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Uff la prima parte è bella, ma verso la parte finale mi ha deluso T.T il finale proprio non mi è piaciuto, ma anche tutto lo sviluppo della storia ( )

In his introduction to this English edition of Miguel de Unamuno’s Niebla (“Mist” or, as in [a:Elena Barcia|15816815|Elena Barcia|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]’s new translation – “Fog”), [a:Alberto Manguel|3602|Alberto Manguel|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1227041892p2/3602.jpg] makes a bold claim for the novel. Critics, he tells us, have almost unanimously placed it amongst the great Modernist texts, next to Virginia Woolf’s The Waves and Pirandello’s [b:Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore|11483158|Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore|Luigi Pirandello|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1374151596s/11483158.jpg|15468851]. Except that Unamuno’s novel precedes them both, having been published in 1914 and commenced years before.

Now I have a confession to make. Although a fan of Italian literature, I have never read [a:Luigi Pirandello|7702|Luigi Pirandello|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1464208347p2/7702.jpg], mainly because I have always been afraid that my tastes are too traditional to appreciate this experimental master. As for [b:The Waves|46114|The Waves|Virginia Woolf|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1439492320s/46114.jpg|6057263] – I did read the novel over twenty years ago, but that was only because it was lent to me by a girl I fancied. And if the rocker Meat Loaf sang that he “would do anything for Love”, I guessed that having a go at Woolf was no big deal. Alas, The Waves washed over me without leaving any long-lasting ripples and I’ve never felt any inclination to tackle Woolf since then. It was therefore with some trepidation that I approached Unamuno’s book. I needn’t have worried, as the novel turned out to be really fun to read. And by “fun” I do not simply mean that it is “interesting” and “intellectually satisfying” (although it is that is well) but it is also seriously entertaining.

As in any self-respecting Modernist novel, the plot is secondary, if not inexistent. Bored bachelor Augusto Pérez has lost his doting mother who, before passing on, insists that he find himself a wife. It takes the gaze of piano-teacher Eugenia to finally awake Augusto’s passions. There is a problem though - the wilful Eugenia is not particularly drawn to Augusto. Apart from the fact that she already has a fiancé. Moreover, thanks to Eugenia, Augusto’s eyes are finally open to the charms of women in general, and the ones who surround him in particular. Meaning that he is soon embroiled in a nascent affair with the earthier Rosario, the young woman who does his laundry. In between Augusto’s hapless attempts at lovemaking, he indulges in philosophical discussions and meta-fictional discourses with the other characters, which culminate in a showdown with the Author himself. Add a prologue purportedly written by one of Unamuno’s fictional characters, a “postprologue” by the author, and an epilogue by Augusto’s dog, and you have the makings of a Modernist text, a work which challenges preconceptions about the role of the author, his characters and his readers.

What is surprising is that even at his most abstruse, Unamuno retains a light and comic touch. Indeed, when not exploding novelistic conventions to smithereens, he indulges in a type of comedy which reminds me of early [a:Evelyn Waugh|11315|Evelyn Waugh|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1357463949p2/11315.jpg]. I particularly enjoyed the scenes involving Eugenia’s uncle - a self-declared “theoretical, mystical anarchist” who believes that Esperanto will bring about world peace.

I sincerely hope that Elena Barcia’s translation will bring this novel to the attention of a wider English-speaking (and reading) public. It deserves to be known not only for its literary-historical merits, but also – and perhaps more importantly – because it is such a great read. ( )

Niebla es una de las obras de ficción más originales de su autor y también de la época en que fue escrita. Traducida a numerosos idiomas, es reconocida como una de las más importantes manifestaciones del modernismo tardío, con aires agnósticos y nihilistas. Incorporando aspectos de metaficción, en que el autor es interpelado por su personaje encierra un encanto especial inexplicable.

La vida de don Miguel fue, como el lector sabe, aciaga, y su independencia intelectual le hizo pagar un alto precio en repetidas ocasiones y acabaría llevándolo a la tumba. A Augusto Pérez, un hombre bueno y simple, pero filósofo y mujeriego –o mejor dicho, admirador del bello sexo- fueron su entusiasmo y la voluntad del propio Unamuno, su creador, los que le llevaron a la tumba. Que esto sea una nivola o una novela tanto da, como explica Pollux Hernúñez en su extroducción. En cualquier caso se trata de una edición revisada, anotada apenas y hecha con el cuidado que merece.

Acaso no somos todos el sueño de un Dios indiferente? ( )