Zamora and how to dismantle 'fake news' about Unamuno
"Miguel from Unamuno He is an enigmatic character, the more you inquire into him, the more mysterious he becomes. Manuel Menchon and I have investigated the circumstances surrounding his death and the result is the book 'The double death of Unamuno', a mixture of reflective essay, historical chronicle and story ”, explains the zamorano and also Writer Y teacher of the University of Salamanca Luis García Jambrina in statements to the Ical agency.
The exhaustive documentation on the death of Miguel de Unamuno which allowed Menchón to direct the documentary “Words for an end of the world”(Premiered in Seminci) has led the film director and the Zamorano writer to unravel the official version that the Franco dictatorship created around his figure and delve into everything that surrounded the death of the writer.
Precisely, “the book reveals how the Francoist story was built and, once exposed, it dismantles it point by point. It is a counter-narrative that aims to unmask and dismantle that official version that was created over time since his death, from the environment of the press and propaganda apparatus that he directed during a period Millán Astray”, He points out Garcia Jambrina to Ical.
The co-authors of the volume, which was released on Monday, have tried to build a book "agile, full of tension and emotion, but above all very thoughtful and documented." The Zamorano author points out that, beyond the circumstances that led to the death of the intellectual, “the manipulation that was made of the figure of Unamuno, of his legacy and of his memory, is a perfect example that should be studied in the Faculties of Information or Communication Sciences”. García Jambrina points out that "his is an exemplary case of how a false propaganda story is constructed, and worst of all, how sometimes these stories come together and how difficult it is to dismantle them over time," he adds.
“To this day, that image of Unamuno as a Falangist or a sympathizer of fascism is still in force, when in reality he was a direct victim of them. He did not die shot but the result was the same, death, with the aggravating circumstance, in his case, of symbolic death, which at 72 years of age for him was more serious than the real one ”.
The Zamorano argues that “the worst thing that could happen to a person like Unamuno, who was never with one or the other, who was always free, is that he dies pigeonholed, turned into the opposite of what he was and, as incredible as it seems, that idea is still present ”. The book "The double death of Unamuno" acquires a special relevance today, in times where post-truth and political tension, fake news ", are the order of the day. "What we could call" the Unamuno case "is more interesting today than ever, because it shows how all this post-truth, the 'fake news', propaganda and others, comes from behind and is extremely dangerous". The difference with that time and the current one is that “we have even become even more cynical, and at this moment it seems that it no longer even makes sense to really speak or seek it. That is the most tremendous thing ”, reflects the writer.
García Jambrina and Menchón They met in November 2019 in Madrid, as guests at a colloquium organized at the University of Salamanca, 'Unamuno and the University of Salamanca. What really happened on October 12, 1936? ' They held partially facing postures and maintained contact.
“Manuel had left many things in the pipeline, much of the documentation that he had handled had hardly been used. A documentary is more expository and has a different rhythm. A more reflective book was needed that would display that documentation, focusing exclusively on death, apart from drawing the context, inevitably, its relationship with fascism, the phalanx, Millán Astray and October 12, in a certain way the trigger for what came later ”.
He considers Unamuno "the great innovator of the novel in Spain at the beginning of twentieth century, the most important ”, but he flees from that reductionism to emphasize that“ he was an intellectual, the most important in the history of Spain ”. And, abounds, “he was one of the most influential and respected figures, as well as controversial in many respects. He was a man of action, continually publishing, lecturing, intervening in public life from different positions. You cannot understand the third of the 20th century without his figure ”.
