 Unamuno often expresses the true significance of an action or a situation by means of humor. Conrad Hyers explains this function of humor in The Spirituality of Comedy: Comic Heroism in a Tragic World. For him, humor provides a vantage point that stands apart from the immediate circumstances and positions of the fray. It is not totally immersed in the seriousness of the moment, or a particular cause, or the all-consuming struggle. It is, therefore, a perspective from which issues and situations can be seen from an unusual or unexpected angle. The tragic impasse is transcended in order to stand more firmly within the flesh-and-blood of the human condition. (30) Because Unamuno focuses on the man of flesh and blood rather than on abstract intellectualism, the above quotation serves as a particularly appropriate summary of his use of humor. As the critic Thomas Franz observes in Unamuno’s Paratexts: Twisted Guides to Contorted Narratives, one of the results of Unamuno’s often humorous paratexts is precisely to reduce and balance the sense of tragedy expressed in the story itself (11). Another critic, Mary Bretz, in her article “El humor y la comicidad en Unamuno,” also agrees that a study of the humor in Unamuno’s work is indispensable “para major entender y valorizar al escritor, completándole desde un ángulo distinto…” (149). Without such an understanding of this side of Unamuno, the reader may misunderstand the purpose of the work; on the other hand, the reader who reads between the lines may discover not only the humorous facet of the writer, but also the true intent of the author and the real message that he wishes to convey to the reader. Unamuno understands the problems brought on by a life based too much on reason, and thus he sees humor as an escape, albeit temporary, from man’s over-dependence on reason. With this in mind, he addresses this in the prologue to Amor y pedagogía: ¿Qué otra cosa es el sentimiento de lo cómico sino de la emancipación de la lógica, y qué otra cosa sino lo ilógico provoca la risa? Y esa risa, ¿qué es sino la 3 Texas Tech University, Tara Lockwood, August 2009 expresión corpórea del placer que sentimos al vernos libres, siquiera sea por un breve momento, de esa feroz tirana, de esa Fatum lúgubre, de esa potencia incoercible y sorda a las voces del corazón? (165) Unamuno also possessed a great ability to treat tragedy comically. Although tragic themes and patterns may dominate his work, the characters and their behavior are often laughable.