Unamuno on Fuerteventura
We know that due to his ideas and thoughts so contrary to life in Spain during the 19th and 20th centuries, Miguel de Unamuno was banished from the city of Salamanca, being forced to abandon his current life to be confined to the island of Fuerteventura.
In this article we will recount not only Unamuno's experience during his four-month stay on this fortunate island, but also the mark he left on it, which is still with us today.
Who was Miguel de Unamuno?
Before telling the story of this iconic writer and teacher in Fuerteventura, we will give a short introduction of this historical character, so that we can better understand his way of acting during his stay on the island, as well as some lines from his famous books dedicated to the island.
Unamuno was and is one of the most important writers belonging to the famous Generation of '98, where concern for the future of Spain was the theme of the day.
Born in Bilbao in 1864, he was the son of a merchant who died prematurely, causing his family to eke out a meagre existence when Unamuno was only six years old.
When his father emigrated to Mexico, not only had he brought with him a small fortune that his family had enjoyed until then, but he had also returned to Spain carrying a small library, which was to become Unamuno's first contact with books.
When he was nine years old, the Carlist War began and the city of Bilbao was bombarded by the Carlists.
Unamuno considered this to be the first significant event in his life, preceded by the explosion caused by a Carlist bomb on the 21st of February 1874, which caused one of the roofs near his house to fall off.
As a result of this, Unamuno forged many of the ideas and feelings about Spain that he would reveal in his later years in works such as "De mi país" or in his first novel, Paz en la guerra (Peace in War) (1897).
Miguel de Unamuno.
Bilbao was the city where many of the ideas and interests that never left him were born, and some critics even insisted that Unamuno's Basque origin can be seen not only in his novels, but also in his personality.
Bilbao
Unamuno left for Madrid in 1880 to begin his studies in Philosophy and Letters, encouraged by his father's book collection, as well as by a high school teacher who had Balmes and Donoso Cortés as compulsory reading, authors who did not quench Unamuno's thirst for curiosity, and who caused him to sink into the pages of authors such as Kant, Descartes, Hegel and Newton, among others, thus awakening Unamuno's vocation as a literary scholar and thinker.
Madrid did not make a very positive impression on the writer, but he returned for several periods of his life to give lectures, or when his professional position required him to take charge of some public event or management.
Salamanca, on the other hand, occupies the first place in Unamuno's life as the place that left the greatest mark on him.
Here he made his home until he was exiled to Fuerteventura, where he returned after his own exile to France, and where he died on the evening of the 31st of December 1936.
Salamanca
In this city, he obtained the post of Chair of Greek at the University of Salamanca, where he began teaching on the 2nd of October 1891, the year in which he ended up settling with his family.
During his first years in Salamanca, he lived a rather monotonous routine where he attended his classes and attended to his family obligations, while also writing his first work, already mentioned above, Paz en la guerra (Peace in War).
Far from ignoring the problems affecting Spain at the time, Unamuno was appointed rector of the University of Salamanca on the 30th of October 1900, a post he held until 1914 when he was removed for the first time as the University's highest authority.
This marked Unamuno's first steps in his political campaign as a socialist in the midst of a dictatorship, which led him to suffer the famous exile to Fuerteventura, taking him away from his country and his family.
He was also sentenced to sixteen years in prison for insulting Alfonso XIII, but was acquitted.
Now it is!
With this, we leave behind this brief explanation and introduction to the early life of Miguel de Unamuno before being exiled to Fuerteventura, giving way now to a brief explanation of his life on this island, his thoughts during his stay, his acquaintances and the lines dedicated in his works to this precious place.
UNAMUNO IN FUERTEVENTURA
On the 13th of September 1923, General Primo de Rivera staged a coup d'état aimed at bringing Spain out of the chaos in which it was immersed due to the politics of the time and the war in Africa.
One of the first measures taken was to put an end to freedom of expression and the publications expressed by the press, with the news of the day under government control.
For this reason, the articles and criticisms that Miguel de Unamuno published during those years against the King and the military dictatorship of Primo de Rivera led to the writer being declared exiled and dismissed from the posts of vice-rector and dean that he held at that time on the 20th of February 1924.
"Precisely on the 21st of February 1924, the same day 50 years ago, when I was a child, I felt the second of the bombs that the Carlists dropped on Bilbao fall on the house next door to mine. Fifty years after that, the successors of that time took me out of my house".
Students, journalists and some politicians protested in favour of Unamuno, and these protests spread throughout the country, the whole of Europe and even Latin America.
Overnight, Unamuno became something of a European figure, but even so, the writer was forced to leave his life in Salamanca behind, being seen off amid applause and cheers from the train station on his way to Madrid.
On the 10th of March 1924, he arrived in Fuerteventura with little luggage, carrying only three books.
The choice of why this island was the chosen destination was driven by the fact that it was one of the most isolated and remote places in the whole country, to the point where actual news would arrive 8, 10 and even in some cases 15 days later.
Fuerteventura
During the early days, Unamuno reflected this opinion in his first articles written on the island, describing it as:
"This unfortunate land, where, amidst the peaceful calm of the sky and the sea, I write this commentary, measures at its longest point, from north to south, one hundred kilometres, and at its widest, twenty-five kilometres. At its south-western end it forms an almost uninhabited peninsula, where, amidst the naked solitudes and solitary nakedness of the wretched earth, a few shepherds wander".
Despite its first impression, Fuerteventura was being discovered by one of Spain's greatest personalities, which gave rise to its history as a legend, thanks to an anonymous journalist who proclaimed its fame in an article following the writer's exile:
Today the name of Puerto de Cabras is not unknown in both worlds, and it is even repeated on millions of lips and written [...] by the most prestigious writers of contemporary literature".
Unamuno lived for four long months on this island, and his stay was considered a failure of the Government, as the writer was not prepared to let the Dictator and the extremist parties take away what was later considered to be a strong quixotic adventure.
However, his life during his time in exile can almost be reconstructed day by day, thanks to the confessions in verse and prose that he wrote during the first months of his exile, which he later added in his work From Fuerteventura to Paris (1925).
In addition, his writings were also published in newspapers such as "Nuevo Mundo" in Madrid, in "Caras y Caretas" in Buenos Aires and in "El Tribuno" in Las Palmas, which told a few more interesting facts, together with his letters, his statements and even the testimonies of people who lived with him during his stay.
Diary of Miguel de Unamuno
Unamuno spent his first days with Rodrigo Soriano, his companion in exile, in a boarding house called Hotel Fuerteventura, a humble house located between the prison and the church.
But it was with Ramón Castañeyra, a self-taught merchant, who had formed his own small private library and received newspapers from Las Palmas and Madrid, with whom Unamuno had a closer relationship and friendship.
"It is right that your name should be the first to appear at the head of this painful book, for you were the true godfather of these sonnets, the first to know them, the first to pick them up, still livid from the birth when they were crying their first tragic cry, and you were even present at the gestation of some of them".
Dedication by Unamuno to Castañeyra in his book De Fuerteventura a París.
It is currently known as Casa Museo de Unamuno.
Unamuno also speaks in these pages of people like Victor Martín, the parish priest of Puerto de Cabras, Paco Medina, the innkeeper, and Pancho López, all of them confidants in whom Unamuno sought comfort when he needed it, or a drink in good company.
The writer was described as an aggressive person, with a fearsome temper and at times with a pride bigger than a house, as can be seen in one of his most famous phrases, said at the time when the owner of the Hotel Fuerteventura went to call his attention to him in response to complaints from neighbours for bathing naked on the roof of the hotel:
I don't look at them, let them not look at me".
One of the writer's greatest distractions was his camel rides in the vicinity of Puerto de Cabras, as can be seen in one of Unamuno's most famous photographs.
He is described as a man "serious, grave, solemn, like a gentleman of the East".
At other times, they made excursions to the interior of the island, which Unamuno got to know inside out.
In his poems and articles, we find how the different villages of Fuerteventura leave a permanent mark on the writer's heart, and the testimony in which he confesses how, in the last year of his life, he refers to Puerto de Cabras, La Oliva, Pájara and Betancuria, stating that "the villages of Fuerteventura are the most important ones in his life":
"How often do I think I'd be better off there, when can I go back to look at that and give him a hug there?"
Juan Medina, the innkeeper's brother, and José Naranjo, to whom we owe most of the photographs we have today, also accompanied him on these journeys. A testimony of the young Naranjo states that he heard Miguel de Unamuno confess that Betancuria will be well engraved in him, as well as that "the temple of Santa María was one of the most valuable and picturesque things in the village and one of the most traditional in the Canary Islands".
Likewise, the wall of Punta Jandía, which separated the ancient kingdoms of Fuerteventura, took Unamuno back to the prehistory of the island.
The writer decided to abandon his stay on our beloved island in July 1924 and never returned to it again. This may have led to the fact that Fuerteventura does not form part of the three cities that most marked Miguel de Unamuno throughout his life, since, as we have seen, he only lived here for four months.
Even so, there was not a single day in which Fuerteventura did not find a place in the thoughts of this famous writer, causing him a deep longing and yearning that he was never able to satisfy.
Fuerteventura
UNAMUNO'S HOUSE MUSEUM: INFORMATION FOR VISITORS.
Good! Now that we have made this brief historical journey through Unamuno's life and his stay in Fuerteventura, we would like you to get to know in depth the place he saw most of him during these four months, from the 12th of March 1924 to the 9th of July of the same year: Hotel Fuerteventura.
Nowadays it is known as the Miguel Unamuno House Museum, and in it, we can see the decoration in the rooms used by the writer, his bed, the desk where he used to write down his thoughts and ideas with pen and paper, the kitchen or the living room he used.
Not only that but the walls of this House Museum are decorated with the many texts that Unamuno wrote about Fuerteventura after his departure.
Thanks to the fact that Unamuno's house was the usual place for gatherings between himself and his friends, this Museum hides an endless number of stories within its walls and furniture that you definitely can't miss!
Here we leave you with the information you need to live among its wonderful pages for the duration of your visit, we promise you won't regret it!
Located opposite the Church of Puerto de Rosario, and next to the Cabildo of Fuerteventura, you should have no problem in locating it, as the Museum is very well signposted from the different points of the city.
It is open from 9 am to 2 pm from Monday to Friday and from 10 am to 1 pm on Saturdays. It is closed on Sundays and public holidays.
The museum is completely free to visit. It also offers a series of services, which you can enjoy without having to pay for them.
- Conference room, Permanent exhibition room, Museum and bibliographic collections.
- Guided tours conducted by the museum's own staff.
- Publications: Museum Guide. Facsimile edition of the book from Fuerteventura to Paris, as well as other supports.
- Activities: Annual courses on the occasion of the Miguel de Unamuno Cultural Chair.
If you have any questions or doubts, please contact the Museum House directly using the contact details below:
Contact Telephone: 928 862 376. / 928 532 299
Contact email: cultura@cabildofuer.es
It is definitely worth travelling back in time and going into the 20th century, thanks to this historical and iconic place that we can boast of on our wonderful island. We also recommend the article about the incredible viewpoints that Fuerteventura has so that you can fall in love with the island even more.
