Peace in War (Spanish: originally Paz en la Guerra, in recent editions Paz en la guerra, the title sometimes translated into English as Peace of War) is a mid-size novel by Miguel de Unamuno. Having been written since the mid-1880s, it was published in 1897. The narrative is set mostly in Bilbao and surroundings during the Spanish civil war of 1872-1876, with particular focus on the siege of the city in 1874. The protagonists are mostly Bilbao dwellers, some of Carlist and some of Liberal political preferences. The plot revolves around the fate of Ignacio Iturriondo, a man in his early 20s, who volunteered to Carlist troops. The book was generally well received by the press and the critics, but it failed to make a major impact and was not re-published until 1923. Issued in Latin America in the 1910s, in the inter-war period the novel was translated into German and Czech, and afterwards into some other European languages.
The 1874 siege of Bilbao, which forms the narrative framework of Paz en la Guerra, was witnessed from the inside by Unamuno, who at the time was a 10-year-old boy. [1] When commencing work on the novel, he was in his early 30s; following a university spell in Madrid he lived in Bilbao and worked as a teacher of Latin in the local Instituto. [2] His literary record was null: at about this time he started publishing articles in local papers, and some of them resembled the format of short stories. In 1891 he got married and assumed the chair of Greek at the University of Salamanca, where he moved with his wife; the couple would have first 3 children during the following 5 years. The scale of his press contributions became significant, and he started to make a name for himself in the local Biscay and Salmantine ambience. In 1895, during final period of editing Paz en la Guerra, Unamuno published his first book, En torno al casticismo, a set of sophisticated essays on Castillan self, tradition and history; this volume gained him attention among Spanish intellectuals, though initially it did not make a major impact in terms of popular discourse. [3]
When the novel was published Spain has been enjoying some 20 years of political stability, the first such period in the 19th century. The regime, usually named "Restoration", was monarchy combined with parliamentarian liberal democracy; two key parties were interchanging at power and fundamental flaws of the system – its elitism, corruption and caciquismo – were not clearly visible yet. [4] For few years the country has already been fighting the war in Cuba against local independentists, but at the time no-one knew that within a year it would develop into the war against the United States and would produce a massive disaster, a cultural shock that would be one of major milestones of Spanish history. Carlism, defeated in the civil war 22 years before, appeared to have been a threat long gone, reduced to a second-rate party which abandoned its insurgent ideas. [5] The Basque nationalism was merely in its nascent phase, with scarce following and reduced to very few institutional outposts. [6] First republican parties started to win seats in the parliament, while the socialist ones failed to do so; [7] the level of social tension was moderate.
According to his later claim Unamuno was writing Paz en la Guerra for some 12 years, [8] which points to the mid-1880s as the moment of its inception. [9] It seems that it was written in the late 1880s in Bilbao, and then edited in the early 1890s in Salamanca. At that time Unamuno was influenced by Herbert Spencer. [10] Some of his essays published in Biscay newspapers in the late 1880s and early 1890s contained images which later appeared in the novel, mostly related to depictions of Bilbao. The most evident case is a 1887 story Solitaña; it features a fictional character which bears some resemblance to Pedro Iturriondo and contains “themes and preoccupations” developed in Paz en la Guerra. [11] In 1891 the author confessed in a private letter that initially he intended “una novelita corta” which he planned to finish in 3-4 months; later it grew to “novela histórico-político-religiosa-etc-etc” and there was still 1-2 years needed to complete it. [12] Though Unamuno partially relied on his own infantile memories from the times of war, he also extensively consulted archival copies of newspapers issued during the siege, e.g. La Guerra. [13] It seems that his narrative was mostly completed in the early 1890s, and later years were dedicated to editing. [14] The novel was considered ready in early 1896. [15]
Unamuno’s key advisor in publishing matters was José María Soltura Urrutia, a wealthy Biscay intellectual who eventually financed the edition. [16] Having finished writing, in March 1896 Unamuno intended to get the book published as soon as possible, but was advised to wait until the summer or perhaps even later; eventually the book appeared on the market in early 1897. Initially he wanted to release it with one of the Bilbao publishing houses, but he was persuaded to rely rather on a Madrid company. The book was printed in December 1896 [17] by the Bilbao firm Imprenta Muller y Zavaleta, [18] but it got officially released in January 1897 [19] by the Madrid publishing house Librería de Fernando Fé. Its print run was moderate 1.503 copies [20] (at the time novels of established authors like Galdós or Pereda had a print run of 3-5.000 copies). [21] During commercial negotiations in late 1896 Fé offered Unamuno the royalty of 2.000 ptas, [22] but eventually the writer earned 1.500 ptas [23] (his annual salary at the university was 3.500 ptas [24] ). The book was sold at the price of 4 ptas (above the usual price of 2 ptas) and enjoyed some sort of marketing campaign. [25] Single copies were sent out to various critics and institutions. [26]
The book sold out within a year; [27] unlike novels of popular authors, re-issued every some time, [28] it would not be re-published for quarter of a century. In the press the novel was rather well received, both in daily papers and specialized literary magazines; some classified it as “obra literaria de verdadera importancia” and used it as a benchmark for other novels. [29] One reviewer saw it as a tale about two conflicting protagonists: the city and the village. [30] Another focused rather on psychology of the characters and especially on Pachico, singled out as the key personality. [31] One more described it as a “philosophical novel” [32] and warned readers not to expect torrid action, though he complained that protagonists are “demasiado razonadores y filósofos”. [33] Some viewed it as a novelistic analysis of the phenomenon of war and its impact, making references to Tolstoy’s War and Peace . [34] Some had difficulty when trying to categorize the novel, and referred to “novela verdaderement inclasifiable”. [35] Among key figures of literary critique the reception was mixed. Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo reportedly liked the book; [36] Urbano González Serrano did not respond favorably. [37] Also some other reviewers, like Francisco Navarro Ledesma, remained rather critical. [38]
Major:
Secondary:
other:
The narrative features also some historic figures, like Manuel Santa Cruz, Antonio Lizárraga or the claimant Carlos VII. However, they appear not as protagonists but as part of background developments, e.g. Ignacio watches Santa Cruz ride across a small town and Pedro watches Carlos VII swear by the Guernica oak.
The novel is divided into 5 untitled but numbered chapters:
In the novel there are few explicit or close references to “peace in war”:
Unamuno was profoundly disappointed by what he perceived to have been a rather moderate reception of the novel. [45] He believed that the book – which took him 12 years to write and edit – has not been properly digested and thought over. Later he also held a grudge against critics – like González Serrano – who remained lukewarm. [46] Soltura tried to comfort him that though read by few, it would be being read for decades to come. [47] It is not clear whether either Unamuno or his publisher contemplated re-edition – a customary action in case of successful novels – in the 1900s or 1910s. The novel was published again in 1923 with no changes, except corrections of few typos in the original edition. However, it was preceded by the author’s 2-page prologue. Unamuno confessed the narrative contained "the flower and the fruit of my childhood and youth experience". [48] He noted that the novel "remains as relevant as it was when first published" and finished with a statement: "esto no es una novela; es un pueblo". [49] Neither print run nor commercial performance of the edition are clear. In Spain there was no further re-edition of the novel during Unamuno’s lifetime. In 1933 he published an article, titled Paz en la guerra, which provided some insights into his mindset when writing the novel and his reflections on the subject in mid-1930s. [50] It is known that in late 1936, during his last months and overwhelmed by brutality of the unfolding civil war, Unamuno had some second thoughts as to the novel. He declared that "la experiencia de esta guerra” makes him rethink his own work, starting with Paz en la Guerra. [51]
First edition of Paz en la Guerra has been barely noticed beyond Spain, at best referred in bibliographic listings. [52] Some excerpts translated into Italian by Arturo Frontini were published as Pace nella guerra in 1901. [53] Because of his articles in French press Unamuno became a fairly known author north of the Pyrennees, [54] but Paz en la Guerra did not attract attention. Unamuno himself was interested in foreign editions, but prioritised works of "una orientación menos localista y menos centrada en cuestiones nacionales", which put Paz en la Guerra at disadvantage. [55] It was the second Spanish edition of 1923 which triggered interest. Its result was the first full translation, the German Frieden im Krieg by Otto Buek (Berlin 1929). The second in sequence was by Karel Eger into Czech, Mír ve válce (Praha 1932). [56] Gilberto Beccari published full Italian version (Firenze 1952). [57] The fourth known translation was into Polish by Kalina Wojciechowska (Pokój wśród wojny, Kraków 1975). In Britain, [58] where Unamuno's novels "never made much headway", [59] Peace in War appeared thanks to Anthony Kerrigan, Allen Lacy and Martin Nozick (London/New York 1983). The first French translation [60] appeared in Canada, the work of Alain Guy and Louis Jolicoeur (Paix dans la guerre, Montreal 1988). [61] The last globally spoken language the work was translated into was Russian; Владимир Валериевич Симонов published it as Мир среди войны (Санкт-Петербург 2000). [62] The last identified translations are by Богдан Чума into Ukrainian (Мир у війні, Львів 2019) [63] and by Јелена Рајић into Serbian (Мир у рату, Београд 2021). [64]
Reviewers, critics and historians of literature focused on various threads of the novel:
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