DON MIGUEL DE UNAMUNO was born at Bilbao in 1864, but the best creative years of his life were passed at Salamanca, where he became Rector of the University, having previously and afterwards held the chair of Greek at that famous seat of learning. In all probability he would still be there had he not found it impossible to refrain from criticizing the military dictatorship of His Excellency General Primo de Rivera who, in the autumn of 1923, had him arrested and deported to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. From there Don Miguel escaped to France, where he continued, in the strange company of Blasco Ibanez, to continue his protest against the regime of "the Royal Goose." In France also he wrote the present work, which was first published in French.
